10. Road Games (1981)

An Ozploitation classic that imported the great Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacey Keach to star in it. Keach plays a truck driver travelling across Oz who with the aid of a hitchhiker tries to track down a serial killer. For the longest time, Road Games was unavailable but this is no longer the case especially as the amazing Scream Factory are now distributing it. An early gem in JLC’s canon.

9. Kitty and the Bagman (1982)

A period piece that depicts Sydney in the 20’s and stars major stars from Prisoner Cell Block H. I first heard about this film through the Prisoner fan club in the late 80s. I finally got to see it 30 years later. It was worth the wait.

It’s fantastic seeing Prisoner actors playing in a period piece and sometimes completely against type. This is now available on DVD via Umbrella Entertainment. 

8. Head On (1998)

A fantastic film about a young man growing up gay in the Greek immigrant community of Melbourne. Alex Dimitriades shines as the lead as does Paul Capsis. I saw Capsis several times as a singer when I lived in Sydney. His singing is as brilliant as his acting. Head On is an electric piece of filmmaking.

7. Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994)

I once went to a screening of Priscilla that Terence Stamp filmed an introduction for. He said that his two favourite roles were General Zod in the first two Superman films and Bernadette Bassenger in Priscilla. This film is screamingly funny, very poignant and has the best costume design I’ve ever seen in a film. The pub where the first scenes were shot, The Imperial Hotel, was one of my locals when I lived in Sydney.

6. Snapshot (1979)

I learnt of Snapshot when I saw the vinyl soundtrack for the film when it was cheekily renamed The Day After Halloween to make it look like a sequel to John Carpenter’s classic. I then saw that the young lady on the cover was Sigrid Thornton who was also in Prisoner. Again, it would be decades until I finally got to see the film and it’s fantastic. Funny, quirky and very frightening. A tale of obsession, the murky world of modelling and stalkers driving ice cream vans.

5. Lantana (2001)

Sometimes film plots can be so interlinked and interwoven that they feel completely forced, improbable and unrealistic. Lantana is multi-layered yet feels utterly realistic. It’s genius writing brought to life by a stellar cast. A dead woman’s body, a policeman’s disintegrating marriage, a gay man having an affair with a closeted married man, a couple mourning the loss of their child- all narratives seamlessly brought together and connected. A brilliant film.

4. Wake In Fright (1971)

I discovered this film when it was released on Blu-Ray. Made in 1971 and titled Outback outside Australia, it tells the story of a school teacher who plans to get to Sydney to see his girlfriend for Christmas. Yet, events prevent him from reaching his destination. Let’s just say these events are very dark and very disturbing. Wake In Fright is like the worst tourist information film for Australia EVER! Small-town idiosyncracies, machismo and lots and lots of drinking combine to make this a very disturbing film indeed. In fact, there’s even a drinking game devised for watching the film- you take a drink every time someone in the film does. You’ll be shitfaced in no time.

A lost gem with the film’s negative-going missing, then being rediscovered by the film’s editor and restored and shown to much acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. If you want to know just how dark this film is I’ll share this snippet of information with you- Wake In Fright is Nick Cave’s favourite Australian film. Yes, it’s that dark.

One of Donald Pleasance’s best films.

3. Walkabout (1971)

Because of the book Films of the Seventies (edited by Ann Lloyd), I discovered such greats as Taxi Driver, The Warriors and Nic Roeg’s Walkabout. I knew Roeg’s film was being prevented from being released on home video as it was caught up in rights limbo and red tape. However, there was a screening in the late 80’s on Tyne Tees Television. I could see what all the fuss was about. It was and is brilliant.

A father takes his two children out of school and drives them to the outback. He stops the car, the children get out but then find that their father has a gun and starts firing at them. When he shoots himself in the head, the two children realise that they have to walk through the bush to try and find civilisation again. They soon meet with an Aboriginal boy who becomes their companion on the journey.

Walkabout is a trip in more ways than one. The beauty of Australia contrasts with Roeg’s direction and cinematography which is manipulated and moulded to make the alien landscape even more alien and foreign. Roeg makes the outback completely claustrophobic and darkly beautiful. 

The source material for the film is the book of the same name by James Vance Marshall and is very different to the film but just as brilliant.

2. Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

I still remember going to see this with a friend at The Richmond Filmhouse in London when I knew absolutely nothing about it. Little did I know that I would be seeing one of my favourite films EVER. A brilliant bitter-sweet comedy about self-esteem, best friends and ABBA. I hated the Swedish group’s music before I went in and came out (pun not intended) of the cinema a convert.

There’s some of the funniest dialogue I’ve ever heard in a movie but that’s not to say that this is all sunshine and roses. There’s some very dark material here that is pulled off just as fantastically as the comedy. The people who have seen the film will know especially what I’m talking about with Muriel’s mother being one such example.

You know a film has captured the mainstream audience’s imagination when lines from the film become catchphrases. Hence, ‘You’re dreadful, Muriel’ became part of the common language. I remember promotional t-shirts at the time that said ‘Let her finish her Orgasm’ on them. Which is always a great thing.

The ABBA karaoke scene is worth the price of admission alone. It just so happens that the rest of the film is just as brilliant. This is also one of the gayest movies ever made even though there’s not one gay character in sight. That takes some doing.

1. Turkey Shoot (1982)

I first saw this when I was living in the heart of Sydney. There was an incredible video shop that had wall-to-wall horror and exploitation and was called Dr. What in Bondi Junction. I rented Turkey Shoot as I remembered the quad poster from the 80’s. My life would be changed.

Convicts are let loose so that rich folk can hunt them for sport. There’s a time limit of 12 hours. If the hunted are still alive after that time, they can walk free and not go back to captivity.

I don’t want to spoil the thrill of seeing this masterpiece for the first time but let’s just say that if you love horror, exploitation, Oxploitation and extreme cinema, you will LOVE this movie! It takes a lot for me to call a film outrageous but this film is FUCKING WILD! On top of that, it stars Steve Railsback who played Charlie Manson in Helter Skelter and Lynda Stoner who is as good as Aussie royalty. 

The Oxplotation documentary Not Quite Hollywood dishes the dirt royally on this gem. I love the fact that the producer who was massively into gambling lost a huge chunk of the film’s budget via his betting. Hence, the budget diminished massively. 

This is one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite films.

Bubbling under…Mad Max 1 and 2, Pizza (yes, really!), Chopper, The Howling III, Romper Stomper, Patrick, Strictly Ballroom.