#38 - Long Weekend (1979)
(dir. Colin Eggleston)
The most miserable couple ever heads to a secluded beach to spend the weekend. On the way they start a brush fire and run over a kangaroo, and once they arrive they commit crime after crime against nature, culminating in the killing of a harmless dugong they mistook for a shark. They begin hearing a creepy wail at night that sounds almost human, the local wildlife becomes increasingly hostile, and they soon find themselves fighting for their lives.
This an Australian "eco-horror" film, a subgenre that was popular in the '70s as people became aware of how much damage man was doing to the environment. Most of those films took the form of a killer animal movie - Frogs, Night of the Lepus, Day of the Animals, etc. Long Weekend certainly features some hostile animals, but it also has a supernatural element to it that makes it a whole lot scarier and more interesting to me.
I didn't love the first 15-20 minutes of this film, and I was prepared for it to be a bit dull throughout. Luckily it picks up a lot once the creepy stuff starts. After that it gets very good, and it's probably the best eco-horror film I've seen. Recommended for sure!
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