Description: Welcome to Wolf Creek, where the suspense of The Blair Witch Project meets the horror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Inspired by Australia’s "Backpacker Killer" who murdered seven backpackers in the ‘90s, Wolf Creek won wide acclaim from critics, filmmakers and audience members alike at the Sundance Film Festival. Three unsuspecting hikers take off for a drive across Australia. When the trio returns from a four-hour hike to Wolf Creek National Park, they find their car is dead. Help comes in the form of big, back-slapping bushman Mick (John Jarratt). Since Mick appears to be more Crocodile Dundee than Freddy Krueger, the trio trusts him…which proves to be a grave mistake. Quentin Tarantino said, "Jarratt delivers a performance that’s destined to go down as one of the greatest film heavies of the last 25 years. "Not since the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre has terror felt so real." Ken Fox, TV Guide
Amazon.com: Wolf Creek, written and directed by Greg McClean, is the Blair Witch Project of the Australian outback. Capitalizing on the human fear of becoming lost in the wilderness, in this case a desert crater called Wolf Creek National Park, this graphic horror film exploits the handheld camera to capture the grotesque actions of Mick Taylor (John Janatt), a sadistic serial killer. When a hip twenty-something guy, Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), and two hippie-ish girls, Cassandra (Liz Hunter) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi), take a road trip and their car breaks down, they have no choice but to accept help from Mick, an eccentric rural Aussie, who, like a spider, tows them into his nightmarish lair. Mick hunts kangaroos and hates tourists, translating his fetish for knives, shotguns, and other torture devices into a need to kill humans as if they're vermin infesting his majestic landscape. Ample blood and gore leave the viewer feeling nearly as sick as the girls who are forced to watch each other die. Like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Mick Taylor is a savvy, calculating killer, despicable but psychologically fascinating. --Trinie Dalton
ruthless predator . . . Filmmaker Greg McLean's conceived the basic story for Wolf Creek several years before it came to the screen. His goal was to do a distinctly Australian horror thriller. Apparently, elements from a real case involving a serial killer who preyed on hikers, and other actual crimes, were later incorporated into the screenplay. While not strictly `based on actual events' as is stated at the beginning of the film, Wolf Creek is a chilling tale featuring a ruthless and sadistic predator, with a long history of murder and torture in the Australian outback.
The killer is a bushman named Mick Taylor (John Jarratt), and his latest victims are a trio of visitors to Wolf Creek National Park. Aussie Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), is travelling with a couple of British tourists, dark haired Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and fair haired Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi). After spending the day hiking around the scenic meteor crater, the group find themselves alone and stranded, when their car fails to start. Spending the night in the car, they are awakened by the arrival of a tow truck. The driver Mick, seems friendly and willing to help, so they hitch up the car and tow it back to Mick's place, what appears to be some kind of mine somewhere deep in the boonies. After a little supper around the campfire, the tourists bed down for the night with no worries, while good old Mick gets down to working on repairing their vehicle . . . . .
. . . . . well unfortunately Mick is into brutality, rape, and torture, and for the three unlucky travelers, life will never be the same again. Much of the film from this point forward follows the actions of Liz and Kristy as they attempt to escape from a sadistic killer, who is an expert hunter, tracker, and marksman.
While there are some questionable plot developments that challenge logic, overall the story holds together pretty well, with a strong atmosphere of fear, urgency, and terror. And when Mick gets riled up, he's one mean and nasty guy. The grisly act of making a `head on a stick', is just a source of amusement for his twisted mind. Not to reveal specifics, but this is one nightmare that doesn't end well.
The DVD's special features include the `The Making of Wolf Creek' an excellent, extremely comprehensive documentary that covers most of the key aspects of the making of the film. The film also has a commentary track with McLean, actors Kestie Morassi, and Cassandra Magrath, and executive producer Matt Hearn. The commentary is informative, but being generally lighter in tone, at times it may seem somewhat inappropriate for the grim happenings on screen. Wolf Creek was shot in high definition video, with much of the footage shot with the camera hand held. The reasons for doing this were to give the film a `documentary' type look, capture high definition images, and also enable the film to be shot at a faster pace, and less expensively.
Wolf Creek is an impressive feature film debut for writer/director Greg McLean, who succeeds in his goal of bringing to the screen the chilling story of a sociopathic killer loose in the Australian outback. McLean would return to present another unique view of Australia in his next film, Rogue (2008), an exciting adventure featuring a giant killer crocodile. Hopefully bigger and better things are in store for this filmmaker.
