Long Weekend

Dir. Jamie Blanks
Suburban couple Peter and Carla (Jim Caviezel and Claudia Karvan) take a weekend vacation in the hopes of repairing their crumbling relationship. The couple show an absolute lack of respect for their surroundings and amongst other things, drop litter, bicker with each other, constantly spray insecticides, bicker with each other, accidently kill a baby dugong, bicker with each other and are generally unable to conceal their utter contempt for one another, or nature. As the tension between the two escalates, nature itself seems to strike back against them. Is something supernatural afoot, or is the squabbling, insular couple losing their grip on reality?
Australian horror movies have been making quite an impact on the horror genre recently, though the country has a history of genre movies including classics such as Mad Max, Razorback and Picnic at Hanging Rock. More recently with films such as Wolf Creek, Rogue, Lake Mungo and Undead, filmmakers have begun to explore the darker recesses of the outback once more. The original Long Weekend was an eco-horror crossed with a distressing domestic drama in which an estranged couple attempt to salvage their marriage by escaping into the bush to get away from it all and rekindle old feelings. What they get though is far worse than either of them could have imagined as the very landscape seems to conspire against them due to their lack of care for it or each other…

Not a lot of ‘action’ occurs in the film – but Blanks keeps things suspenseful by creating a strangely menacing and creepy atmosphere that constantly suggests something bad is suddenly going to happen. Events are a little predictable, especially as they rush towards the inevitable climax – which is signposted obviously enough – but the ambiguity and the two central performances should keep viewers on their toes.

A particularly tense scene features Peter going for a swim off the deserted beach. The camera follows him quite closely and at times all we can see is what he sees - water. Lots of water – and fuck knows what is gliding around under the surface, waiting to pounce… Wider shots give us the undeniable impression of his insignificance in relation to the ocean – he is but a speck. Carla, walking on the beach, notices a large dark shape under the water rapidly advancing towards her hubby, and as she tries to alert him, things become very taut indeed…
The couple’s obvious contempt for each other could be manifesting itself in paranoia, together with the new strange and potentially hostile surroundings they find themselves in. Are the couple projecting their anger and fear and paranoia into their surrounding space? Or is nature actually turning against them? The frenzied bird attack and the vengeful adult dugong – seemingly dead though still able to move up the beach when no one is watching – provide particularly memorable moments. As does Peter’s discovery of a family campervan and the fate of its inhabitants… Chilling stuff.

The two disc LONG WEEKEND (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£17.99) by Showbox Entertainment on 8th February 2010. Special Features include: Director’s Production Diary; Interview Gallery (Claudia Karvan; Everett De Roche; Tobey Eggleston); Deleted Scene (Jim and the Ducks); ‘Making of’ featurette; ‘Taming the Wild’ featurette; Peter’s Death – Behind the Scenes with Grant Page and Roger Ward; English 2.0 and 5.1 audio options; chapter selection; trailer.
Comments
Dude that scene with the sea cow was hahahahaha unbelievably stupid.
In America, its called Nature's Grave. They probably didn't want it associated with the original
I quite liked that scene, Jaded. I like sea cows. They're cute. Anyway, it was a dugong - totally different species. Thanks for that link! I liked your description of this as an 'anti-Discovery Channel documentary'. And I agree that Star as Cricket was just awesome. She's one to keep an eye out for in future. ;o)
Big question: should I start with the original or remake?
There's a remake of Children of the Corn!?
I've not seen the original - and I usually like to see the original first - so I reckon I'd start with that. If I could. But its too late for me. But not for you!
Hope you're well.
Technically, it's just another adaptation of Stephen King's short story. It has its moments, but it's also cursed with the two of the most obnoxious and hatable leads I've ever seen in a movie. I've never wanted to punch a woman in the face more. Produced by the Sci-Fi--wait, I'm sorry, SyFy channel in 2009, but there's an unrated DVD floating out in the world also.
And yes, I'll probably give the original Long Weekend a shot fairly soon. It's been creeping up the queue.
Or plane stupid. Make a network out of that!