‘Wake in Fright’: This is The Most Unhinged Ozploitation Film

Ozploitation, known for its low-budget, violent films from Australia, owes much to ‘Mad Max’, but there’s one film that surpasses it in sheer madness: ‘Wake in Fright’. This cult classic will make you think twice about visiting Australia and swearing off drinking forever.

In ‘Wake in Fright’, John Grant (Gary Bond), a discontented schoolteacher, just wants to get to Sydney for Christmas. However, a stop in ‘The Yabba,’ a small town obsessed with drinking and roughhousing, derails his plans. 

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Under the wing of cop Jock Crawford (Chips Rafferty), John is introduced to the town’s unspoken rules of survival, leading him into a spiral of depravity guided by the nihilistic Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasence). The film showcases ordinary monstrosities and the bleak, oppressive environment of the Australian outback, highlighting a descent into chaos that is disturbingly relatable.

‘Wake in Fright’ parallels ‘The Twilight Zone’, with its ordinary protagonist thrust into bizarre circumstances. However, unlike the supernatural elements of ‘The Twilight Zone’, Wake in Fright’s horror is rooted in the grim reality of its setting. The film’s tone, directed by Ted Kotcheff, turns what could be a dark comedy into a nightmarish exploration of toxic masculinity and societal decay.

The film’s most harrowing scene, a kangaroo hunt, underscores John’s moral descent. Filmed with real footage of kangaroo slaughters, the scene is disturbingly realistic and controversial, emphasising the film’s unflinching look at human depravity. Kotcheff intended to reveal the brutal reality of outback life, making the scene necessary despite its graphic nature.

Ultimately, ‘Wake in Fright”s impact lies in its portrayal of man’s capacity for cruelty, far beyond the fantastical dangers of ‘The Twilight Zone’ or the high-octane survival of ‘Mad Max’. The film’s unsettling realism and critique of toxic masculinity make it the most unhinged Ozploitation film of all time.

– Farheen Ali