Monday 16 December 2019

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION! (2008)

Boobs, bikers, burnings and botched stuntwork!

Fans of exploitation movies in particular will love Mark Hartley's infectiously exuberant documentary about the period when Aussie cinema made its mark in ways that the critics disparaged and fans loved. From Barry Humphries' BARRY MCKENZIE movies that satirized his uncouth 'ocker' fellow countrymen, right up to the mid-1980s, the period dubbed Ozploitation covered every exploitable sub-genre from soft porn, through horror, biker movies and post-apocalyptic junkyard trash. They're all here from MAD MAX to RAZORBACK and all nutty points in between, gleefully told by the directors, actors, crew and superfan Quentin Tarantino. The hair-raising anecdotes centred around the alarmingly risky stuntwork and even fatal consequences of quick-profit shooting are worth the viewing alone. It also briefly contextualises how a lot of these movies gained funding due to Australia's hyper-attractive investment scheme known as 10BA  whereby producers could gain at one stage up to a 150% tax concession, thereby leading to a flood of gleefully dodgy movies.
The highest compliment I can pay NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD is that it's reminded me of a horde of films I need to revisit (like HARLEQUIN, PATRICK and THE SURVIVOR) and presented tantalising glimpses of new ones I need to see. Highly recommended...

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