AN EXCELLENT INDEPENDENT FILM 9.5 OUT OF 10 Wolf Creek is a fantastic example of how you can do a lot with a little. This easily one of the best independent films I've ever seen and is easily one of the most terrific and well-executed horror films I've seen. While the film received mixed reviews from critics (Roger Ebert, you're a major ***hole) and moviegoers, if you give it a chance and you're not easily bored, Wolf Creek does impress. WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Year: 1999. Three friends; Liz, Kristy, and Ben decide to go on a cross-country across Australia to go to Wolf Creek to see one of the world's biggest craters. When they get back to their station wagon, it won't start or even make noise. Just when they are about to spend the night there, a man named Mick just so happens to come along and offers them a tow to his place to fix their car. So the group goes along with the plan, but when they wake up the next morning they realize that are trapped with a vicious and dangerous serial killer in the middle of nowhere and try to find a way to escape. The problem is, like Mick said, you never know where he might pop up. MUSIC: Music comes and goes at times, but it's still very good and provides for the tense atmosphere which this film does an excellent job of providing. ACTION: This film starts off pretty slow, but when it gets going it doesn't stop. This film is very tense, very suspenseful, and is actually scary. This film does a great job of capturing the feeling of realism because this is fully capable of happening. The violence is pretty gruesome throughout the film as well. Thank God, a horror film that is actually scary. ACTING: This area was generally good, but there were times in which the actors dropped the ball and they were cheesy. The dialogue was fairly believable, but it also ran into problems. It's pretty good overall and the actors make it seem real, that's the important thing. OVERALL: If you're a person who is tired of the usual pointless crappy horror films, then Wolf Creek is a definite must-have. Wolf Creek is a fantastic independent horror film that is definitely worthy of a purchase. It's creepy, it's gruesome, and it feels realistic. THE GOOD: The actors, the gore, the music, and the realism. THE BAD: Moments of bad acting and dialogue, and it's slow in the beginning.
Great Aussie Horror Great Australian horror. The movie is an enjoyable story as a group of friends travel through some remote areas, then find themselves in an unimaginably bad situation. I'm starting to enjoy these types of films less - torture, kidnapping, etc. This one is no exception though, as the torture is palpably real and particularly brutal. That said, it is very well done, and I can enjoy just watching the first half, and content myself with knowing that the ending isn't so good for the cast.
aussie horror movie based on actual events This movie is based on an actual Aussie serial-killer: the fact that what takes place in the movie could have occurred feeds a morbid interest in this movie.
You want to find out about this lunatic killer, just how crazy he was. You also feel great sympathy for the characters, knowing that nothing good will happen to them...this is a horror movie after all.
This movie is no exception, but the horror it has is gets under the skin, more so than with the older 'Friday the 13', 'Helloween' and such. I say this because those movies mainly consist of massacres where 10-20 teenagers get killed in as many gruesome ways as possible. In this movie you only follow three characters, this gives a certain intimacy with the characters, their destinies feel more personal.
This is one of those movies where you own intuition spots the mistakes that the characters in the movie made, and which would have evaded their fates.
I think a great horror movie is more than just copious amounts of bloodshed, they should build up the characters so that you actually care about what happens to them to some extent. With mass-killer movies like the before mentioned you don't build this viewer-actor repertoire.
This movie is likely to become a cult movie, so if you haven't seen it yet...you really should. But you shouldn't base you view of Australians and the Aussie outback on this movie of-course.
No Worries?... WOLF CREEK builds up nice and slow, with plenty of time to get to know the three protagonists (Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, and Kestie Morassi). All is well, save for a minor incident w/ some outback hicks. It's supposed to be a trip to the WOLF CREEK National Park, full of fun and pre-planned adventure. That's exactly what it is until the hiking trio returns to find their watches have stopped and their car is dead. Enter Mick Taylor (John Jarratt from Rogue), a friendly, helpful backwoodsman. Mick is willing to assist the three stranded pups at no charge. He'll tow them back to his place, fix the problem, and send them on their way. Besides, what choice do they have? They are in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and haven't seen another human being for quite some time. Upon arriving at Mick's remote encampment, the unease grows exponentially. We are there w/ the three as they are hooked, reeled in, and.... well, let's just say it ain't pretty! WC is a perfectly horrific masterpiece of a cautionary tale. It's part TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, part DELIVERANCE, and part DUEL. Greg Mclean keeps things real and desperate. There are many unfortunate twists, just when it looks like conditions / chances have improved for the ill-fated youngsters. I was confounded by this movie, as I wanted the typical, hollywood heroics and last-minute salvation! Sorry, this one sticks pretty close to what you hear about such events on the news. Mick Taylor is repugnant, yet effectively authentic. WOLF CREEK leaves a permanent mark...
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
