What makes it different from others?

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Smug and uptight British school teacher John Grant (a fine portrayal by Gary Bond) finds himself stranded in a hellish small town in the Australian outback that's populated by fiercely "friendly" drunken hooligans who eventually push Grant over the edge into madness, despair, and unhindered barbarism.Director Ted Kotcheff evokes a potently unsettling feeling of isolation and vulnerability from the remote rural region setting, maintains an unsparingly bleak tone throughout, and reveals the darker and more disturbing aspects of the rough'n'ready Aussie male character with jolting starkness and a masterful crafting of a gritty, yet surreal and nightmarish mood. The sharp and observant script by Evan Jones offers a bold and unflinching exploration of the dangers of "aggressive hospitality" and the startling extreme lengths hyper-masculine guys will go to in order to prove and assert a sense of virile potency over everything, with a chilling nocturnal kangaroo hunt rating as the definite shocking highlight. Donald Pleasance gives one of his best and most fearless performances as the educated, but slimy and depraved Doc Tyson, who assumes the role as a kind of insane fallen intellectual mentor to Grant as he descends right into the heart of human darkness. Moreover, there are bang-up contributions from Chips Rafferty as amiable constable Jock Crawford, Sylvia Kay as the forlorn and frustrated Janette Hynes, Jack Thompson as the rowdy Dick, Peter Whittle as the loutish Joe, Al Thomas as the jolly Tim, and John Meillon as affable bartender Charlie. Brian West's crisp picturesque cinematography vividly captures both the severe oppressive heat and suffocating backwoods hamlet atmosphere. A riveting and provocative stunner.

Wake in Fright is about a part of Australia that seems to have been clean forgotten. It is a snapshot of a history and life that was swept under a rug, largely due to the colonisation of the country. Very few Australians will be familiar with the Outback aside from a vague familiarity, nor will they be aware of the threateningly machismo life portrayed in Wake in Fright, but it is a life that does exist, far beyond the fringes of the city, in the hauntingly beautiful Outback. The narrative is based on a book of the same time, about a schoolteacher from the city who finds himself in rural Australia doing teaching work for money. During his stay, he ends up in a landlocked, isolated town in the barren Australian desert colloquially called the "Yabba". The primitive way of life here initially floors the well-to-do citizen, but the town and strips back his polished city exterior. The undoing of a polite, cultured gentleman at the hands of derelict desert folk is actually one of the most disturbing aspects of this film. I kept thinking that this man (John is his name) was going to fall victim to a horrible act of violence by the group of eccentric, predominantly wasted townspeople. But instead, the film takes a different route, a far more disturbing one, and places John at the centre of the depravity. He does not fall victim to their behaviour, rather he participates in it until it ravages him almost to the point of no return. The shred of credibility and decency that John has left sees him flee the town. He has had a taste of a more simplistic, animalistic, impulsive existence, but the city life has not allowed him to fully amalgamate himself within this recklessly masculine crowd.The film is masterfully well made. The scrumptious, beautiful colours and settings of the Outback are so rich and bare that they almost become surreal. Director Ted Kotcheff isn't the first person to see the Outback as a foreboding and menacing place, but he has probably helped solidified this view in one of the most memorable ways. The performances are all excellent and you wouldn't know Donald Pleasance is a British veteran actor, because he has got the role of a grubby small town man down to a tee. In fact, all of the actors who portrayed the inhabitants of the Yabba really do seem like they were plucked off the street, they have a naturalism that compliments the film and makes it all the more frightening. Brian West, the cinematographer, deserves much credit too. The heat of the Australian summer is so palpable and raw that it feels as though you are there, in those ramshackle pubs, with sweat from your forehead dripping into your beer (which is almost never empty thanks to the "hospitable" locals). It is such a visceral, often menacing and gut-wrenching experience.I highly recommend this film. It really is incomparable to anything I've ever seen. It isn't really a commonplace thriller, but rather a drama about a way of life that has been forgotten, in favour of a more polished existence. Australia is a fascinating country because it is home to both the city and the rural, timeless outback... very contradictory realities. But sometimes when these very alternate ways of existence meet, chaos ensues. The result is intoxicating.

This film had apparently been lost for over 30 years before it was found again, it was added into the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I had to see if it was all worth it, directed by Ted Kotcheff (Fun with Dick and Jane, First Blood). Basically in Australia, John Grant (Gary Bond) is a middle-class teacher from the big city who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba, known as "The Yabba". John plans to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney, he has accepted a position at the tiny school in Tiboonda, but John's one night is stretched to five by his own methods. It is through encountering many discomfiting characters, such as medical practitioner "Doc" Tydon (Donald Pleasence) and policeman Jock Crawford (Chips Rafferty), and a series of alcoholic fuelled nights out, that John causes his own self-destruction. When the alcohol effects fade away there is little left of the original man, John becomes self-loathing trapped in a desolate wasteland, and he contemplates suicide with the one bullet he has left in his rifle, will he get out of it and get back to a sane civilisation? Also starring Sylvia Kay as Janette Hynes, Jack Thompson as Dick, Peter Whittle as Joe, Al Thomas as Tim Hynes and John Meillon as Charlie. Bond as the frustrated teacher going downhill during his time in the small town is good, and Pleasence proves himself a good character actor, this film has been called the "Australian Deliverance", I can see what similarities with the format, the film makes you feel uncomfortable with its disturbing imagery, and you hope desperately the leading character will get out of the downward spiral, a weird but worthwhile thriller. Very good!

Wake in Fright is an excellent example of the drunken towns and work ethics of very rural Australia. Whilst several parts of the film exploit clichéd stereotypes, the majority of this film is very much real and a wake into the paranoia of falling down and loosing hope. It's a bitter film, great in many aspects, but ultimately may fall short due to its aging feel and somewhat slow pace. But in retrospect, the film is quite exciting, quite original and a risky approach to confronting themes that plagued the world in the 70's era. Wake in Fright is great, it's not what you'd call fun, but it is more of an experience to say the least. It sums up Australian film in its modest runtime, whilst also characterising the extremes of the Australian outback and its inhabitants.