Long Weekend

Long Weekend (1979)

A couple, Peter and Marcia, head out on a camping trip to resolve some personal issues and hopefully improve their relationship. On they’re way to the isolated beach they throw garbage on the road and run over a kangaroo. After getting to the beach and setting up camp strange things begin to happen. While Peter is surfing Marcia sees something huge coming towards him in the water. It turns out to be a large walrus that washes up on the beach, dead later on. Also the trees seem to creak and groan at them, and they find an abandoned camp and van close to where they have set up. Their already strained relationship finally cracks under the strain, which causes Peter and Marcia to fight, which leads to tragedy. All the while the dead walrus keeps getting closer to the campsite (I’m not kidding). Is nature attacking them or is it their own paranoia? The ending isn’t clear on that issue, but it certainly seems so to me.

This is a very popular movie, and was recommended to me by a couple of staff members here at Bloodtypeonline. The movie starts off really slow and never picks up the pace. That in itself wouldn’t be such a bad thing if I were at all interested in the characters or their problems. I honestly didn’t care what happened to them at all. The only character in the movie that I was at all interested in and worried if they would survive was the family dog. Since the movie is all about the characters and building tension over if they will survive or not it was an uphill struggle to keep me interested. Not only that but the movie telegraphs both of the really big “twists” so much so that I knew what was coming. So the “shock” value of these twists just didn’t exist for me.

Now I do want to give some credit to the movie. It does manage to build some atmosphere. When the characters start to freak out and get paranoid it is completely believable. Plus the film has to be carried by the two main actors, and they are up to the task. Both performances bring the characters to life in a realistic way. It is just too bad the talent was wasted on completely unlikable and uninteresting characters.

I suppose that I would of really preferred if the walrus was oversized due to radiation or something and climbed up on the beach to get his revenge. Or maybe seagulls and crocodile could attack the camp while they were sleeping. Anything other than the snooze fest that was Long Weekend. If you insist on checking this one out rent it. The DVD isn’t that cheap and I’m pretty certain that a good portion of you will feel the same way about it that I do.

1 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer