Long Weekend (1978 film)

Long Weekend
Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Colin Eggleston
Screenplay by	Everett De Roche
Produced by	Colin Eggleston
Starring	John Hargreaves Briony Behets
Cinematography	Vincent Monton
Edited by	Brian Kavanagh
Music by	Michael Carlos
Production company	Dugong Films
Distributed by	Hoyts Distribution
Release date	October 1978 (1978-10) (Sitges Film Festival)[1]
Running time	92 minutes[2]
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	AU$425,000[3] or $270,000[4]

Long Weekend is an Australian psychological thriller film shot in 1977 and first shown in 1978. The film was directed by Colin Eggleston and stars John Hargreaves and Briony Behets.

Plot[]

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The story concerns a couple, Peter (Hargreaves) and Marcia (Behets), who, along with their dog, go for a weekend camping trip near the beach. The pair show incredible disrespect for nature, especially Peter, they pollute the environment and disrupt the ecosystems, throwing lit cigarette butts in dry bush, killing a dugong, and destroying an eagle's egg.^[5] As tensions between the couple escalate, nature is not pleased with their environmental wrongdoing and starts to strike back, first by an eagle and possum attacking Peter, and then through more insidious means.^[6] The film culminates as Marcia reaches her last straw and steals Peter's car, leaving him stranded at the beach. Both of them are left alone for a night to survive the elements. The next morning, Peter finds Marcia's body, impaled with a spear, and his car in horrible condition, which he eventually ditches. Peter finally finds the main road after hours of searching and steps on to the road to wave down a truck, however before anything can happen a bird attacks the truck driver, causing him to lose control, hitting and killing Peter; nature has finally enacted its revenge.

Cast[]

• John Hargreaves – Peter
• Briony Behets – Marcia
• Mike McEwen – Truck Driver
• Roy Day – Old Man
• Michael Aitkens – Bartender
• Sue Kiss von Soly – City girl

Production[]

The script was the first feature script written by Everett De Roche, an experienced Australian TV writer. He was inspired by a trip he took on an Easter weekend to an isolated beach in New South Wales:

I started LW as a way to avoid the TV-cop-show doldrums while still convincing myself I was "working". LW was a unique project because I began with no outline, no notes or research, very little idea as to where the story was going, and absolutely zero knowledge of screenplays. I simply started at page 1, scene 1, and made it up as I went. I had only a vague plan to write a kind of environmental horror story. My premise was that Mother Earth has her own auto-immune system, so when humans start behaving like cancer cells, She attacks. I also wanted to avoid a JAWS-like critter film. I wanted the LW beasties to all be benign-looking and not overtly aggressive.^[7]

De Roche wrote the script in ten days.^[8] He showed it to Colin Eggleston, who had worked with him at Crawfords, and Eggleston decided to make the movie.^[7] Funds were obtained from Film Victoria and the Australian Film Commission.

Shooting took place in March–April 1977 in Melbourne and near Bega in south-east New South Wales. The ending was originally different according to De Roche:

I wrote an enormously complicated sequence for near the end where the animals give Peter a second chance. They want him to wise up, and he is at the point of doing so when he hears a truck in the distance. He dashes off to the highway, and the animals decide there is no hope. Poetically, they leave it to another man to kill him.^[8]

However his scene was too difficult to shoot because it involved animals and was cut.^[8]

Release[]

The film premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in October 1978.^[9]

The film tied with Invasion of the Body Snatchers to win the at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, won the Special Jury Award at 1978's Paris Film Festival and won Best Film, Prize of the International Critics' Jury for director Eggleston and Best Actor for Hargreaves.^[10]

It was not released theatrically in Australia until 1979, and was a commercial disappointment.^[3]

Critical reception[]

AllMovie wrote, "Long Weekend is little more than an extended cautionary tale about the karmic foolishness of disrespecting nature.^[11] praised the film, and also commented on its obscurity: "when an obviously well made and executed little thriller comes along, an exercise in controlled dread and eerie atmosphere that's really effective, you have to ponder the reasons why the vast majority passed on it. Early Australian cinema seems cursed in this category."^[12]

De Roche later expressed some dissatisfaction with the film:

Unfortunately, the bush comes across as a threat too early; it should have emerged as a threat only after the audience had sympathized with the animals. And I don’t think that sympathy is there. Long Weekend would have been much better if the audience had been told at the beginning that Peter and Marcia were going to die. This way, it wouldn’t have had to sympathize with them, and could have concerned itself solely with when this was going to happen. Such is the essence of suspense.^[8]

Remake[]

In 2008, Australian director Jamie Blanks shot a remake of the film (alternately titled Nature's Grave). The film starred James Caviezel and Claudia Karvan.^[13]

See also[]

• Cinema of Australia

References[]

External links[]

• Long Weekend at IMDb
• Long Weekend at Oz Movies
• Long Weekend at Australian Screen Online
• The Long Weekend at AustLit