Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! is an audacious, in-your-face documentary detailing the glut of exploitation films that were produced in Australia during the ’70s and early ’80s, with a particular emphasis on the sexually adventurous and brutally horrific fare that essentially spawned the film industry down under. Director Mark Hartley has infused Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! with an over-the-top sensibility that certainly suits the subject matter, as the filmmaker peppers the proceedings with quick cuts, big explosions, and a relentless pace that ultimately becomes somewhat exhausting. There just reaches a point at which one can’t help but feel that the whole thing is just too much, although, admittedly, one does come away from the proceedings with a pretty in-depth understanding of the so-called “Ozploitation” subgenre. Hartley offers up interviews with a whole host of talking heads, from the actors who worked on the films to the critics who reviewed them, yet there’s little doubt that the scene-stealer here is Quentin Tarantino. The excitable auteur offers up his thoughts on a myriad of thoroughly obscure movies, and one subsequently can’t help but walk away from Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! wanting to actually sit down and watch some of these long forgotten efforts.

**1/2 out of ****