Turkey Shoot 1982

Set in the then-future year of 1995, a totalitarian regime dominates the globe and labels certain people as “social deviants,” sending them to mass prison camps for forced re-education and behavior modification. At Camp 47, three new arrivals arrive under grim circumstances: Chris Walters, Olivia Hussey is an innocent shopkeeper arrested after trying to aid a rebel who was chased into her store and beaten by the police; Rita Daniels, Lynda Stoner is a woman branded as a suspected prostitute; and Paul Anders, Steve Railsback is a political dissident and pirate radio broadcaster who has already escaped from several other camps. The camp is run with a cruel precision by Camp Master Charles Thatcher, and the day-to-day life is a relentless grind of brutal, inhuman treatment designed to crush any spark of resistance. Chris narrowly avoids rape by the sadistic Red, Gus Mercurio, and Ritter, Roger Ward, while Paul endures torture for stepping in to help someone else. Their dorm-mates Griffin, Bill Young, and Dodge, John Ley each plot a way out, though their attempts are constantly watched by the guards who report to Thatcher.

On Thatcher’s watch, a circle of VIPs—portly Secretary Mallory, Noel Ferrier; icy Jennifer, Carmen Duncan; gleefully sadistic Tito, Michael Petrovitch; and Tito’s brutal accomplice Alph, Steve Rackman—select five prisoners to be hunted in a brutal, 12-hour “turkey shoot.” The chosen prey—Paul, Chris, Rita, Dodge, and later Griffin—are released into the wilderness with the promise that survival could earn them freedom. Griffin’s addition to the party comes after he clashed with Dodge in the dorms, a reminder that tensions inside the camp run as hot as the external chase.

The prisoners are given a three-hour head start and disperse at half-hour intervals, quickly finding themselves separated and facing lethal odds. Dodge is the first to be caught; Alph, following Tito’s grim instructions, breaks off and gruesomely damages him by toying with his toe before delivering a fatal blow. Thatcher toys with Paul, firing near-misses from a sniper rifle to drive him higher into a treacherous rock formation, impeding his attempts to reunite with Chris. Paul manages to turn the odds by triggering a rock slide that reshapes the terrain and gives him a narrow chance to press on. Griffin, meanwhile, makes a bold move and overpowers Red to seize his assault rifle, a moment that briefly shifts the balance of power in the open landscape, though his counterattack is ultimately overwhelmed—he is hit by arrows and crushed underfoot, a grim fate that underscores the brutality of the hunt. Jennifer then closes in on Rita, chasing her on horseback and trapping her before raping and killing her in a brutal display of control.

The hunt intensifies as Tito attempts to bisect Paul with his tractor’s front shovel, a vicious tactic that almost ends Paul’s escape—yet he dodges the strike and Tito’s misfortune turns fatal when Alph is killed in the chaotic moment. Mallory and his guide Ritter close in on Chris inside a dense jungle and a cane field, where Ritter’s attempt to smoke her out with fire is thwarted when Mallory stumbles into her, setting the stage for a dramatic clash. Before Mallory can commit a rape, Paul springs to action, disarms him, and shoots him in the groin, freeing Chris as Mallory dies in the flames. The pair stumble toward what they presume is the edge of the wilderness, only to discover they have reached a remote coastline and are stranded on an island with no apparent escape route.

Ritter finally catches up, but Chris disposes of him by severing his hands with a machete, leaving Ritter to bleed to death. The two protagonists vow to resist together, and their bond becomes a catalyst for the broader rebellion: they kill Tito and seize his buggy, arming themselves. With a mounted machine gun now in their hands, they return to the camp to face Thatcher’s last-ditch counterattack. The camp’s defenses crumble under a coordinated onslaught as a Royal Australian Air Force bomber arrives to annihilate the facility with napalm. Chris destroys the communications center and, in a brutal moment, ends Jennifer’s life by jamming an explosive arrow into her head. Thatcher—once the architect of this cruelty—meets a fiery end when a volley of machine-gun fire from Paul reduces him to a scattered blaze.

As the smoke clears, the remaining prisoners flee into the jungle, and the camp’s cruel regime is dismantled. The survivors, now led by Paul and Chris, take stock of their hard-won freedom, gather supplies, and begin the long, uncertain journey into the mountains, where they will seek safety and a new future away from the oppressive regime that shaped their perilous ordeal.