Deliverance is seen because the benchmark for backwoods, fish out of water thrillers (and sure, we cowl thrillers too for all you of us within the feedback that can say this isn’t horror) but it surely’s not alone. Whereas it’s actually true that the John Boorman 1972 thriller had extra success with its 46 million greenback return on a 2-million-dollar funds and three Oscar nominations together with Greatest Image, it could have been bested 9 years later. Southern Consolation has simply nearly as good of a pedigree in entrance of and behind the digital camera and continues to realize a greater and higher fame 44 years later. The horrors discovered inside this film permeate all the run time and embody probably the most intense and nerve wracking ultimate 20 minutes ever put to the display that can sit with you lengthy after the credit. Don’t mess with the locals as we revisit Southern Consolation.
Let’s begin with director/author/producer Walter Hill. Hill is a legend in Hollywood on each the massive and small screens. Beginning within the early 70s as a author he wrote the screenplay for Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway earlier than a string of widespread hits that he would each write and direct like Laborious Occasions, The Driver, and The Warriors. These classics would go on to encourage numerous imitators and homages, but it surely was his first producing credit score that may make its mark for many years to come back with Alien which he would even have uncredited script additions for. He would go on to assist with that franchise in numerous roles together with as a author on the a lot maligned Alien 3 and as a producer all the best way as much as 2024’s Alien: Romulus. He would later give us greats like The Lengthy Riders, 48 Hours, Excessive Prejudice and assist produce each Deadwood and Tales from the Crypt for HBO. It’s that horror pedigree that helps us ease into at the moment’s film.
Within the late Seventies, Walter Hill and fellow producer David Giler had a deal in place with twentieth Century Fox to “acquire and develop interesting and commercial scripts that could be made on a modest budget with a high return on investment.” Certainly one of these scripts ended up being Alien and the opposite was Southern Consolation that he initially wrote in 1976 as The Prey. Giler and Hill employed a screenwriter named Michael Kane and when he submitted it the 2 producers would rewrite it with all 3 males receiving credit score. Kane wouldn’t have a ton else on his resume however did write extra uncredited dialogue for Jaws 3D and provides us the screenplay for the Tom Cruise car All of the Proper Strikes. Producing companion Giler isn’t almost as properly generally known as Hill however he was simply as instrumental with the event of the Alien franchise and Tales from the Crypt as his companion and pal.
Southern Consolation, if simply described by somebody to you, sounds spinoff of Deliverance, but it surely’s acquired much more depth and has a Vietnam conflict allegory that Hill, like Romero and Evening of the Residing Useless’s casting of Duane Jones as a lead, denies as intentional. One of many theatrical posters saying “not since Deliverance” doesn’t assist the comparability however that is no copy. The film opens in a bayou in Louisiana the place a squad of Nationwide Guard reserve troopers are making ready for a weekend operation as follow. The squad is led by Poole, performed by Peter Coyote, and likewise consists of Spencer, Hardin, and Reece who occur to be performed by Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, and Fred Ward. Coyote has been round perpetually and is nice as Keys in E.T. and naturally confirmed up in Sphere which is why we’re protecting this film at the moment. I cherished seeing all of the shoutouts for Southern Consolation after I discussed it.
Fred Ward will perpetually be Earl Bassett within the first two Tremors motion pictures however for those who haven’t seen Remo Williams, please deal with your self to that magnificence. Keith Carradine is my favourite of that performing household that additionally consists of Robert and John. The Oscar winner labored with Hill typically and was an incredible Wild Invoice on Deadwood amongst many different roles. Lastly of the massive three Powers Boothe was chosen by Hill after he noticed him play Jim Jones however he’s superb all over the place particularly Tombstone and Frailty. The remainder of the unit is performed by enjoyable character actors, together with T.Okay. Carter from The Factor, Lewis Smith from Buckaroo Banzai, and Alan Autry from the TV collection model of Within the Warmth of the Evening. Boothe’s Hardin is over from the Texas reserves and isn’t impressed by what he sees from the management or the remainder of the staff even when he does get together with Spencer. The crew will get misplaced early in its journey to get throughout the panorama and decides to begin bother by taking some Cajun boats that they’ve intentions of returning.
