Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1979) wr. Everett de Roche, prod. Richard Brennan, Colin Eggleston for Dugong Films, dp Vincent Monton, music Michael Carlos, design Larry Eastwood, ed. Brian Kavanagh; John Hargreaves, Briony Behets (director's wife); thriller; review by Adrian Martin in Murray 1995: 40 - he applies the concept 'fantastique'; Eastman colour, 35mm, widescreen, 102 min.; complete in 1977; shown at a Festival in Spain in late 1978, but not generally released until Mar79
This was remade in 2008 with the same writer (but the later film is bad). Eggleston's is a truly remarkable film: creepy, surprising - and it has John Hargreaves: what's to not like?
Long Weekend succeeds as a film because it cleverly restricts its elements and articulates them exhaustively. The numerous cutaways to 'ominous' glimpses of the natural environment, employing extreme close-up and variable focus, are often effective. There are a number of strikingly dramatic camera movements, such as the one that first reveals the beach, or that which simulates Peter's slow discovery of Marcia's dead body in the morning light. The soundtrack integrates music and sound effects in a stylised, dramatic way, employing sonic surges, rumbles, reverberations and shock punctuations in the best contemporary thriller fashion. Adrian Martin, in Murray: 40.
Catherine Simpson 2010, 'Australian eco-horror and Gaia's revenge: animals, eco-nationalism and the 'new nature', Studies in Australian Cinema, 4 (1): 43–54.
Wikipedia entry
Garry Gillard | New: 11 October, 2012 | Now: 13 December, 2019