Wolf Creek (2005)

Wolf Creek is one of the best horror films of 2005 in my opinion. The film starts off with our three protagonists - Ben, Kristy, and Liz. Liz and Kristy are both British girls who are traveling in Australia, and before leaving, they decide to go on a backpacking trip across the country with their new Aussie mate, Ben.

After traveling a few days, they finally reach the Wolf Creek crater. After a day of hiking, they return to find their car in disrepair. Stranded with nobody around, they face the fact that they may have to spend the night in the car. While lying there, a car pulls up, and out comes an old Aussie redneck named Mick. He offers them a ride to his garage where he can fix the car, and while he seems a little strange, he is nonetheless a friendly old fellow. After being being towed to the old mining campsite, they fall asleep by the fire while he works on their car. But when they awake, it is very apparent that Mick has much more in mind than just fixing their car, and the audience is pulled into our characters' dreadful nightmare.

To put it plain and simple, Wolf Creek is a disturbing film. The cinematography is excellent, the entire movie has an amateurish feel to it, and is gritty and raw. It captures that realism that films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Last House on the Left" both have, and achieves a level of horror and reality that most films fail to do nowadays. Many people complain about the slow beginning, but overall the film benefits from it, because we get to know our characters before seeing them go through a world of dread - which is another rarity in modern horror cinema.

Australian director Greg McClean gives the audience many eerie shots, primarily of nature in the outback, that adds an unsettling tone to the film, even when something horrifying isn't going on. Other mysterious events are tacked on to make things even more unsettling, including campfire stories of UFOs, and the group's watches not working after reaching the crater. Although these events have nothing to do with the actual horror that awaits the characters, they still give the viewer a feeling that something isn't quite right. All of the actors give believable performances, they all seem like actual people, unlike many of the cardboard cutout characters we see in film today.

To sum things up, Wolf Creek relies more on suspense and tension than all-out gore, which I personally find to be more effective. This film is probably one of the few great horror films in the past 10 years, at least from what I have seen. Wolf Creek left me feeling unsettled with a bitter taste in my mouth, and any movie that has the power to do that is a good one in my book. I'd say this is destined to become the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" of our generation. Wolf Creek is everything that a horror film should be. 10/10.

Fmovies: than anything that's come out of h-wood lately.

there are going to be detractors who say that it's an Aussie retread of 'the Texas chainsaw massacre'; they might even be partially right. what i loved most about this film is the fact that in an age of sadly predictable horror films, this one kept me on the edge of my seat.

not only was i actually frightened, but this film kept pushing the envelope in terms of what horror audiences have come to expect. it goes WAY beyond anything you've seen in the last twenty years. thank god for true indies making real horror. this is a thousand times better than the overrated and ultimately idiotic 'saw' precisely because it keeps on showing you things you don't think you're going to see.

things that make you really, really uncomfortable. things that are very, very upsetting.

when we finished watching i felt as though i had been hit by a truck, much the same way i felt when i watched Texas chainsaw for the first time when i was fourteen. that was a long time ago. i think this film has the potential to become a similar rite of passage for up-and-coming horror fans. it's that powerful.

having said that, i can't see them releasing this as is. it touches on stuff that no major studio will want to go near.

one of the few 'based on a true story...' films that really is, i wonder how aussies felt when they saw this film. also, the lead baddie is a pretty familiar face to you lot down under--i'm curious how that translated? since i had no clue as to who the #$%* he was, he was totally believable as a freaky hick and scared the hell out of me.

great, great movie. horror fans? get your hands on a copy somehow.

How good to be able to report that a current horror film is as terrifying as anything I have seen. I'm not sure how much the slow build helped. With limp violence to come, certainly a thorough introduction to the participants can help the consequent action seem more involving but when the visceral action is as shattering and disturbing as this I'm not so sure. In any event, this modern day, Australian, Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves all it sets out to and will give nobody a comfortable ride. Unrelenting and truly scary this is a monumental piece of work. The editing is particularly effective and helpful in keeping the tension going. There is no dull moment at all in this movie, only stand out scenes and the best of these is the central and very hard to watch, treatment of the first captive. This scene is made all the worse for the most part because the 'rescuer' is like us stunned by the ferocity of the violence and reduced to simple watching and we are made even more aware of the voyeuristic nature of the situation as we watch horrific torture and killing. Not a bundle of fun then but an extremely well told tale. I just won't be watching it again right away.

