Review: Wolf Creek (2005)

When English backpackers Liz and Kristy and their Australian companion Ben drive from Broome to Wolf Creek National Park, a terrifying journey begins as their car breaks down, and they accept help from the seemingly affable truck driver Mick Taylor...

-Margaret and David

Wolf Creek, written and directed by Greg McLean, is yet another one of those movies 'based on true events'. At the risk of ruining the horror for you, just a little , it's nothing of the sort. The backpacker murders happened on the other side of the country for a start... But I shan't go on about boring things such as accuracy and dubious marketing tactics.

What this horror film is, however, is a very, very scary story. At the end I felt chilled, and very unlikely to embark upon a touristy drive through the outback anytime soon. This, of course, plays on the fear of all us townies, convinced that the vast outback of Australia must be dotted with crazy bastards who have been shunned from normal society.

John Jarrett, as the baddie, has perfected the evil laugh of a sadistic madman, and I pity anyone who is unfortunate enough to laugh like this in real life.

Given that this was portrayed as a true story, complete with the handheld camera naturalism and reality TV type feel at the beginning, I felt a little betrayed by some of the plot contrivances:

SPOILER

- When you're running away from a madman, and you've told your traumatised friend to wait five minutes, you don't go rifling through souvenirs from his killing spree and you certainly don't happen upon the exact part in a video clip which shows the baddie has been following you all along...

- When a vehicle sits in a garage for an extended period of time, any remaining fuel in the tank evaporates.

- When you're really, really in the middle of nowhere, it's unlikely another, completely separate and random old man will happen to pass by and attempt to help you out.

- When you're seriously wounded in the outback and have not drunk any water for days, you're unlikely to make it out alive.

Apart from these minor issues, and the fact it was shot in South Australia (which apparently looks not very much like Broome), this was a thrilling, though gory, horror.