The Plumber (1979) Dir. Peter Weir

I enjoy Australian cinema and have managed to seek out several films over the last few years. This is mostly due to a certain quality that is difficult to quantify or put into words. It is most likely due to several identifiable features present in Australian films from the 70’s and 80’s. The outback, often featured as a setting, provides the viewer with feelings of desolation and uncertainty. Humour is also an important factor in these films, often being extremely dry and irreverent. Films of this nature that spring to mind are – Long Weekend (1978), Road Games (1981), Patrick (1978) – often described as ‘Ozploitation’ there are many other titles, many of which I am yet to discover. For those that are interested, a documentary simply called ‘Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!’ (2008) features many titles, some better known than others.

The Plumber is a film that I stumbled upon through a friend. I wrongly assumed that it would be a straight-up slasher type horror. Director Peter Weir is best known for his work on Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dead Poets Society (1989) and Master and Commander (2003.) The Plumber was made shortly after Picnic at Hanging Rock and was originally intended as a TV movie but was later released internationally in cinemas. The actors featured in the film will be recognisable to some, from their appearances in Australian soap operas, particularly Ivar Kants who appeared as school principal Barry Hyde in popular soap Home and Away.

The plot is a simple one, Dr Brian Cowper (Robert Coleby) and his wife Jill (Judy Morris) share an apartment owned by the university where they both work. Dr Cowper is hardly ever at home, constantly out at work and meetings, leaving wife Jill home alone studying for a Masters in anthropology. The film starts as we see Dr Cowper leaving for work and a stranger entering the building. This turns out to be Max (Ivar Kants), a plumber employed by the university who turns up unannounced, claiming that he has some standard maintenance work to do throughout the building. Max begins work by chipping away at the tiles under the bathroom sink and can then be heard showering. When Jill asks what he’s doing he demands that she leaves him to his work. He then tells her that the pipes are a mess and he will have to return to complete more work.

The main body of the film concentrates on Max’s daily visits to the apartment. On each visit the plumbing gets worse and Jill becomes gradually more distressed and upset by Max’s constant harassment and unusual behaviour which gets worse as the film progresses. When Jill attempts to express her concerns to her husband, he simply brushes off her fears as paranoia. One of the most memorable scenes in the film include Max (also a struggling songwriter) penning a protest song in the bathroom, scribing his lyrics in pen on the bathroom tiles and performing the song at top volume, much to Jill’s distress. Another memorable scene is when Max erects scaffolding in the bathroom which renders it largely useless. As the Cowper’s have people for dinner, one of their guests gets himself trapped in the rigging and injures himself. This is a unique, unusual and memorable film which is difficult to categorize. It would be best described as a psychological thriller and certainly has creepiness throughout and is successful at making the viewer feel uncomfortable. The actors featured do a great job, particularly Ivar Kants, who brings a threatening and unhinged quality to Max. The ending was also totally unexpected, if a little abrupt, but gave the sometimes surreal nature of the film a satisfying and logical conclusion.

Stewart Kinloch

Exterminator 2 (1984) dir. Mark Buntzman

James Glickenhaus’ The Exterminator (1980) is at the pinnacle of vigilante movies, a gritty, urban revenge thriller. Haunted by the horrors of his treatment as a prisoner in Vietnam, John Eastland (Robert Ginty) seeks a deadly recompense for the brutal beating and subsequent death of his best friend. Not content with wiping out the street gang responsible for the beating Eastland soon turns his somewhat detached attention to combating organised crime in a film described by film critic Roger Ebert as a “sick example of the almost unbelievable descent into gruesome savagery in American movies.”

With such an impressive pedigree including the return of Ginty in lead role and the Exterminator back to clean up the streets of New York, flame-thrower in hand, it’s hard to see how Exterminator 2 could fail…

Seemingly unhindered by his identification by the FBI as the original exterminator towards the end of the first film, Eastland is living a relatively quiet life in New York, hanging around with his garbage-truck driving best friend Be Gee (no, seriously) and hooking a pretty girlfriend in the shape of dancer Caroline. It doesn’t take long for Be Gee to get involved in disrupting the robbery of an armoured truck containing $500,000 by a drug running gang under control of their leader X. Mistakenly believing that the truck belongs to Eastland the gang attack Caroline in a park, crippling her and bringing an end to her dancing dreams. Vowing vengeance, it’s time to reinforce the garbage truck and break out the welding mask and flame-thrower for a spot of gang-banging Exterminator style!

Coming four years after the original film and the sole directorial credit of Mark Buntzman, Exterminator 2 had a troubled production and it shows in the final film. Shot and set in New York, re-shoots and extra footage were shot at a later date in Los Angeles supervised by Movie Mr Fixit William Sachs who was already attached in the role of co-producer. By this time not only was the original city not available but Ginty was also unavailable with the welding helmet being utilised to disguise the lack of the lead actor! Observant viewers will also notice the ever changing flame-thrower between scenes, veering between a weapon of mass destruction one moment and the next carrying all the menace of a Bunsen burner from an elementary chemistry class.

Adding to the problems outlined above is the distinct lack of menace exuding from gang leader X (Mario Van Peebles), apparently named due to the failure of director Buntzman to come up with anything more meaningful! It’s a little difficult to believe that a guy looking like a bargain basement Mad Max fresh off the set of a Cameo video is the drug-baron head-honcho of a gang capable of terrorising a city! Being cut heavily by the MPAA and then by 2 minutes and 39 seconds by the BBFC upon initial release didn’t help the film’s reputation either although the film is now finally available in its’ uncut form in the UK. Whilst the film has its’ faults, it’s exactly those faults that will appeal to fans of 80’s cinema looking for their next fix of cinematic retribution!

Rob Bewick