Wolf Creek

Yikes! This is one scary movie. After an innocuous build up the film reveals three back packers (two Brit girls and their Aussie boyfriend) in the clutches of a murderous psycho. The film is slow to start but we can sense that something evil is about to happen. The acting is decent enough with no stand outs. This film does occasionally cross over into slightly dubious territory with some nasty scenes of torture, but is generally far more controlled than bottom of the barrel stuff like 'The Devil's Rejects' and Hostel/Hostel 2. There are some genuine scares as the tension rises in the bloody second half. See this film if you enjoy visceral unsettling horror.

Overall 7/10

Wolf Creek won't be everyone's cup of tea. It's unflinchingly violent and the film takes its time in building to that violence which will leave many viewers twiddling their thumbs out of boredom, but once it gets going, there are few films as scary and nightmarish. The idea of being trapped in the outback with no one around for miles and nowhere to hide as a psychotic killer terrorizes and tortures you and your friends is as scary as it gets.

There is a subtlety about this movie, that makes it so chilling, and so very real. It's a style of storytelling that seems to have been lost in recent years, with so much emphasis on gore and shock, that the story gets lost. Wolf Creek is chilling, believable, and even though at tines you know what's coming next, you cannot help but sit uncomfortably in your seat. The acting is great all round, very sincere, and the location work is of course fantastic.

It put me off wanting a trip to the Aussie outback, so it made an impact. I joke of course, but this is a truly classic horror movie. 7/10

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!

I got this information from another website, and thought I might share it with you :) The true Wolf Creek story happened about two thousand kilometres from Wolfe Creek National Park, and not in Western Australia, but in the Northern Territory.

On July 14, 2001, British tourists Peter Falconio (then 28) and Joanne Lees (then 27) travelled on the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs in the direction of Darwin. It was night time.

Roughly half way between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, just outside Barrow Creek, a mechanic called Bradley John Murdoch managed to make them pull over, and told them that sparks were coming out of the exhaust of their van.

Peter went to the back of the van with Murdoch to have a look, and Joanne was asked to rev the engine. She later said she thought she heard a shot. Then Murdoch, holding a gun, came to her window. He bound her hands and dragged her into his four wheel drive.

Then he disappeared for a while. It is assumed that he dealt with Peter's body during that time. That's when Joanne managed to escape. She hid in the bush as Murdoch was searching for her with his dog. Eventually he gave up.

Joanne waited for hours, making sure that he was really gone and not coming back. When she finally staggered back onto the highway two truck drivers stopped and helped her.

Murdoch was caught in the largest Northern Territory police investigation ever. He had been in Alice Springs the same day as Joanne and Peter, he had also visited the same fast food outlet.

Whether he targeted them at random or followed them from Alice Springs is not known. He claims he wasn't even near Barrow Creek, had taken the Tanami Road instead (a rough bush track from Alice Springs to Western Australia. It runs past Wolfe Creek National Park) Many questions remain. No weapon or body was found. The motive is unclear, too. But speculations revolve around paranoia and aggression induced by his heavy amphetamine use. Murdoch is a self confessed drifter, drug runner, and regularly transported large amounts of cannabis between Alice Springs and Broome in Western Australia.

His lawyers couldn't explain how his DNA had ended up in the blood on Joanne's clothes if he'd been nowhere near her. After a two month trial he was found guilty in December 2005. The verdict by the jury was unanimous. Murdoch will serve at least 28 years of a life sentence, unless his appeal is successful.

I followed the reports of the trial and admired Joanne Lees' stoicism. I believe it helped her to make an escape, but it often didn't help her before and during the trial. She has remained silent, withdrawn, not revealing her emotions (which are nobody's business in my opinion). No big magazine spreads and TV shows, just four days of testimony during the trial. Unusual in our age of media hype and rampant disclosure...

By the way the correct spelling is Wolfe Creek And that's it, the Wolf Creek true story. Or is it? Well, not quite. There sure are many parallels, enough for Murdoch's lawyers to prevent the movie from being released in the Northern Territory during the trial. But the true story above is not the only one that influenced the Wolf Creek movie.

The character of Mick Taylor, the seemingly friendly and helpful bush bloke, is modelled on Ivan Milat. Milat was a serial killer who picked up hitchhikers and took them into the woods where he tortured and killed them. These murders took place in the 1990s in New South Wales, not in the Outback (and have taken place in other form at other times in other parts of the world as well...) Milat, too, was caught and sentenced to life in prison.

You should also keep in mind that writer/director Greg McLean wrote the original story years ago, as a conventional and purely fictional horror flick set in the Australian Outback. He only became aware of the true cases afterwards, and took ideas and cues from them and blended them into his story. The line "based on true events" surely helps marketing the film, but it is misleading...

So what does the Wolf Creek true story mean for tourists to the Australian Outback? Should you be concerned? Absolutely. Stay away from amphetamines...