Welcome to Woop Woop

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Welcome to Woop Woop
Theatrical film poster
Directed byStephan Elliott
Screenplay byStephan Elliott
Michael Thomas
Based onThe Dead Heart (novel)
by Douglas Kennedy
Produced byFinola Dwyer
Starring
CinematographyMike Molloy
Edited by
Roadshow Films
Release dates
13 May 1997 (1997-05-13) (Cannes Film Festival)
13 November 1998 (1998-11-13)
Running time
106 minutes (Cannes)
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$10 million[1]
Box office$527,346

Welcome to Woop Woop is a 1997 Australian comedy film directed by Stephan Elliott and starring Johnathon Schaech and Rod Taylor. The film was based on the novel The Dead Heart by Douglas Kennedy. "Woop Woop" is an Australian colloquialism referring to an inexact location, usually in rural or remote Australia.

Plot

Teddy (

Fremantle
), they opted to return to their old lives in Woop Woop. At first, they repopulated themselves incestuously, which caused wide mental instability. A rule was then enacted ("Rule #3"), preventing residents from sleeping with their relatives. Since then, outsiders like Teddy have been occasionally kidnapped to keep Woop Woop populated.

Their only export is dog food made from road-killed

Rodgers & Hammerstein
films and soundtracks, the latter of which they play constantly. These are presumably leftover from the town's last official contact with the civilized world.

After witnessing another kidnapping, 'Midget,' the local hairdresser, is shot dead by Daddy-O during an attempted escape. Teddy soon realizes he will be trapped in Woop Woop for life unless he finds a way out for himself. Initially, he repairs his VW van, which had been vandalized by the locals, only to have it vandalized again by Daddy-O. In addition, the Australian Cattle Dog that he adopts is shot, and killed by a child, as a part of 'Dog Day.' He befriends a couple of locals, including the scruffy, affable Duffy and Krystal, Angie's sister, who help him confront Daddy-O's iron-fisted reign and arrange an escape plan. Duffy, reprimanded by Daddy-O for breaking 'Rule #3,' nonetheless elects to stay in Woop Woop, while Teddy, Krystal, and Krystal's pet cockatoo escape.

Cast

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released by Universal Music Group.

  1. "
    Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" - Cake
  2. "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" - Reel Big Fish
  3. "Timebomb" - Chumbawamba
  4. "I Can't Say No" - Poe
  5. "Welcome to Your Life (Woop, Woop)" - Boy George
  6. "
    Shaggy
  7. "Bali Ha'i" - Moodswings and Neneh Cherry
  8. "Dog's Life" - eels
  9. "
    You'll Never Walk Alone" - Robin S.
  10. "

Release

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10.[2]

Elliot's earlier film release, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, had been a Cannes hit in 1994. The uncompleted Welcome to Woop Woop was screened "out of competition" at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival,[3] an experience Elliott described as "excruciating".[4]

Australian film critic Michael Adams later included Welcome to Woop Woop on his list of the worst ever Australian films, along with Phantom Gold, The Glenrowan Affair, Houseboat Horror, The Pirate Movie, Les Patterson Saves the World and Pandemonium.[5]

It has become a cult classic in the years following its release, notably loved by RuPaul.[6][7][8]

Box office

Welcome to Woop Woop grossed $489,725 at the box office in Australia.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood (Bear Manor Media, 2010) p230
  2. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Welcome to Woop Woop". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  4. ^ Fahfangoolah! The despised and indispensable Welcome to Woop Woop by Michael Winkler, Westbourne Books, 2016, p.56
  5. (p.144)
  6. ^ Free, Erin (18 November 2019). "Rude, Crude And F&*%In' Lewd: The Making Of Welcome To Woop Woop". filmink.com.au. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  7. ^ Luke Buckmaster (19 February 2015). "Gloriously batty love letter to Australia". TheGuardian.
  8. ^ Andrew F.Peirce (9 June 2021). "Stephan Elliott's Magnificent Eccentric Exercise in Outback Bacchanalia Stripped Bare". thecurb.
  9. ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

External links