A Disappointing Continuation

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Snapshot (1979) ** (out of 4)Angela (Sigrid Thornton) is a rather timid 19-year-old who lives in fear of her mother. Her model friend talks her into taking a job where she will be shot by a famous photographer. The job requires nudity, which Angela is talked into but soon afterwards her mother kicks her out of the house. Angela soon finds herself living with friends and all is going well until she begins getting stalked.This Ozploitation movie also goes under the titles ONE MORE MINUTE, THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN and THE NIGHT AFTER HALLOWEEN. The "Halloween" titles were an obvious attempt to try and cash in on John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN and it's those titles that probably gave this film its cult following. With that said, you're best to just forget all about that because this film isn't a slasher and it barely contains any horror elements.So, what is SNAPSHOT? Well, it's basically a drama and a sometimes dark one at that. The film is really a character study of this young lady as we see her go from this weak child to somewhat of a stronger adult. She makes a few bad mistakes, finds herself on her own and she must fight to get everything back and oh yeah, there's the stalker aspect that turns up around the hour mark. Is this a good movie? I would say no but there are at least some interesting things that make it worth watching.For starters, the performance by Thornton is one that I really enjoyed and for the most part I thought the supporting players were good as well. The film does a nice job with this woman's story but the director just never brings any real drama or tension to the film. You're basically mildly entertained by what you're watching but at the same time you're not really connected to any of it. The stalker stuff pretty much comes out of nowhere and it really doesn't pay off as one would hope.SNAPSHOT is an interesting film and a mildly entertaining one but that's pretty much as far as the praise will go.

It's easy to imagine rabid horror fans being sorely disappointed with the Australian production "Snapshot", a.k.a. "The Day After Halloween". The advertising and the alternate title might lead people to think they're about to watch an Ozploitation slasher, but such is not the case. This is really more of a drama with mystery elements, as it follows a naive and immature young lady, Angela (Sigrid Thornton of the "Man from Snowy River" series), who works as a hairdresser. She's recruited by customer Madeline (Chantal Contouri) into the modelling business where she immediately has some success posing topless for an ad. The story, co- written by talented Everett De Roche ("Roadgames", "Razorback", "Patrick"), follows Angela as she meets a variety of characters, including sleazy Elmer (Robert Bruning). Angela soon becomes disturbed by strange occurrences in her life. For example, just who the hell was it that put that pigs' head in her bed? Could it be her dullard ex-boyfriend Daryl (Vincent Gil), who drives a Mr. Whippy ice cream truck? Angela certainly seems to think so.Admittedly, "Snapshot" (which is really the far more appropriate title for the film, as this does NOT have anything to do with the Halloween season) is not for those film fans who crave excitement and spectacle. It gets off to quite a good "start", which is bleak and atmospheric, and our curiosity is whetted: what kind of events led to the reveal here? From then on, things get fairly interesting and remain watchable as we watch Angela lose a little of that naivety. Never as exploitative as some people may want, it's slowly paced and talky but it does populate its tale with a number of entertaining characters and fine performances. Contouri, who went on to star for producer Antony I. Ginnane in the horror film "Thirst", is delightful as the worldly Madeline, and Thornton is convincing enough in the central role. Bruning plays a creep well, but what's going to make watching "Snapshot" irresistible for some of those in the audience is seeing two cast members from "Mad Max", Gil (who played the Nightrider), and Hugh Keays-Byrne (who played the Toecutter) in supporting roles. Keays-Byrne, playing the photographer Linsey, is quite amusing in a real scene stealing performance. Stylish widescreen photography by Vincent Monton and wonderful music by the always reliable composer Brian May also add to the enjoyment. There's a well done fire gag towards the end of the film.Overall, this is good entertainment for those who want a twist laden and character driven tale.Six out of 10.

I imagine that the Americans and Canadians who went to see this Australian movie in theaters in the 70s felt ripped off. For starters, it was retitled "The Day Before Halloween", yet it has NOTHING to do with the John Carpenter movie of 1978. The only similarity it has is with some of the piano music, which sort of sounds like Carpenter's score at times. But even if the movie had been released over here under its original name, viewers would have felt ripped off. For large chunks of the movie, absolutely NOTHING of consequence happens. All that you'll get out of the movie is that the modelling business can be a cold and cutthroat experience, something I think that any viewer would know already. The trivia section for this movie says that the script was written in ten days. It shows.

Quite recently I watched a marvelous documentary on Australian exploitation cinema entitled "Not Quite Hollywood: the True, Untold Story of Ozploitation" – which I highly recommend to anyone – and it really stimulated me to track down a lot of titles I've never even heard about before. "Snapshot" is one of them; a peculiar psycho-thriller/melodrama hybrid that coincidentally came out shortly after the huge box office success of "Halloween" and thus had to be re-titled "The Day After Halloween" in order to make extra money and cash in on the success of John Carpenter's classic. Obviously this movie has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween, Michael Myers or Haddonfield and hopefully not too many people will be beguiled by this cheap marketing scam. I'm not even too sure "Snapshot" fully qualifies as horror, since the film barely features any genuine moments of fright. Despite the still relatively low number of independent cult movies produced in Australia around that time, "Snapshot" is an adequate and professional accomplishment with proper production values, respectable performances and ambitious story contents. Heck, the film is so ambitious that the drama overrules and the thriller elements never really even come through. "Snapshot" is much more of a satiric portrait of the sleazy and dishonest advertising/modeling industry than it is a nail-biting suspense thriller. Director Simon Wincer ("Harlequin", "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man") seemingly never ceases to enlarge the melodramatic universe surrounding the main character Angela, but actually there's very few action. 19-year-old Angela is lurid into shooting a topless modeling ad by an eloquent and she promptly gets offered a job as the face of a perfume brand. Angela is very enthusiast and moves in with her photographer, especially since she's tired of her domineering mother and dead-end job at the hair dresser salon. She rapidly adapts to her new classy life and doesn't even have to bother anymore about her stalking ex-boyfriend and his (not-so) inconspicuous ice cream van. However, she learns this is predominantly a rotten world full of greed, betrayal, false promises, sexual harassment, blackmail and danger. As said, "Snapshot" is a plain straightforward coming-of-age drama falsely advertised as a genuine horror movie. There are two noteworthy sequences near the very end, but they hardly seem worth waiting for. This could be an interesting and compelling viewing experience, but then you better know beforehand to expect a serious-toned film instead of a brainless slasher imitation.