Review of Wake in Fright

Initially release as Outback outside of Australia, Canadian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff's brutal psychological horror movie about a young school teacher (Gary Bond) who gets stranded in a remote Australian mining town and plunges headlong toward his own destruction, is one of the most harrowing portrayals of outback life you will ever see. Prepare to be disturbed as he is taken under the wing of alcoholic doctor and resident deviant-philosopher-madman Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasance), and a rag tag gang of local degenerates. He goes on a kangaroo hunt (apparently no kangaroos were expressly killed for this motion picture, but that doesn't make it any the less comforting, you will flinch in horror at the brutality of the slaughter), and knocks back staggering quantities of the local grog. Alongside two other Australian movies, Walkabout and Picnic At Hanging Rock, Wake In Fright was nominated for the grand prize at the 24th Cannes Film Festival, but bombed at the Box Office in it's native land. Considered lost after its original negative went missing, it was eventually rediscovered and restored for release in 2009. The movie is also notable for featuring the last onscreen appearance by veteran character actor Chips Rafferty (he died of a heart attack prior to the movies release), and for being the first film with future Australian cinema star Jack Thompson.