the only horror film brave enough to ask the chilling question: "what if you had to hang out with Australians."
Cinemas
EN
A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.
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Cast & crew
6What people say
The most nihilistic film of all time. Worse than hell; there is nothing. You can drink, you can kill and you can try to escape but you'll still just end up in a void of your own human awfulness.
Recommended to me on my Make me watch your favourite list.Sweltering and oppressive, Wake in Fright is a man's disconcerting descent into his own personal hell.Kotcheff's film first slowly peels only to end up clawing at its protagonist's humanity, exposing an animalistic nerve that is both confronting and harrowing. Acted superbly across the board and shot with a colour palette that only adds to the scorching desert heat, Wake in Fright captures life in the Australian outback in, what I can only assume, a painfully realistic way. This film is astonishing. It takes the simplest of premises, a man stuck in a place trying to get away, and turns it into an inevitable, slow, spiralling plunge into the dark crevices of human frailty and weakness. As frustrating as it is to watch someone make all the wrong choices, it is the wait for him finally losing it that creates all the tension. And in this booze fuelled cascade of bizarre characters and psychedelic events, there are instances of cinematic brilliance of which the kangaroo hunt is most definitely one of the best. This is raw cinema, unflinching and sincere. And that's just the way I like it.
Common questions
What is Wake in Fright about?+
It follows a young schoolteacher who experiences a rapid moral and psychological collapse after getting stranded in a hostile outback town in Australia.
Who directed Wake in Fright?+
Ted Kotcheff directed the film in 1971, earning international acclaim and a rare double screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
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