I'm not sure who wakes in fright, unless it's the audience of this sneaky descent into Hell. Hell in this case takes the form of a city in the outback whose male population drinks gallons of beer daily, gambles maniacally on a coin-toss bar game, and engages in a nocturnal kangaroo hunt that is both nightmarish and all too real. The only female character is a young nymphomaniac who services a majority of the bestial males.
The narrative arc is allegorically a journey from Purgatory to Hell and back again, taken by a sad and disturbed, albeit very attractive pilgrim who has the intention of going to Sydney to see his lover over Christmas break, from his teacher's "slavery" in an even bleaker Outback whistle- stop. His plans fall through, and his stay in "the Yabba" quickly devolves into a fly-infested beer-drenched dead-end from which escape looks increasingly futile.
I would consider this one of Ted Kotcheff's most creative and disturbing efforts, up there with my favorites "North Dallas Forty" and "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," and it certainly fits in with any discussion of Ozploitation "classics" of the '70s.
The narrative arc is allegorically a journey from Purgatory to Hell and back again, taken by a sad and disturbed, albeit very attractive pilgrim who has the intention of going to Sydney to see his lover over Christmas break, from his teacher's "slavery" in an even bleaker Outback whistle- stop. His plans fall through, and his stay in "the Yabba" quickly devolves into a fly-infested beer-drenched dead-end from which escape looks increasingly futile.
I would consider this one of Ted Kotcheff's most creative and disturbing efforts, up there with my favorites "North Dallas Forty" and "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," and it certainly fits in with any discussion of Ozploitation "classics" of the '70s.