I saw Wake in Fright at Cinefamily last night in a double feature with The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. It was a night of honoring director Ted Kotcheff, perhaps best known for Rambo: First Blood and Weekend at Bernies.

To completely switch my train of thought: I’ve been at an impass with horror films for the last two or three years. In a weird way, I’ve been desperate to achieve—as weird as this sounds—a constant climax in horror. Something that is disturbing and brutal throughout the entire film without a break. Perhaps its’ desensitization to genre, but I was literally desperate for Antichrist and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl to provide me with some sick sense of satisfaction. And yet, Antichrist was really a parody of horror films; Vampire Girl suffered from a script by a romance novelist that happened to be partnered with an over-the-top visual effects crew.

I even went out of my way to find Grotesque, which was banned in the UK. Disturbing? A bit, but nothing compared to the Korean film The Butcher, which is extremely hard to sit through. I’ve only managed to get through it twice.

I guess what I’m trying to say is Wake In Fright is a film that’s extremely disturbing and captures mania and paranoia in a way that may be perfect. So, that’s my main thought of the day.