Wake in Fright

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Review added by
Michael Campbell

Certificate: 18
Running Time: 114 mins
Retail Price: £17.99
Release Date: 31/03/14
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
A middle-class schoolteacher, stuck in a government-enforced teaching post in an arid backwater, stops off in the mining town of Bundanyabba on his way home for the Christmas holidays. Discovering a local gambling craze that may grant him the financial independence to move back to Sydney for good, the opportunity proves irresistible. But the bad decisions are just beginning and a reliance on local standards of hospitality in "the Yabba" may take him on a path darker than ever expected.

One of the many triumphs in director Ted Kotcheff's career, Wake in Fright effortlessly sustains the quality of a sun-baked nightmare, with a relentless forward drive and outstanding performances by Donald Pleasance, Gary Bond, Sylvia Kay, and Chips Rafferty in his final role. A brutal, gripping dissection of the limits of masculinity and amorality to stand alongside Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange, and Deliverance, it remains a stunning entry in the envelope-pushing cinema of the early 1970s.

Special Features:
- Audio commentary with director Ted Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
-Interview with Ted Kotcheff (23 minutes).
-ABC's 7:30 report; vintage 6 minute piece on the film.
-Chips Rafferty Obituary
-Who Needs Art; vintage video piece.
- Original US Outback TV spot
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired
- 48 booklet featuring writing on the film, its restoration, rare imagery, and more!