| Open Season Directed by Peter Collinson ( Spain �1974) The Most Dangerous Game may just be the most ripped off movie in the history of film, and the Spanish produced Open Season continues that proud exploitation tradition. Ken, Artie, and Greg are three crazed Vietnam veterans (just once I�d like to see a level-headed celluloid Vietnam veteran� but alas, it isn�t to be) with a love of hunting. But our three mean spirited Elmer Fudd�s are faced with a dilemma. After several tours of duty picking off Viet Cong guerillas and N.V.A. insurgents in the jungles of �Nam, shooting run of the mill animals just isn�t exciting anymore. So much like their inspiration Count Zaroff, the unbalanced trio come to the conclusion that man is the most elusive prey of all. The hunters build a cabin on a remote lake, and hold their annual hunt there. Ken, Artie, and Greg usually kidnap their prey somewhere along the back roads on their way to the cabin. Then they spend some time getting to know their frightened quarry before giving them a head start with a compass and a knife. The three thrill killers have bypassed Count Zaroff�s crossbow and hounds for rather less sporting high powered hunting rifles and shotguns. After years of bringing hapless motorists to the secluded cabin under duress, the annual hunting trip has almost lost its shock value for the sadistic trio. When they see a young woman with a middle aged man at a roadhouse on their way to the cabin, Artie evaluates them as prey. He notices that the man looks nervous, and surmises that the couple are doing the dirty on their spouses. If he�s correct, the couple�s infidelity will work in their favour. They probably aren�t even supposed to be in this area, so making them vanish will be much easier than it usually is. As they follow the pair of lovebirds down the freeway and onto a forest shrouded road, Ken glances out the back window to ensure that the coast is clear. �Whadda ya say? Any witnesses?� he asks Greg. �Nobody here but us State Troopers� Greg replies, readying his fake State Trooper badge. The trio force the other car of the road, and order the driver Martin and his blonde bombshell mistress Nancy out of the vehicle at gunpoint. They dump Martin�s sedan in the depths of the nearby lake, and continue on toward the cabin in Greg�s domesticated station wagon. Martin initially believes that their motive is money, and tries to convince his captors that neither of them have any. �Now friend, everybody�s got money if they really need it. You know that� Greg chides. When they finally arrive at the hunting grounds after a failed escape bid by Martin, Greg proudly gives the pair a tour of their spacious cabin. He explains that they built the modest hideaway with their own hands, which probably explains why it has some interesting additional fixtures. One is an ankle shackle attached to the kitchen floor by a chain several metres long. The hunters firmly believe that a woman�s place is in the kitchen, so they lock the shackle securely around Susan�s leg and order her to prepare a meal. Their female captive has heard of being chained to the kitchen sink, but this is ridiculous. As the others relax in the living area beneath the mounted deer (apart from Martin of course, who looks ready to soil himself), Ken has some advice for Susan. He tells her that Martin will never leave his wife for her. That he�s simply using her. Ordinarily it would be sound advice, but the fact that Kenny has the near catatonic woman shackled to the kitchen floor marinates his advice with just a hint of hypocrisy. The next morning, the three hunters secure their guests, and go out for a spot of target practice on the lake. Every cute and fuzzy creature in the vicinity feels the wrath of their firearms. The boys are crack shots, so Nancy and Martin won�t stand a chance once the hunt begins. Nancy sees her feminine charms as their only hope of escape. As the whisky flows freely that night, she seduces Ken and sleeps with him. Ken seems to realise what the crafty little rabbit is trying to do, but plays along and sleeps with her anyway. But Ken doesn�t get all mushy on us. The next afternoon he hands the pair a compass and a knife on the front verandah. Nancy is shocked. She�s quite the looker; and she�s never had a man dump her before. She may look like a fox, but having a lover hunt her down like one is a new low in her sex life. She drops to her knees, and tells Kenny she�ll do anything to please him. �It�s bye bye time� Ken tells her, oblivious to her pleas. As the pair flee from the cabin, the hunt begins. But unbeknownst to the three eager hunters, an anonymous fourth party has entered the hunt. And he doesn�t have his sights on Martin or Nancy. The stranger is more interested in picking off Ken, Artie, and Greg! This obscure Spanish film has a reasonably strong ensemble cast of well known American and European actors. Peter Fonda is fairly believable as the subtly insane Ken. He admirably resists the urge to overact like a trooper, so he�s both likeable and despicable as a character. There�s even an Easy Rider in-joke as he tells Nancy that a morning swim �changes your mind� gives you a whole new way of looking at the day�. Richard Lynch is the exact bipolar opposite to Ken. He never misses an opportunity to try and steal a scene from Fonda by hamming it up as much as possible. Cornelia Sharpe is not only pleasing to the eye, but also a fairly interesting character who is willing to be as immoral as possible in order to preserve her life. Interestingly enough, the only person to physically strike Nancy throughout the film is a jealous Martin the morning after her tryst with Ken in the loft of the cabin. The film suggests that Martin has become even more mentally unstable than his �always in control� captors. The only real problem that Open Season faces is that it almost feels like the production suffered a budget blowout; and as a result the last fifteen or twenty pages of the script were discarded and replaced with revisions written hastily on several squares of toilet paper. Despite the fact that the film builds suspense via several strong characterisations and an ironic sense of claustrophobia (despite the wide open spaces), it all fizzles out with a mystifying anticlimactic ending that�s sure to leave you scratching your head for days. Still, this is a rare as hell clash of exploitation a mainstream film that�s well worth hunting down. Entertainment : 3 out of 4 Watchability : 2 out of 4 Overall : 2.5 out of 4 Reviewed by Blake |