Fortress Reviews

Best Aussie dark thriller and it's version of The Lords of the Filies at the final battle scene.

Saw this as a kid at a neighbor's house and thought it was ok then. Last time I saw it about a few years ago it really did not hold up.

I'd seen this film a few times as a child on HBO back in the late 80's, and it always stuck with me. Too bad the title of the film wasn't one of the things that stuck as well, because for years I'd been trying to find out what movie it was. I lucked out a few months ago and finally watched it again yesterday. FORTRESS is a little known/unseen gem from Australia involving a teacher and her students who are suddenly kidnapped by a gang of gun-toting, mask-wearing criminals and taken out to the remote wilderness. Of course more happens, but I don't want to give away the chain of events which leads to one of the best endings involving children. Of course being 25 years old there's some things that are outdated and make you laugh but the overall feeling of fear throughout the film is still there as is the suspense. A movie with this subject matter involving children would never get made today. They sure don't make them like this anymore.

It all starts mundane enough, with a teacher and students in a one-room schoolhouse in Australia. Everybody does the things teachers and students do normally until the bad guys arrive and the rug is pulled out from everyday life.

As the scenes and situations shift and change, so do the roles and hierarchy of the teacher and students. The last part of the movie, when the teacher and students are involved with police is unnerving and heartwarming and horrible and satisfying all at the same time.

This movie shows many of the primal and tribal things that are part of the human past and present and the resourcefulness and ferocity that can arise in people chosen as victims.

It's left up to us to figure out what we just viewed. We don't even know whether the children are psychologically scarred for life by what's happened to them and what they've done as a consequence.

Thought-provoking on many levels, with a feeling of reality that hits home. History and even the daily news shows us that people are capable of things that seem improbable if not impossible. It's not hard to believe the premise of this movie.

I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. I didn't expect much but I did expect more then it delivered. It was boring, goofy and hard to understand at times due to the thick Australian accents.

Awesome movie, an 80's classic. Too bad it is not available on DVD. I will never think of Father Christmas in the same way again! :)

What an amazing Aussie film this is.

I remember watching this time after time with my brother and sister when I was young and felt a real attachment to it.

The film just flows from start to finish. The characters are introduced well and once Father Christmas, the Duck, the Mouse and the Cat show up in their masks it goes full throttle but somehow the pace just increases time and time again, the film has about 20 gears!

I got hold of this a few years back and started watching it about 11pm, I knew I had to get up early for work but was just so excited to see it again and boy, it was just how I remembered it, if not better!

I really cannot recommend this film highly enough. If you love a thriller, you will not be disappointed by Fortress.

They don't make em' like this anymore!! Fortress is an Aussie film which was inspired by the infamous Faraday school kidnapping in the early 70s. A teacher and her students from a small country school are kidnapped by 4 masked gunmen. They're shoved into a panel van and then forced into a remote cave. Up until this point the story is pretty much as it really happened, however, writer Everette DeRoche does what he does best and spins the rest of the story into a great little genre peice with the teacher and her kids escaping the cave via an underground water system. They walk for kilometers before finding a farm house, only to realise that the kidnappers have taken the owners hostage also. Its a really creepy movie and there aren't too many movies like it. The masked men are pretty scary characers and the violence towards the end is horrifying **** SPOILER **** The teacher and students hack and dismember one of the kidnappers in a most brutal way. I wonder if this scene inspired Guilmero Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone? Anyhow, its a great movie. Rachel Ward's acting leaves a lot to be desired but the themes and delivery of the story is totally enthrawling. Another gem from Everette De Roche... a national icon in my opinion.

Despuà (C)s de muchos años por fin di con ella! espero poderla volver a ver =D

This is possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen.

Interesting survival adventure film. Has a couple of good scares and no one will ever be able to watch [i]Howard the Duck[/i] the same way again...

Films deserving Honorable Mention (Part II):

1. [b]Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace[/b] - Brilliant effects accompany the rebirth of this classic saga.

2. [b]Sixteen Candles[/b] - Who ever said that "teenage goo" couldn't be entertaining?

3. [b]Stand by Me[/b] - Rob Reiner's best effort.

4. [b]Fortress[/b] - Australia is the back drop for this suspensful film.

5. [b]Helter Skelter[/b] - A faux documentary, though captivating, covering the Manson Family. Based on the book by the prosecuting attorney in the case.