Wake in Fright (1971)
Metascore
87 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    Oct 2, 2012
    100
    Wake in Fright is the closest a movie can get to a primal scream.
  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: John Semley
    Oct 1, 2012
    100
    The film's vision of masculine self-sufficiency is built around--and on, via Australia's own bloody colonial history--an elemental violence.
  3. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    Oct 18, 2012
    91
    As unpleasant as so many of its going-on are, Wake in Fright works both as an early instance of "Ozploitation" cinema and as a harsh critique of Australian colonialism and the absurdity of trying to bring so-called civilization to this vast arid wilderness.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    Oct 20, 2012
    90
    As a strictly psychological portrait of destructive masculinity it's a gut-sock, vividly photographed, thrillingly edited and marked by performances (Donald Pleasence and Jack Thompson, most notably) that heave with strange complexity and dark camaraderie.Wake in Fright is true horror.
  5. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    Oct 4, 2012
    90
    It's simultaneously terrifying and hilarious, a full-on shotgun blast to the face of rediscovered 1970s weirdness, something like finding out that there's a classic Peckinpah film you've never seen, or that Wes Craven and Bernardo Bertolucci got drunk in Sydney one weekend and decided to make a movie together.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    Oct 10, 2012
    89
    Definitely not for the squeamish, Wake in Fright is calibrated for maximum psychic impact. Its madness is viral and disconcerting. Truly, you're going to want a stiff drink and a hot shower, or a noose, after visiting the Yabba.
  7. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Tirdad Derakhshani
    Nov 15, 2012
    88
    Wake in Fright is essential viewing for anyone interested in the roots of male violence.
  8. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Oct 31, 2012
    88
    It's not dated. It is powerful, genuinely shocking and rather amazing.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    Oct 11, 2012
    88
    Wake in Fright is a monster movie, and the monster is us.

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