Film

Turkey Shoot

Name: Turkey Shoot
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Horror
Released: 1982
Cast: Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey, Michael Craig, Carmen Duncan, Noel Ferrier

Survival adventure
Prison
Very dark
Relentless

Turkey Shoot is a visceral 1982 Australian exploitation film set in a dystopian prison camp where inmates are hunted for sport. It's grimy, relentless, and uninterested in restraint—a film that commits fully to its premise without apology. For viewers drawn to transgressive sci-fi and practical-effects brutality, it's essential; for everyone else, the graphic violence and blunt nihilism are precisely the problem.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like lean, pulpy survival thrillers where the cruelty is plain, the pace never lets up, and the B-movie grit is part of the charm.

Skip it if the nastiness is relentless and unsubtle, with the brutality played straight, and the thin, sometimes clumsy dialogue and dated 80s look may wear you down.

What it asks of you: A brisk ninety-three minutes with little warm-up, staying grim throughout, so you need a strong stomach for sustained brutality and no let-up.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Running Man1987

Schwarzenegger hunted in a televised killing game—same DNA as Turkey Shoot, but polished, blockbuster-scaled, and darkly funny about media spectacle and authoritarianism.

But The action is slicker and the satire broader, which some find dilutes the raw urgency of the original premise.

Battle Royale2000

A Japanese masterpiece about teenagers forced to kill each other. Shocking, inventive, and genuinely moving—it takes the hunt-for-sport idea and makes it philosophically devastating.

But Subtitled, and the violence involving young people will unsettle viewers regardless of the film's artistic merit.

Fortress1992

Christopher Lambert imprisoned in a futuristic fortress he must escape. Grimy, claustrophobic, and earnestly committed to its pulp premise in ways that feel kindred to Turkey Shoot.

But It's also 1990s B-movie sci-fi: the logic is wonky and the execution uneven, though that's part of the charm.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Turkey Shoot

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Hard Target1993

Both are about hunting humans for sport, but Hard Target channels the concept through cinematic technique rather than exploitation shock—it's what happens when a great director gets the same idea.

John Woo's American debut: homeless men hunted in New Orleans for sport. It's Turkey Shoot's direct narrative descendant, but elevated by Woo's balletic action direction and genuine style. Explosive, kinetic, and philosophically coherent about predation and class.

But It's a studio action film with Hollywood logic and romance, which softens the nihilism that makes Turkey Shoot matter.

Mad Max 21981

Australian post-apocalyptic action cinema at its peak—brutal, kinetic, visually inventive, and genuinely exciting. A masterclass in doing more with less.

But It's an action film first and foremost, without Turkey Shoot's exploitation-horror pitch or philosophical bleakness.

Escape from New York1981

Snake Plissken in a walled prison-city. Carpenter's cynical, pulpy vision of authority and survival has the same anti-establishment snarl and 80s-action-movie economy.

But Smarter and more stylish than Turkey Shoot, which means it doesn't have the same raw, unfiltered desperation.

Lockout2012

A man sent into an orbiting prison to rescue a hostage. It wears its B-movie heart proudly and has genuine fun with its premise in ways that honour the exploitation lineage.

But It's self-aware and jokey—if you want the grim conviction of Turkey Shoot, this lightness might feel like evasion.

Midnight Express1978

Brad Davis imprisoned in a brutal Turkish prison, desperate to escape. A harrowing, visceral portrait of incarceration and the will to survive at any cost.

But It's a true-story drama, not genre cinema, and the violence is presented as tragedy rather than spectacle.

Death Hunt1981

Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson in the frozen Canadian wilderness, hunter and hunted. Lean, tense, and confident in its pursuit narrative.

But It's a straightforward thriller, not sci-fi or exploitation—the register is entirely different from what makes Turkey Shoot distinctive.

No Escape1994

Ray Liotta in a medieval-themed futuristic prison. Ridiculous and committed to its own absurdity, with genuine stunt work and a sense of escalating peril.

But It's a Van Damme knock-off with uneven pacing, and the medieval-future mashup feels more gimmick than vision.

Possession1981

Both 1980s exploitation films that refuse to soften their vision or apologize for what they show—but Possession achieves transcendence through art while Turkey Shoot earns its power through raw commitment to premise.

A disintegrating marriage becomes cosmic horror in divided Berlin. Grotesque, hallucinatory, and genuinely disturbing—Andrzej Żuławski's masterpiece is transgressive cinema operating at a completely different frequency, all psychological dissolution and body-horror dread.

But It's slow, abstract, and structurally baffling; the body horror is unsettling rather than cathartic; it requires total investment in mood over plot.

Naked Lunch1991

Like Turkey Shoot, it's uncompromising 1980s-early-90s genre cinema willing to be ugly and difficult—but Naked Lunch uses that ugliness to achieve artistic vision rather than narrative momentum.

Cronenberg's adaptation of Burroughs—a hallucinatory fever-dream about addiction, control, and transformation. Surreal, grotesque, and completely committed to its own logic. If you want transgressive cinema that punishes the viewer's comfort, this is the masterwork.

But It's impenetrable, structurally chaotic, and designed to alienate as much as provoke. The body horror is sustained and unrelenting.