I have this thing for off-beat Australian movies. Among the more well-known are The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding. But this one is really strange, very psychedelic. One minute our protagonist (played by Johnathon Schaech) is in midtown Manhattan trying to pawn off some cockatoos and the next he’s driving a beat down old VW minibus across the Australian outback.
Welcome to Woop Woop, released in 1997, is actually the next directorial effort from Stephan Elliot (he wrote and directed Priscilla). Elliot will next year be writing and directing the 30th anniversary TV remake of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Anyway, Woop Woop is a town that’s not on anyone’s map, just a bunch–a hundred or so–of Australians led by Rod Taylor who embody the “leave me alone” lifestyle. When one of them needs a mate, they go off and see who likes to fuck them; the lucky winner gets drugged and shanghaied back to the little outpost. And not only is the place ringed by steep rock embankments, Taylor has guards with rifles and shoot to kill orders to keep pontential deserters in line.
Schaech catches the eye of Susie Porter, a tasty blonde hitchhiker who jumps his bones while he drives her to the sea. She decides she loves him, asks him if he feels the same way. The stupid schmuck, thinking it will keep her in bed a little longer, says he does. Let’s face it, if the boy was so smart he would not have needed to scram from NYC.
The actors all do fine jobs but this is a film that you need to be open to, be willing to not worry quite so much about the reality of the lives. And then you will enjoy the job that Elliot has done.
Recommended
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