Long Weekend (1979)

One of my all time favorites.

Absolutely Fantastic

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A tense couple take a break in the wilderness after their relationship is exposed, and find nature red in tooth and claw - but whose nature?Couple of big themes going on here - mother and child + estrangement from nature, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort. The story is well paced, and all the creatures are nasty and exotic, but the central relationship in what is essentially a two-hander just didn't interest me.The actors are fine, but the dialogue has no charm and it's hard to imagine the characters ever having enjoyed each other's company. So basically we have to spend 100 minutes with a pair of unlikable people - especially the husband, who presents immediately as a dickhead - without a hint of humour.All the '70s influences, from twangly semi-tone music to pollution outrage. The dugong was creepy, until it heaved itself all the way in - a moment of bathos. And the wind-screen smash was an eye-roller as well.Overall, needed a better script but directed and performed fairly well.

Dear Everette De Roche,I guess you were watching a lot of Ingmar Bergman when you wrote this film. I don't know what it is with you Westerners. You guys are supposed to be the happiest people in the world but you make the most depressing and disturbing films. And then a bunch of Indian filmmakers who don't know any better copy your films thinking that this is the way to be.Anyway, I enjoyed The Long Weekend. It was pretty intriguing. It was a nice idea to set the breakdown of a husband-wife relationship in the midst of hostile nature. I thought some of the scares were a bit lame - I mean a sea cow, COME ON! And I was not too impressed by the two lead actors either. I guess all the really good Australian actors were stolen by Hollywood and you were left with this lot.It is not in the same league as Deliverance or Wake in Fright. But I enjoyed it. It was more of a depressing and mysterious film about the breakdown of a relationship rather than an all out horror film.Best Regards, Pimpin.(6/10)

Huge fan of killer animal movies and this as been on watch list for a few years, I really looking forward to this and the remake, I was going to watch them back to back.This movie takes while to getting going, I don't mind some slow build up unless there go some where.I found most of this movie very boring, the couple were very annoying, who could not care less if they were killed by these animals. I Felt bored and frustrated throughout the movie, even Animals attacks scenes will really dull, Could have been done better!I don't think acting the was bad, why would make two couple so annoying they you wish they do get killed.The last scenes was bloody Joke, it's actually funny!3 out of 10

The reviews on this site for "Long Weekend" are positively hyperbolic: "the epitome of Australian horror" opines one gushing reviewer; who goes on to proclaim it as the "best horror film to come from down under" "lost Aussie masterpiece!!!" asserts another, who must really mean it, as they have punctuated this statement with three exclamation points! I'm sorry to say that I found this film to be fatuous, fatuous with at least 5 exclamation points. The plot is basically thus: Aussie bloke takes his frigid wife on a mini-break out of town for the weekend. His wife is the biggest whinger OF ALL TIME a bold move then, that the writer should choose to play against type and make her...English. Yes, she's whinging AND she's a pom - you learn something new every day.So this unlikable couple, who I cared not a jot for, reach their deserted getaway; en route they run over a roo on the highway, which subsequently turns out to be a rather bad move because this act (and some other crimes against nature) has made nature....very angry! an eagle attacks the Aussie bloke, then a possum bites his finger, something moans in the distance (creepy, apparently) but really, I didn't care, as after about 40 minutes of this film I had reached the critical mass point; a point where I know that the chances of the the film getting any better, are virtually nil, as the stall has been set, the cards have been dealt and you realise you are watching a stinker.