Which brings us to Dark Age, which flows naturally from yesterday’s pick given that it was sponsored by Legend of Ozploitation Brian Trenchard-Smith. On the surface, this film is a Late Cycle Ozploitation Era rip-off of Jaws. It’s not the first rip-off; Russell Mulcahy’s Razorback pre-dates it by three years. It’s not the last one, either; after all, Greg McLean was mining the same territory with Rogue in 2007. There are moments that mimic the Steven Speilberg classic to an uncomfortably slavish degree.
But it may very well be the only Jaws rip-off (it’s definitely the only one I’ve seen) where you’re supposed to have sympathy for the man-eating creature.
Dark Age, which wasn’t shown in its native Australia until 2011, was the product of producer Anthony I. Ginnane. Ginnane is one of the major figures in Ozploitation, and specialized in making films utilizing Australian Film Commission tax breaks that were just generic enough that he could, with a little dubbing, pass them off as American. It doesn’t quite work in many cases--Patrick is obviously dubbed and Thirst can’t escape the fact that it’s shot in the outback--and I’m glad that he didn’t try to hide this film’s Aussie origins because it's the Aussie-ness of it that is its biggest strength. Director Arch Nicholson takes full advantage of the unique landscape of the continent, where urban landscapes literally rub shoulders with wild landscapes and two separate civilization striving to (barely) co-exist.
Steve Harris (John Jarratt) is a ranger devoted to crocodile conservation...which becomes difficult when a uncommonly large croc turns the table on some poachers and chows down, leaving only Besser (Max Phipps) alive. Harris’ friend Oondabund (Burnham Burnham, who was also in one of my favorite Philippe Mora films, The Howling III: The Marsupials) insists that the creature is a ‘dreaming crocodile’ which carries the spirit of the aboriginal people inside it and resists the idea of killing it--even after it eats one of the children of hjs township whole. Harris works with Oonabund and his anthropologist ex-girlfriend Cathy Pope (Nikki Coghill) to protect the croc from Besser and government higher-ups who want the animal killed, which becomes more and more difficult when the croc is inching its way into the bay of Carins.
For the first half of the film, Nicholson treats the crocodile as a slasher villain, to the point that its victims sin before they are eaten (well, except for the aforementioned child, who gives the film that ‘no one is off limits’ attitude I appreciate in horror films). Then Harris and Oonabund catch the animal with the attention of taking it back to its home, but Besser--who has lost an arm because he tried to catch the dang thing again--and his band of Aussie Yahoo Pals are determined to wipe the creature off the face of the Earth. This gives it a different tone from many of the previous Jaws Rip-Offs, as we find ourselves...rooting for our heroes and hoping the monster we've watched eating people alive lives.
The film’s low budget sometimes pokes through, especially in regards to the crocodile itself which never looks quite right and looks less right the more we see it. But on the other hand, it is nearly impossible for Australia to not look photogenic, and the script narrowly avoids ascribing to its aboriginal actors the ‘magic native’ tropes. Sure, the soap operatics of Harris and Pope dancing about who was responsible for the break-up of their relationship (and the requisite embarrassing sex scene, featuring Jarratt sucking on Coghill’s knee) is awkward, but there’s not a lot of it. It comes in at just under ninety minutes, which means it has very little lag time.
This one was a fairly enjoyable watch. It won’t change your life, but you might find a lot of it entertaining. I do recommend this.
No sponsor tomorrow, so I’ve used the Randomizer to come up with 1964‘s The Blood Drinkers, supposedly the first color horror film made in the Philippines. Not surprisingly, given the title, it’s about vampires.
If you’d like to get me to watch a movie of your own choice during the Halloween Horrorfest, please consider joining the Domicile of Dread Patreon at the $3 Tier or greater. Each new patron gets a free slot in this Gauntlet of Ghoulishness!
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