shannen-l-c I first saw 'Wolf Creek' when I was about 16 years old and it always stayed with me. I've since re-watched it and it's just as weighty now as it was when I first saw it 7 years ago. Whilst this movie might appear to be your standard slasher, it's much more terrifying for the simple fact that it feels so real. It's based on a true story, so it could be to do with that. But the idea of three backpackers going into the outback where they're unfamiliar with their surroundings and getting picked up by a seemingly friendly and helpful man who offers to fix their car for free is VERY believable. It almost feels like this is something that could happen to me or you or anyone else. There are no coincidences, the killer's actions are premeditated - he follows them, tampers with their car and then comes to their rescue at the appropriate moment so as to lure them back to his place. What's even more realistic is that the characters are suspicious and wary of this man, but are limited in the choices they have. They're stuck in the middle of the out-back with no car, no signal (every movie has to have at least one cliche) and no money, so have very little choice but to accept the help that's offered. Kudos to John Jarrat's performance as the antagonist, Mick. He really brings to life a terrifying killer that gives you the heebie jeebies just for seeing his face or hearing his voice. From the second we're introduced to him the tension is felt. The other performances, although not excellent, are decent. The violence is somewhat closer to movies such as Saw or Hostel, rather than traditional slashers such as Halloween or Friday the 13th, so gore fans will enjoy that. One particular scene that haunts me forever is the one where Mick severs Liz's spinal chord by twisting his knife into her back, which is capable of setting anyone's teeth on edge and making their insides churn.I like that the characters don't make foolish decisions and Liz in particular makes a damn good effort to escape and survive. All of her actions are justified and I found myself screaming at the screen every time her attempts were thwarted. It created a real sense of inevitability surrounding their fates. Mick was the one in control, he was the one that had the power and he exercised that throughout. The ending is a slight let down in comparison to the rest of the movie and feels almost too easy. Whilst the two girls, Liz and Kristy go through a living hell, are sexually assaulted, tortured, tormented and killed, Ben simply wakes up in cave with some angry dogs barking at him, stumbles out and eventually gets rescued. By having Ben as the sole survivor having been absent for the majority of the movie, is very unsatisfying because let's face it, he's done nothing to warrant his survival. It would've been so much more rewarding for the survivor to have been one of the girls instead, since they fought so hard to live. Or even better, they should've included Ben in the middle half of the film and had him going through the events with the two girls rather than being separated from them. Having said this, 'Wolf Creek' is still a very raw movie that struck a chord with me all those years ago and compelled me to re-watch it and come and write a review.

James Theodore Smith I was anxious to see this movie because I had the uncut version. I was expecting gore, violence, a huge body count etc...There was none of the above. I think Mick killed two people in the whole film? It was slow- dragged throughout with nothing happening. I was at least expecting a climatic ending- nothing. Without the bad language this could have easily received a PG-13 rating, no sex, very little violence and gore. This film was more psychological than anything else. A complete waste of time. I noticed that part 2 is now on Netflix- I may give the sequel a chance. It can't be any worse than the first- Hopefully there will be some decent gore and a higher body count...and one last thing: Spoiler- When the dumb girl is in the car graveyard with about 12 cars she happens to pick and sit in the one car where Mick just happens to be waiting in the back seat: Is he psychic too...? and to just leave him on the ground with a flesh wound when she could have easily bashed his head in or kill him- no, she hits him in the back a few times. and based on actual events? What an insult to women.

johnwiltshireauthor I'm pretty sure I'm not the only viewer of this movie who gives up watching at the scene in the shed when girl No. 1 saves girl No. 2 by wounding the bad guy who's been torturing and raping her... and then just leaving while he's unconscious but still alive. Seriously? He tortures people to death (there's the carcass of a previous victim hanging in the shed who apparently lasted a few months), you wound him enough to knock him out, but then just leave. Uh-huh. He has a knife the size of Australia on him but, no, you don't think about finishing him off there and then. You just leave him to revive. Nope. Too daft to watch. And I get that for the movie to continue the bad guy has to live--I'm an author; I get plotting. But action has to be credible. So, when he's knocked unconscious, make him fall into a pit they cannot climb down into--whatever. But no one, no one would just leave that guy alive. Stopped watching this for the third time at that point. I just can't get past it. Shame.

NateWatchesCoolMovies 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.