-SYNOPSIS " Have a drink, mate? Have a fight, mate? Have a taste of dust and sweat, mate? There's nothing else out here." Balanced on a knife-edge between social realism and existential horror, this disturbing, subversive portrayal of Australia's cultural underbelly failed to find a wide audience on its original release, but has since become established as a seminal cornerstone of the Australian cinema. A middle-class schoolteacher, stuck in a government-enforced teaching post in an arid backwater, stops off in the mining town of Bundanyabba on his way home for the Christmas holidays. Discovering a local gambling craze that may grant him the financial independence to move back to Sydney for good, the opportunity proves irresistible. But the bad decisions are just beginning and a reliance on local standards of hospitality in "the Yabba" may take him on a path darker than ever expected. One of the many triumphs in director Ted Kotcheff's career, Wake in Fright effortlessly sustains the quality of a sun-baked nightmare, with a relentless forward drive and outstanding performances by Donald Pleasance, Gary Bond, Sylvia Kay, and Chips Rafferty in his final role. A brutal, gripping dissection of the limits of masculinity and amorality to stand alongside Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange, and Deliverance, it remains a stunning entry in the envelope-pushing cinema of the early 1970s. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this film in a new Dual Format edition for its UK home viewing premiere. SPECIAL FEATURES: New 1080p high-definition restoration of the film on the Blu-ray and a progressive encode on the DVD Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired Feature length audio commentary with director Ted Kotcheff and editor Anthony Buckley Video interview from 2009 with Ted Kotcheff ABC s 7:30 Report video piece on the the rediscovery and restoration of the film Who Needs Art? vintage piece on Wake in Fright Chips Rafferty obituary clip Outback TV spot UK theatrical trailer 48-PAGE BOOKLET featuring essays by Adrian Martin, Peter Galvin, Meg Labrum, Graham Shirley, Ted Kotcheff and Anthony Buckley, and archival imagery. "The best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence" - Nick Cave "It left me speechless" - Martin Scorsese "It's not dated. It is powerful, genuinely shocking and rather amazing" - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times