Long Weekend

Long Weekend is an Australian psychological thriller film shot in 1977 and first shown in 1978. The film was directed by Colin Eggleston and stars John Hargreaves and Briony Behets. Plot Peter and Marcia, along with their dog Cricket, go for a weekend camping trip to a secluded beach. There is tension between the couple, and it appears that each may have a lover. Marcia is not keen on taking this trip but does so grudgingly. On the way there, Peter's discarded cigarette butt ignites a small fire, and the car accidentally kills a kangaroo. Once they have arrived and set up camp at the edge of a wooded area near the beach, the couple cause more environmental damage, including the theft and destruction of an eagle's egg, the killing of a dugong, what appears to be the killing of a throng of birds, and the needless partial chopping of trees. Peter and Marcia bicker, and it is revealed that a crucial source of mutual resentment is an abortion she had following an affair with another man. As tensions rise between the self-absorbed and environmentally toxic couple, nature starts to strike back: first by an eagle and possum attacking Peter, and then through more insidious means. Marcia, desperate to get away, steals Peter's car and leaves him alone with night drawing in. Peter arms himself with a spear-gun which he fires blindly at a noise during his troubled night.