Wolf Creek fmovies. When one thinks of horror films, one generally does not associate Australia with horror. Sure, they have had a few, but most genre fans think of England, Italy, and, of late, Japan. This film, made on a minuscule budget, is effectively creepy, imaginatively convincing, and just plain terrifying to many degrees. It is not a complete film by any stretch, but when one looks at the small budget used and the effective use of the Australian outback as a setting for horror, Wolf Creek makes the grade as being a quality horror film. We have all seen variations of the story before: a group of people, out on vacation, are tricked, captured, and tortured by a crazy man living in the middle of nowhere under his own code of ethics and what he believes is right and wrong. There really are a lot of similarities with this and movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and countless other films, but all of those films have not used setting so effectively and created one of the films more modern truly despicable villains. Mick Taylor, the stereotypical Aussie in American minds, is a terrifying parody of outward Aussie charm with a perverse, psychotic, twisted inward mental persona capable of some of the most disgusting acts. Actor John Jarratt does a good job playing such a vile man - he made my skin crawl every time he was on screen in the second half of the picture. Wolf Creek moves at a fast pace - perhaps too fast at times, but we are able to invest some interest and care about the victims. I appreciate the ending and final scene, but I really wanted a more satisfying ending for closure. The film uses, what it says are true accounts, as the basis for the story and couches the film with such pieces of information at the beginning and end with missing people in Australia every year. This documentary device was also used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre originally as well. So for me, Wolf Creek is effective in creating true, genuine horror although in many regards the film is very derivative. The change of locale to the vast, desolate Australian outback was wonderfully used. The tension throughout the film is like a roller-coaster ride. The acting is pretty good overall. The film has many distasteful images and will stay in your mind days after having viewed the film. That, to me, is a powerful horror film in some respect.

wow! like many other movies i review, i literally only just saw this. and i must say that I'm impressed with the SAFC, this is a truly horrific movie. The highlights: * Unknown cast- gave the movie a very realistic atmosphere. i was so happy to realise that none of the actors were remotely familiar. * Low Budget- the obvious low budget gave the film a gritty and unsettling appearance. the locations were convincing and didn't look too perfected for cinema. * Character Development- This was my favorite aspect of the movie. unlike the corny Hollywood slasher/horrors that jump straight into the gore, this movie gave about an hour of very carefully planned events made solely to adapt to the characters. it was strange because although nothing was really happening during that hour, it still seemed interesting. I've come to realise that this was because of how realistic it was to show non-eventful scenes. not every second of life has something interesting. * Psycho- Mick Taylor was a very creepy character because of how familiar his behaviour is. before we see his psychopathic ways, he comes across as just some friendly bloke trying to lend a hand. and his creepy smile is still terrifying long after the movie has ended.

Negative points: * a couple of factual mistakes, none too bad though * only loosely based on true stories, therefore not as scary

Apart from that, this was actually one of the best horror movies out there. definitely the best gore-fest horror, anyway.

Congrats to the South Australian Film Corporation!

Wolf Creek is a fine example of a rare breed nowadays: a horror film that pulls no punches and makes no apologies for frightening and unnerving the audience.

Three young people are hiking in the Australian Outback when they're unlucky enough to meet Mick Taylor (played brilliantly by John Jarratt), one of the most twisted psychopaths to grace the big screen in years. Mick is a guy who did some hunting at one time, is pretty good with a rifle, and is a survivalist with some possible military training... we're not really sure of much else. All we know is that at some point he took up hunting people for his own amusement and found out he was quite good at it.

What makes this film frightening is how realistic and plausible the story is. Mick seems like a demon that could actually exist in the real world. He's not a super-genius serial killer always toying with the cops. He doesn't kill to fulfill some grandiose plan or message. He doesn't kill his victims in elaborate, unlikely scenarios or games. Rather, he's a pure sadist who just seems to enjoy watching pain, suffering and death. It's that simple. It doesn't take much imagination to realize, in the the middle of the Outback, it would be quite easy for a psycho like Mick to operate for a long time and never get caught.

Wolf Creek is brutally violent and unflinchingly realistic. It never gives the audience time to catch their breath or to feel any hope. This movie is not for everyone. It leaves you unsettled and feeling uneasy. This is only for real horror fans who desire a scare that will stick with them long after the movie ends.