Brian Trenchard-Smith is one of my favorite directors of all time and I say that as someone who has only seen a handful of what his resume has to offer. When that resume includes titles like Dead End Drive-In, BMX Bandits and Night of the Demons 2, it’s quite easy to see why one would be so fond of him. One of his more popular titles amongst cult circles is Turkey Shoot, or Escape 2000 depending on where you are in the world. Up until recently I hadn’t seen this title, but fortunately the last few months have seen two Blu-ray releases, one in the US by Severin and then a mediabook from Europe-based Illusions Ultd. I’m a sucker for mediabooks so naturally I went that route.

Turkey Shoot doesn’t have the clearest story. The film picks up with three individuals in the back of a truck – Paul (Steve Railsback), Chris (Olivia Hussey) and Rita (Lynda Stoner). We know they’re prisoners of some sort but that’s about it. Each person gets their own little flashback sequence that kind of explains how they got picked up. This helps shed a little bit of light onto what is going on. Chris was picked up because she appeared to be assisting someone being chased by the police. Rita is there because they suspect her of being a prostitute. And Paul, his little flashback gives us the most insight as to what may be going on. He gets arrested while recording what appears to be a secret radio transmission in which he is basically encouraging a revolution.

The three are taken to Camp 47, a prison camp with a focus on behavioral modification. The camp is run by the extremely ruthless and brutal Charles Thatcher (Michael Craig) with the assistance of his lead enforcer, Ritter (Roger Ward). Thatcher explains to the three newbies why they are at the camp and what is expected of them. It’s during this time we learn that Paul has been in numerous camps similar to this one, escaping each time. Both Thatcher and Paul are looking forward to seeing if Paul can keep his streak alive.

Shortly after the three get situated in the camp, Thatcher decides to make them an offer. They’re going to play a little game and if they win they can leave freely. If they lose, however, well then they die. The rules to the game are quite simple. The three will be set loose in the jungle and three heavily armed killers will hunt after them. If they can somehow manage to evade the killers and survive they will earn their freedom. From that point on Turkey Shoot becomes this nonstop, incredibly violent human hunting expedition.

Thanks to some really awesome special features on this mediabook release I discovered why the story in Turkey Shoot doesn’t seem complete. Apparently due to budget cuts the first 15 pages or so were tossed out. Of course it was these 15 pages that set up the rest of the film. It’s a bummer these cuts were made because I’d really love to see what else Trenchard-Smith would have done. I don’t think the loss of the opening really hurts the film at all though. It’s still a ton of fun and you can still figure out what the story is about. The story takes place in a dystopian future in which the government rules with an iron fist. You oppose the government in anyway and you get thrown in one of these camps until you either learn to comply or you die. There is nothing more you need to know. The government controls all and as citizens you just need to fall in line.

It’s amazing how a movie over 30 years old has social commentary that is still relevant today. That’s probably a bad thing.

Trenchard-Smith really has a way with directing action. In fact an argument could be made that he’s one of the greatest action directors to ever live. At a screening for his film The Man from Hong Kong, I heard Trenchard-Smith talk about the importance of geography. He stressed that it’s the director’s job to make sure an audience knows where everything is located in a scene to make it more believable. It’s clear when watching Turkey Shoot, as well as many other Trenchard-Smith films, that he practices what he preaches. You get a good sense of the environment the characters are in which allows you to fully grasp the situation. He puts you in the action while letting you know just how big it is.

As a horror fan the first Hussey role that jumps to mind is Black Christmas. So seeing her in an exploitation type of film isn’t that bizarre to me. With that being said she does feel sort of out of place but I don’t mean that in a bad way…if that makes sense. Her personality suits the character of Chris so well. She gets thrown in this camp for no reason and can’t understand why she’s there. She has trouble making sense of it all. It’s like she has this innocent nature about her that just can’t comprehend the evils of the real world. From the interviews contained in the special features Hussey seemed to be a bit apprehensive about going to Australia to shoot a film. I think this aided in her performance.

Lynda Stoner is good in the film, but I don’t really feel like talking about her. In the special features all she does is bash the movie. She just pisses all over it and repeatedly says she doesn’t understand what anyone likes about it. I just find the whole thing to be annoying. I get it, actors aren’t going to like everything they’ve done, but don’t be disrespectful to the others that worked hard on the film.

Michael Craig is the complete opposite from Stoner. Based on everything he said he really enjoyed working on the film. It shows in his performance as Thatcher is just the perfect villain. He’s completely evil and because of his accent comes off as quite pompous. It’s a great combo for a baddie.

To sum it all up, Turkey Shoot is awesome. This serves as another great example in the long list of examples that highlight how amazing Brian Trenchard-Smith is as a director. There is a reason Quentin Tarantino loves this man. It’s because he’s awesome. You should love him too. Now go watch Turkey Shoot.

Turkey Shoot is now available on Region A Blu-ray from Severin Films and Region B Blu-ray from Illusions Unltd.