Overview
A teacher's journey takes a dark turn in the Australian outback, where survival becomes a chilling game.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- foreboding
- oppressive
- harrowing
- late night cinephile viewing
- australian cinema retrospective
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an exceptionally atmospheric, forceful, and unsettling portrait of Australian outback drinking culture and violence, despite reservations about characterization and narrative coherence.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film is identified as a key Australian New Wave work and turns the outback into a disturbing examination of national culture.
Teacher John Grant intends to pass through the Yabba but becomes engulfed by its residents, drinking culture, gambling, and violence.
The remote mining town and surrounding Australian outback create an atmosphere of heat, isolation, foreboding, and menace.
The Yabba's male social world is organized around alcohol, hunting, coercion, and escalating violence.
Films like Wake in Fright, and why
The Last Wave
shared australian new wave context, oppressive outback setting, masculine violence, and social unease
Caligula
shared descent into alcohol-fueled violence, alienation, and morally corrosive masculinity
Deliverance
shared paranoid atmosphere, community menace, and an outsider trapped inside a hostile social world
Wake in Fright
shared bleak rural isolation, psychological deterioration, and uncompromising social realism
Movie Details
- Director
- Ted Kotcheff
- Release Date
- 1971-07-21
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (357)
Cast
- Donald Pleasence
- Gary Bond
- Chips Rafferty
- Sylvia Kay
- Jack Thompson
- Peter Whittle
- Al Thomas
- John Meillon
- John Armstrong
- Slim DeGrey
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Fandor, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Wake in Fright about?
- A financially trapped teacher’s overnight stop in an Australian mining town becomes a harrowing descent into alcohol, violence, and collective madness.
- What is Wake in Fright like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Wake in Fright as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Wake in Fright violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Wake in Fright as graphic.
- What did critics think of Wake in Fright?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an exceptionally atmospheric, forceful, and unsettling portrait of Australian outback drinking culture and violence, despite reservations about characterization and narrative coherence.
- Which films are like Wake in Fright?
- Films with a similar feel include The Last Wave, Caligula, Deliverance, and Wake in Fright.
- How long is Wake in Fright?
- Wake in Fright runs 109 minutes.
- Where can I watch Wake in Fright?
- In United States, Wake in Fright streams on fuboTV, Fandor, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel.
