Nature Found Them Guilty: 'Long Weekend'

Another in our remembrances of Australia's cinematic past. A forgotten gem of the Australian film industry of the 1970s is Colin Eggleston's 'Long Weekend' from 1978. A young couple go bush in an effort to rekindle the flames of their romance, but nature (even their pet Jack Russell) has other ideas – and goes on the attack. You may be familiar with a film by Alfred Hitchcock that explored a similar idea in far bleaker fashion, but 'Long Weekend' holds up quite well 30 years on.

The plot keywords at IMDB humorously capture the essence of the film too: "Female Nudity, Camping, Nature Run Amok, Nature Takes Revenge, Spear Gun". Highly recommended.

Also - 'Long Weekend' wasn't shot in Tasmania, yet there's a Tasmanian Devil that makes a guest appearance. (Well, they are pretty scary, even out of their home state), and note the electronic bird sound effects –€“ they're just like those in that other more prominent 'nature runs amok in Bodega Bay' film mentioned above.

Related (vaguely): artist Martin Hendriks removes the birds from 'The Birds'.