Ted Kotcheff has been directing television and movies for over 50 years but hes hardly a household name. If you were to recall the octogenarian, it would likely be for his massive hits First Blood, Uncommon Valor, and Weekend at Bernies. In that sentence alone he bounced successfully from action to war movie to zany comedy, but perhaps his best work is actually one of his more obscure: the Australian-set horror film Wake In Fright. Yes, a whole decade before the aforementioned hits were released Kotcheff directed a movie about a schoolteacher who ends up stranded in a rough outback town for a few days. Over the course of that short time period, he manages to fall in with a group of men who constantly prod him into drinking, gambling, and hunting until his sense of self-worth is completely shredded. While there are no traditional monsters in this film, the scene where the men go kangaroo hunting (with genuine kills) is more haunting than any boogeyman could ever hope to be.
Joe Sippy grew up in Chicago and now resides in Los Angeles. He enjoys corn dogs, rap music, and horror movies. On weekends you can find him in the ocean, surfing very poorly.
