Films We Like set hotly-anticipated theatrical dates for a duo of phenomenal Drafthouse-acquired retro titles at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Drafthouse Films have shown some impressive curating muscle with their growing slate of cult and indie films old and new, and Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up their latest for theatrical release in the great white north, beginning with this T-Dot double-header of raging machismo with Ted "RAMBO" Kotcheff's Aussie outback terror WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971)- a seminal film in kicking off the Ozploitation explosion - and bizarre WTF musical actioner MIAMI CONNECTION (1987) from co-director/star Y.K. Kim.

While both films celebrate the bizarre rituals of manliness in their own way - WAKE IN FRIGHT through drunken hooliganism, kangaroo hunts (animal lovers beware), a creepily shirtless Donald Pleasence and the "aggressive hospitality" of the sun-soaked outback, and MIAMI CONNECTION through nonsensical martial arts misadventures, moustaches and musical interludes by rock band Dragon Sound - in other ways they couldn't be more different. WAKE IN FRIGHT is likely the best film Ted Kotcheff ever made, rescued from obscurity (and the near destruction of the original negatives) to be given its proper due stateside only 40 years after the fact, and MIAMI CONNECTION, well it's likely the ONLY film Y.K. Kim ever made, but one that will go down in the history books nonetheless for its sheer, unintentional absurdism (not to mention its valiant rallying cry for international peace as emblematized though Dragon Sound tunes such as "Friends Forever" and "Against the Ninja" - available on 7" record from Drafthouse Films HERE). Let's hope MIAMI CONNECTION gets the later slot, because it will rock out your midnight for sure.

MIAMI CONNECTION and WAKE IN FRIGHT open March 29, 2013 at The TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Canada.

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