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Wake in Fright

Wake in Fright

Drama · Thriller · 1971

A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.

Movie details

Wake in Fright

“Have a drink, mate? Have a fight, mate? Have some dust and sweat, mate? There's nothing else out here.”

1971 Drama · Thriller 1h 49m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.5 / 10

15.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

97 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

85 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Wake in Fright?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Proposition

The Proposition

Western · 2005

In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.

Lawless

Lawless

Crime · 2012

In 1931, the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia, run a multipurpose backwoods establishment that hides their true business — bootlegging. Middle brother Forrest is the brain of the operation; older Howard is the brawn, and younger Jack, the lookout. Though the local police have taken bribes and left the brothers alone, a violent war erupts when a sadistic lawman from Chicago arrives and tries to shut down the Bondurants operation.

True History of the Kelly Gang

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Set against the badlands of Australia where the English rule with a bloody fist and the Irish endure, Ned Kelly discovers he comes from a line of Irish rebels — an uncompromising army of cross dressing bandits immortalised for terrorising their oppressors back in Ireland. Fuelled by the unfair arrest of his mother, Kelly recruits a wild bunch of warriors to plot one of the most audacious attacks of anarchy and rebellion the country has ever seen.

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Crime · 2025

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The Rover

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Crime · 2014

Ten years after a severe economic collapse in the western world, lawlessness reigns and life is cheap. Eric is a lone drifter, and his car is his only possession. When a gang steals it, Eric comes across the injured Rey, left behind by the car thieves. The pair form an unlikely and uneasy alliance.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ted Kotcheff

Written by

Evan Jones · Ted Kotcheff

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Doc Tydon

Gary Bond

Gary Bond

John Grant

Chips Rafferty

Chips Rafferty

Jock Crawford

Sylvia Kay

Sylvia Kay

Janette Hynes

Jack Thompson

Jack Thompson

Dick

Peter Whittle

Peter Whittle

Joe

A

Al Thomas

Tim Hynes

Court is in session

Put Wake in Fright on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.