I have
always been an avid supporter for film restoration ever since it had begun.
Personally I
enjoy cleaning film I find it relaxing. I am also an avid lover of finding
“Loft Films”
One thing
that makes me happy about my new home here in Austin, TX is that I am among
other film enthusiasts. With the film festivals here like Fantastic Fest I get
to see movies that I had never even heard of and then I see that they are there
and that they are receiving a limited release for courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse.
One of the
films that I am referring to is Wake in Fright. I saw this film advertised in
the program and I decided to check it out.
The film’s
director Ted Kocheff who was in attendance at the screen told an interesting
story to the audience in the theater.
It turns out
that despite the acclaim of the film it was not well received by moviegoers and
as a result disappeared into obscurity and was lost for decades. It was not
until someone actually searched for the movie that the negatives were found in
a Warehouse in various stages of disrepair that it was realized what it was,
and the negatives and audio marked for incineration.
Thanks to
this person the film was saved and has now “returned form the dead”.
Now I will
be completely honest this film got past me. I had actually never heard of it
until now but I am very happy that I did.
Wake in
Fright isn’t a horror movie like the title suggests it is the tale of an
Australian school teacher going on holiday trying to get to Sydney and stops in
a town called “The Yabba” and “The Hospitality” that they show him.
After
getting drunk he goes gambling and loses all of his money for his trip and is
trapped in the town.
Now when I
say “The Hospitality” I am not referring to how badly he is treated in reality
the people in the town are polite and want him to have drinks with them and
such. That is where he has problems. HE gets drunk allot and when he gets drunk
that ends up being where he gets in trouble.
There is a
brutal Kangaroo hunt scene in the film.
I found out
in the post screening QnA that at the time that the movie was being made
Kangaroos were hunted and brutally killed during this time to make American Dog
Food and the filmmakers were asked to keep the hunting footage in its entirety
to show what really happens there being that the kangaroos were quickly
becoming endangered. As a result Kangaroos are no longer killed for dog food.
It is common
knowledge that I am a fan of Donald Pleasence I want to say that I had been a
fan of his ever since Halloween in the immortal role of Dr. Sam Loomis the
nemesis of Michael Myers that I wanted to see everything that he had played from
one of three portrayals of 007’s arch nemesis Blofeld, to the henchman Lucas
Deranian in Escape to Witch Mountain, and finally the President of the United
States in Escape from New York. I have never seen Pleasence in a role like this
as he usually plays clean cut and refined characters. In the role of Doc
pleasance is anything but refined. As a matter of fact Pleasence is quite the
opposite in this film, in a way that you have to see to believe.
0 Dead
Bodies
8 Dead
Kangaroo
0 Breasts
5 Beasts
Gratuitous Drunken
Donald Pleasence
Impulsive Gambling
3 ½ Stars
Check it out
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