The group of jokers freely makes use of their clean ammunition like school youngsters would joke and that comes again to chew them instantly when a gaggle of Cajuns is obvious at them for stealing the boats. They attempt to yell to them that the boats shall be returned however Stuckey stupidly fires his machine gun at them solely to have return hearth with actual bullets kill Poole. The remainder of the squad begins to disintegrate emotionally and mentally with Reece additionally revealing that he introduced actual ammo, one thing that’s identified from a pair different males. The dearth of management turns the boys towards one another in some instances and loopy in others. They’re hunted by faceless assailants, canine, and beset by traps that embody falling bushes and elevating spike traps. They’ve turn into strangers in an odd land and are outnumbered and outgunned. Hill knew that the comparisons to Vietnam would come up and instructed the solid and crew that he noticed it and didn’t need to hear about it for the entire shoot. It’s onerous to not see and provides an angle to the film that provides it legs that maintain making the film increasingly related.
The group finds its option to a trapper’s home however discover that he solely speaks French and is unable and unwilling to assist them. One of many males, Bowden, goes full Stallone from First Blood and blows up the shack that was stuffed with meals and weapons the remainder of the boys might have used earlier than turning into catatonic the rest of the film. After that act of aggression, it turns into all-out conflict and confusion with Hardin killing Reece in self-defense, traps and quicksand killing a pair others, and the Cajun hunters choosing off the remaining till solely Spencer and Hardin stay. They get out of the principle swamp and are picked up by a pleasant couple and brought to a seemingly pleasant city, however every thing will not be what it appears.
Earlier than attending to the riveting ultimate 20 minutes, let’s speak about how horrifying this film will be at instances. The music, by frequent Hill collaborator Ry Cooder, follows the tone of the film splendidly. It’s jovial when instances are good and turns into farcical in its tone when issues disintegrate. It provides a way of confusion and trepidation that we see on the faces of the reserve troopers as they stumble their means by more and more harmful places. One thing I hadn’t seen till this viewing is how the Cajun hunters, at the very least those within the swamps, are like slashers in the truth that they’ve that Voorhees capability to teleport round and be the place they have to be to kill off the troopers. Even their camp the place the boats are taken from looks like a den that the ultimate woman finds with all their weapons and trophies. They’re unstoppable and have a mysticism about them that’s terrifying and inevitable. After we run into the one which the staff had captured and later will get away, he speaks greater than sufficient English to inform the ultimate two buddies that they’re in over their heads. Even Bowden who has gone loopy midway by the film has a demise that sticks with you.
Hardin and Spencer discover him hung and we by no means get a transparent reply if he did it to himself or it was bayou justice. The best way a lot of the crew dies is down proper horrifying too. Whereas it was Stuckey’s silly choice to shoot on the Cajuns that began the entire nightmare situation, you continue to really feel horrible for him and horrified as his vast eyes sink into the quicksand. What’s presumably worse is when Simms is shot whereas working away and mutters “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not supposed to be here.” This might not be a horror film, however it’s rattling horrifying. Again to Hardin and Spencer. They get to a really pleasant village the place they’re provided meals and drinks however simply feels off. From the folks which will or might not be watching them to the 2 pigs in cages ready to be slaughtered mirroring their present scenario, every thing is tense. The blissful music right here lastly betrays what we see on display and it’s not till Hardin wanders off the grounds and runs right into a surly wanting Cajun performed by Sonny Landham that we lastly know the way a lot bother the 2 are in.
They run and combat their means out with every thing they’ve and at last following the helicopter to the highway and a truck that’s solely revealed on the final minute to be a U.S. army one. They’re presumably saved, and we get a contented ending that didn’t appear potential simply minutes earlier than. Apparently in an Iranian model of the movie that appeared within the late 80s beneath the title Operation Lagoon, the troopers have been overtly towards the Vietnam conflict and have been despatched by the federal government to be killed by hunters within the bayou. Even on the finish when the 2 remaining troopers seemingly escape, the film fades out to gunshots after we see the U.S. Military brand on the facet, implying that the federal government had the survivors killed though they made it out of the swamps. That’s grim.
Southern Consolation wasn’t the success that Deliverance was, nor did it come near the opposite script offered to Fox was in Alien. It made lower than 3 million on its 7-million-dollar funds within the U.S. however did rather well in Europe, one thing that Hill was at all times shocked by. Critiques have been principally good to it with Roger Ebert giving it 3 stars and saying it was a remarkably well-made movie however almost everybody in contrast it to the earlier decade’s Deliverance. It holds up remarkably properly and toes an incredible line between gradual burn and motion whereas giving audiences loads to consider. Vinegar Syndrome simply gave it its due with an excellent 4K launch that begs to be explored and reexamined. Southern Consolation is an uncomfortable have a look at what occurs when errors are made, and a gaggle of individuals start to disintegrate in part of the world that they’re grossly in over their heads. It deserves a rewatch or a primary time view for folks in search of a non-traditional horror expertise that can stick with you lengthy after the survivors escape.
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