Wolf Creek (2005)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely the worst movie.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I was always led to believe this was based on true events, but if you read about it those events are more to do with changing the stereotypical 'bushman' from the friendly Crocodile Dundee type character to the more bigoted, wild characters that are apparently living in the bush.The illusion did give the film an extra edge of reality and therefore set it apart from other slasher type films. That being said, the acting is somewhat better than the usual slasher film, throw in the travelling and this becomes a much better quality film than the usual and is a recommendation.

I'll start off by saying that this film is genuinely f*cking terrifying.Everything begins, when a couple of female tourists and their Sydney dudebro guide, set off, on what seems like a relatively banal hiking adventure, into the Wolf Creek crater in the Australian Outback.It starts off slow...kind of like Bruno Dumont's Twenty-Nine Palms. And you start to expect it's going to play out like that (long, drawn out, banal drama- triggering your expectations and, thus, creating anxiety- followed by fleeting moments of the extremely shocking, if you aren't familiar with his model) too. But this is not how it plays out at all.It gets real shocking, real fast. And continues to be extremely shocking right up until the very end (so, for about an entire hour). Sadistic torture; vicious sexual assault; and a character that exudes a malevolent evil so twisted...that you would laugh...if you weren't so goddamn horrified throughout it all.You tend to question every decision they make; and yell at the screen every time you feel they squander a potential oppourtunity to escape. But you've got to give it to them...under the circumstances...they do a pretty damn good job at surviving...even if they do make every wrong f*cking decision.There is one survivor in the film- which is claimed to be an adaptation of actual events. But it's not really even a remotely accurate depiction of actual events, if you read the true story behind it.Either way, however...if you want to be scared. Watch this film.7.5 out of 10

31 Days Of Horror: Day 11Wolf Creek arrived with the intentions of being a throwback to the boogeyman centred slasher flicks of the 80's, a dutiful homage to movies that the director, Greg McLean, probably grew up with. His film, however, ended up being so good that as far as I'm concerned, it's right up there with the iconic movies it looks up to. The setting, the vast Australian outback, rivals eerie summer camps, desolated suburbia, dank, nightmarish boiler rooms, and other realms of suffering in this cinematic corner. The boogeyman himself, who I'll get to in a moment, is equally terrifying and notable as Michael, Jason or Freddy. And the atmosphere, which is the key component in any movie like this, works wonders for installing a primal dread in the viewer and putting you emphatically close to the protagonists as they are lost, scared and ultimately hunted. Liz, Kristy and Ben are three backpackers navigating the outback, who find themselves a bit stranded. When night falls, the probing headlamps of a 4x4 rig find their campsite, and the truck rolls up to them. Out steps Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) an amiable enough Aussie dirt packer who offers them a ride to his ranch where they can use a phone. He seems charming enough, cracking jokes and reassuring them. They decide to go with him, as they really have no other option. Big, big mistake. No sooner than they arrive and settle in his abode, he begins to act menacingly, subtly at first, and eventually he becomes an outright monster, terrorizing, brutalizing and psychologically torturing them at every turn. Because they are so deep in the outback, escape really means nothing, as they would be lost off his property, and he, knowing the region like the back of his blood encrusted hand, would seek them out before they made it several miles. So they find themselves in a tooth and nail struggle for survival, or death at the hands of this cackling outback madman. Jarratt cuts loose and creates a nerve frying horror movie killer for the ages. Mick is almost like a force of nature in the outback itself, a silent, relentless silhouette on the sunset horizon, until he finds you, them it's all grinning, darkly comic fun and games until he plunges his 9 inch hunting knife into your spine. The victims are convincing, especially Kestie Morassi as Kristy, giving a heaving portrayal of terror and desperation. These days I can't really watch films this severe anymore because of anxiety issues (ironic, I know when you consider I'm doing a whole month of reviews on the genre), but I remember this being one of the grittiest, bloodiest, most shocking mainstream entries into the slasher genre I'd seen since the beloved ones of the 80's.

It's 1999 Western Australia. British tourists Liz Hunter and Kristy Earl are traveling with Australian friend Ben Mitchell. They party and get drunk. Ben buys a car and they drive to Wolf Creek Crater. After enjoying a hike, they return to find the car won't start. They are waken by the lights of Mick Taylor's truck. He tows their car back to his place. The group is drugged and taken prisoner by Taylor.This is another one of those torture kill horrors. Australia is good fertile grounds for making them over the years. This is just another one. There isn't anything new or anything terribly wrong. I don't find the characters that compelling. The trio is hot and young but so are many other actors. The two girls battling Mick Taylor has some fun moments. The problem is that the action fades. I love the finger chopping but long distance shooting doesn't hold the same appeal. The action and the intensity never reaches the same level of when they first discover their imprisonment.