Richard Franklin directs Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis and Grant Page in this Aussie road thriller where a trucker begins to suspect there’s a van driver in the outback killing sexy hitchhikers.

Future Psycho 2’s director Franklin proved his Hitchcockian bonafides with this quirky and strange little etching of a movie. I’m sure I must have watched it as a teen… for while I never logged it as something I’d consumed on late night TV back then this all felt too familiar. The ultra patient opening with the bin bag and the dingo outside the motel. That weirdly expressionistic scene of the first murder involving a faceless pair of surrogates for the top billed stars. Keach’s barnstormingly awkward lynchpin protagonist. Almost like a kindlier, cuddlier Oliver Reed gone doolally from isolation. The comical cast of irregular drivers who our paths cross cross with between the thrills and the paranoia. Jamie Lee and Stacey hitting it off in the remains of a sand flooded township. The surprise twist when they find the van parked. The frightening mob mentality of the ‘all seems lost’ conclusion. Brian May’s bonkers, discordant score. A gem from Oz.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Wake In Fright (1971)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/