Overview: Raw and brutal in its depiction of Outback country drinking culture in the 1970s, Wake in Fright is an uncompromising landmark of Australian cinema from director Ted Kotcheff (First Blood).

John Grant (Gary Bond, Zulu), a bored schoolteacher working in the remote outback, stops overnight in the frontier mining town of Bundanyabba on his way back to Sydney for the Christmas holidays. After he loses all his savings in a bad gambling bet, Grant finds himself marooned and swept up in the vortex of a succession of hard-drinking, hard-living and crude men led by Doc (Donald Pleasence, Halloween) who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent as they are.

Ignored upon release, Wake in Fright has now been acclaimed as one of Australia’s most legendary, unique and horrifying contributions to cinema history by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Nick Cave and is presented here in a definitive 4K restoration.

Blu-ray Verdict: You can’t help admiring many aspects of this confronting movie. The use of light is inspired. Fantastic color too. Some brilliant camera angles, and some advanced editing techniques. It conveys the heat of the outback, the dust of the towns, the sweat of everybody. Great actors, truly, really great.

The story itself is fairly straightforward. It’s the odd touches that are memorable. A receptionist dousing herself with water. A drunk man registering that some food in his pocket needs to be in the fridge, so he just stuffs the entire jacket into the freezer. The occasional flashback of a girlfriend, miles away in a seemingly enchanted world, coming out of the surf at Bondi. A slow pan of a lonely outback railway stop. A rabbit turned into lunch.

I listened to an interview with the Director, whom claimed this movie is about the human condition that we are all capable of being our worst imagined selves, as well as our best, and as such the movie was not commentary on Australian males of that time, but more about a stranger in a strange land. That’s probably true. In my experience (I’ve stayed in country towns), the film was a fairly accurate description of country guys’ obsession with beer on the weekends, and I was impressed with how the movie shows how truly vulnerable a single guy from the city can be in such an insistent culture.

I also liked the way in which Wake In Fright never quite passes judgement by making anyone evil or aloof in any way. The protagonist does try to be civil, and he is honest, so he’s not really to blame for the adventures that follow. Similarly, the guys he encounters are not out to corrupt or have fun at his expense. They are all genuinely just out to enjoy the weekend, and, in their own peculiar fashion, they are all being generous.

The soundtrack is impressive too. I’ll concede that it sounds a little old-fashioned and 1960’s, similar to the horror movies of that time, but the sounds are nevertheless a very fine example of that vogue. Indeed, Wake In Fright is a very fine example of gritty outback drama. I don’t remember seeing it in its day, I only saw it today. Wake In Fright certainly has power. [R.E.]

4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director Ted Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley
Audio commentary by Peter Galvin, author of The Making of Wake in Fright
Return to the ‘Yabba, a featurette tracking down the film’s Broken Hill locations
Take in Fright, an interview with director of photography Brian West
Sounds of the Outback, a previously unreleased interview with sound editors Keith Palmer and Eddy Joseph
The Cinema’s Great Squeaky Bald Git, an appreciation of actor Donald Pleasence by film historian Kim Newman
The Filmmaker and the Film Buff, a discussion between Philippe Mora and Paul Harris
Yer Mad, Ya Bastard!, an archive interview with director Ted Kotcheff
Not Quite Hollywood, an archive interview with actor Jack Thompson
Q&A with Ted Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Audio interview with Ted Kotcheff, conducted by Paul Harris
Audio interview with composer John Scott, conducted by music historian Daniel Schweiger
Alternate scenes from Outback
2009 TV report on the rediscovery and restoration of Wake in Fright
Who Needs Art?, a 1971 TV segment with behind-the-scenes footage
Chips Rafferty obituary by Ken G. Hall
US theatrical trailer and TV spot
Foreign Visions of Local Stories, a trailer reel of Australian films helmed by overseas filmmakers
Image gallery
Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jay Slater, Paul Lê and David Michael Brown plus archive materials
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeff Marshall

Official Purchase Link

www.arrowvideo.com