Snapshot (1979)

Directed by Simon Wincer. Starring Sigrid Thornton ("Angela"), Chantal Contouri ("Madeline"), Robert Bruning ("Elmer"), and Hugh Keays-Byrne ("Linsey"). Rated R.

Source
Running time: 01:40:17
Country: Australia

"All I got is your photograph; I wanna touch you." - Def Leppard

SNAPSHOT follows a young woman named Angela, who's rescued from her dead-end job as a hairstylist and introduced to the world of modeling by a friend of hers, Madeline. Angela is hooked up with an eccentric photographer (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and it isn't long before she's posing topless on a beach for a cologne advertisement. Once her accidental modeling career takes off, Angela gets quite a bit of attention from the men in her life, be it sleazy industry types or a clingy ex-boyfriend who stalks her and drives around in an ice cream truck; this seems to bother Madeline, which is strange since she's the one who got Angela into modeling in the first place. Things take a scary turn for Angela when she finds herself being harassed by an unknown person who breaks into her house on more than one occasion, even going so far is to leave a severed pig's head in her bed. The harassment continues and paranoia ensues as SNAPSHOT builds to the inevitable reveal of Angela's unstable admirer.


This review is part of my ongoing quest to conquer the NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD documentary by covering all 50-something films that were mentioned in it; I highly doubt that will happen since a few of these movies are really hard to come by, but I'd like to give it a shot nonetheless. Speaking of which, NQH director Mark Hartley did an amazing job of presenting clips of these obscure Australian movies - some of which are still in VHS limbo - in a pristine, cleaned-up quality. Unfortunately, a lot of the films from the documentary that were lucky enough to get a digital upgrade only exist in poor-quality prints and were never given the proper care that they arguably deserve.

Screenshot from the Elite Entertainment release

Screenshot from Not Quite Hollywood

Anyway, about the movie. SNAPSHOT plays out like a cautionary tale of sorts; Angela, a vulnerable and socially-awkward young woman compromises her security for the opportunity to make quick cash, only for her new lifestyle to backfire on her. It's not a very exciting film, it's a tad long, and as a thriller it's pretty weak and somewhat predictable, but there's a nice little swerve at the end that I won't get into detail about for obvious reasons. Despite all of that, SNAPSHOT is one of those movies that I end up liking a lot but couldn't tell you why. Angela is an easy character for me to invest in because of actress Sigrid Thornton's naturally likable presence, and partly because of the fact that she appears in the film naked and dripping wet. In general, I quite enjoyed most of the cast. Chantal Contouri, who also starred in the Aussie vampire film THIRST, is great in this, as is legendary genre-film actor Hugh Keays-Byrne (MAD MAX). Other than that, I don't have much to say about this movie. Something about it just worked for me, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone go out of their way to see it.

Score: 6.5