Arabic version: إيه بي سي نيوز تسرد أفلاماً مخيفة تدور في المناطق النائية الأسترالية

According to ABC News, Australia’s outback has become a favoured backdrop for horror films and other genres, where the bush, wildlife and people can become characters in themselves. The broadcaster’s top 10 list places Wake in Fright at number one.

The 1971 film follows a city teacher working at an isolated outback school. After stopping overnight in a town likened to Broken Hill, he tries to win enough at a local two-up school to escape his teaching contract and return to Sydney. Instead, he confronts his own demons and the terrors of the outback. The film was released internationally as Outback.

At number two, Wolf Creek is described as having drawn inspiration in part from killers Ivan Milat and Bradley Murdoch. John Jarratt played Mick Taylor in the 2004 film. Picnic At Hanging Rock, directed by Peter Weir, ranked third, while the 1988 legal-case drama Evil Angels came fourth.

The list also includes Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout, Russell Mulcahy’s wild-pig feature Razorback, and Burke & Wills, which depicts explorers Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills attempting to cross the continent. Quigley Down Under, Road Games and Rabbit-Proof Fence complete the selection.

ABC News linked the renewed attention to Netflix action thriller Apex, released in late April. Starring Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton and Eric Bana, the film follows a grieving woman who enters the wilderness and becomes caught in a deadly game with a serial killer. Director Baltasar Kormákur said the script had originally been set in the United States, but Australia offered a warm climate and distinctive nature.