10 Horror Movies That Punish You For Getting Wasted

5. John Grant - Wake In Fright

Wake in Fright
United Artists

Ted Kotcheff's Wake in Fright isn't exactly an out-and-out horror movie, but this intense thriller is very much a living horror for the film's central character, John Grant.

With Gary Bond as Grant, we find this stiff upper-lipped Englishman becoming everything he hates after becoming consumed by, amongst other things, pints, pints and more pints. So badly go things go for John and his hard drinking ways, Wake in Fright ends up seeing him attempt to take his own life courtesy of a rifle shot to the head.

Travelling to Sydney, Australia to meet up with his girlfriend, school teacher John has a layover in the small mining town of Bundanyabba. What is intended to be a one-night stay in the Yabba ends up turning into a whole lot more when Grant's decision to have a few beers with the locals results in him losing all of his money by making some stupid, drunken gambling decisions.

Stuck in the sweltering heat of the Yabba, John ends up being forced to embrace the barbaric, erratic ways of the town's crazed locals, including murdering a kangaroo, being approach for strange sexual encounters, and witnessing these locals quite literally killing each other; again, all while beers are constantly consumed.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.