Snapshot

Producer Antony Ginnane specialized in "commercial" film-making, i.e.low budget movies that appealed to an audience looking for racy entertainment with a little bit of everything. He had made Patrick the previous year as a solo effort, but here he teamed with William Fayman for a mix of cheap thrills and titillation. The pair would also release Thirst the same year, Harlequin the following year and in 1982, Turkey Shoot, none of which are notable for their artistic merits but nevertheless played their role in the burgeoning Australian film industry of the time.

The principal claim to fame for Snapshot is that it was the first major screen role for Sigrid Thornton who, like so many actresses of the time, was required to appear topless. Scripted by Everett De Roche (along with Chris De Roche) who was responsible for penning a good many films of this type, lesbianism, a severed pig's head, Carlton bohemianism and a stalker in a Mr Whippy van are thrown into the story of Angela (Thornton), a teenager caught up in Melbourne's lurid world of fashion-modelling.

Although arguably the best of this group of films with a sound script and Thornton lending a rarely-seen touch of class to the proceedings, it is too conventional to appeal to low-budget cultists and too tackily sensationalist to convince anyone looking for a credible psychological thriller. Had the producers played it as the latter they might have had a more successful film but that probably never crossed their minds.

 

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