Kangaroo Killjoys.
After checking out the CreepyPasta-centric film We’re All Going to the World’s Fair a few weeks ago, we went back to Crystal Lake for the third time to check in with meta-Jason in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Now we’re heading Down Under to pick apart Ted Kotcheff‘s famed “lost film” Wake in Fright!
In the film, teacher John Grant (Gary Bond) looks forward to spending his holiday with his girlfriend in Sydney after finishing up the school term in a remote outback town. On his way home, John gets waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him completely broke. He quickly falls in with the hard-drinking locals, including the town doctor (Donald Pleasence), who constantly supply him with alcohol and force him to participate in several gruesome activities. Will John be able to make it out of the town alive?
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Episode 178: Wake in Fright (1971)
Brush up on your two-up and watch out for them kangaroos (oh, God, the kangaroos!) because we’re heading Down Under to discuss Ted Kotcheff’s famed “lost film” Wake in Fright (1971)! Joining us are A Nightmare on Fierce Street co-hosts Sharai Bohannon and Trent Reese!
First thing’s first: this film has a 10-minute-long sequence featuring Cannibal Holocaust levels of real-life animal violence (it’s the kangaroos), so major content warning for that. Consider yourself warned.
Anyway, after a brief musical theatre tangent, we discuss the film’s journey from novel to film to lost film to restored masterpiece before going all-in on its portrayal of masculinity. It all leads up to a discussion of a gay sex scene that, quite frankly, we were shocked to see!
Plus, shirtless Donald Pleasence (nips o’ plenty), one spicy hotel receptionist, a very serious conversation about Bloody Marys and (the ultimate question) is Janette a slut? Would you expect anything less from the director of Weekend at Bernies?
Cross out Wake in Fright!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re heading back into the controversial waters of a cross-dressing (or trans? it’s unclear) killer in Pascal Laugier’s (Martyrs) second English-language film: Incident in a Ghostland (2018)!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 180 hours of additional content! This month, we’re discussing horror movies that make us cry, Shudder’s new zombie(ish) movie The Sadness, the remake of Firestarter, Alex Garland’s Men and an audio commentary on 28 Weeks Later to commemorate its 15th anniversary!
The post On Masculinity and Kangaroo Hunting in the Ozploitation Classic ‘Wake in Fright’ [Horror Queers Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.