In 1981 Australia, the idea of the future that we live in today was one dominated by magazines. Those magazines would enforce the social order and the only violence and sex that anyone would see would be in those pages. So yeah, maybe they didn't get the internet part down, but I guess some of this movie rings true. That said, if you're expecting an Australian soft core movie to explain 2021, you're drongo, mate.

Also, in the Australia of Centrespread, a movie that disappeared from theaters and most peoples' memories until Umbrella re-released it, social castes are enforced and only by finding a new girl for the magazine will our protagonist keep moving up the social ladder. Yet when he meets and falls for Niki, he sees that life can mean something more. However, she gets an offer to be a big star.

Director Tony Paterson was an editor on Mad Max, Fantasm, Fantasm Comes Again and Death Games before getting behind the camera for the only film he'd direct.

This movie feels like something great is happening within it. It really is the difference between art and exploitation, because if you told someone this was a French film that only played small festivals, people would lose their mind. Tell them it played double bills with Felicity in Australia and they think it's garbage.

Big strapping Sheilas cavort on sun-kissed beaches (and that's not all that get's kissed) in bright red lipstick & nails, body paint and little else in this garrulous Aussie exercise in Orwellian soft porn, eighties style (a scary prospect!) in which even the waitress in the local cafe looks as if she's auditioning for Derek Jarman. It's all played very straight and hard to figure out whether any of it's actually intended to be taken seriously or not; but you keep watching.

...is his best, which doesn't say all that much. It's a mixture of futuristic science fiction woven into a corny love story that probably would have worked, but for the script, which contained so much constant nudity and sex that mainstream actors would have been highly unlikely to accept the roles. Add to that budget constraints - Groom, as producer of this one, would not have had access to the funds he has now (although the Australian Film Corporation gets a plug here) - and what we're left with is an Australian foray into very soft porn that has trouble finding a mainstream audience because of the acting quality. Just who the hell are Kylie Foster and Paul Trahair? A quick search on IMDb tells us that Trahair's only other role was as a young detective in SQUIZZY TAYLOR. Foster is much more travelled: she had character roles in the TV series PRISONER and SKYWAYS, and then found parts in KITTY AND THE BAGMAN, MELVIN and QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER - though how is a mystery, noting her acting "talent" in CENTRESPREAD. Indeed, while CENTRESPREAD could have become an Australian cinematic landmark akin to MAD MAX, the best parts remain the opening and closing themes, the former of which could easily have become a mainstream pop classic. Rating: 5/10