Wolf Creek (2005)
Wolf Creek (2005)
"I was doing people a service really, by shooting them.
There's kangaroos all over the place... like tourists."
-Mick
I'd say that Wolf Creek is one of the best horror films of 2005, and one of the few great horror films in the last 15 years. A lot of people seemed to hate this film, but I thought it was fantastic, and it's another one of my favorites.
Supposedly based on true events, the film starts out with three friends (Ben, Liz, and Kristy) traveling across Australia on one final road trip before entering the real world. In fact, the first 40 minutes or so are just the group traveling. Then they arrive to the Wolf Creek crater site, and after returning from a day of hiking, find that their car won't start.
As night falls, they are approached by an old Aussie redneck named Mick. He offers them a ride to his garage to fix their car, and they willingly accept. After a long tow to the old mining site, they relax and end up falling asleep by the fire, while Mick starts working on the car. Liz awakes the next day, locked in some room with her arms and legs tied. She eventually frees herself, and hears Kristy screaming. She follows the screams to a garage, and sees Kristy tied to a post as Mick tortures her, while Ben is nowhere in sight.
I don't want to give away too much, so I'll stop there, but this film is very disturbing in my book. I think part of it is the way it's filmed, the audience feels like they're actually there with these people in a very unfortunate situation. It's not your run-of-the-mill slasher either, the killer is actually a real person, not some masked maniac. When you think about it, serial killers aren't anything like what's in the movies, they don't come back from the dead or wear hockey masks, etc. They're real people, and that's what Mick is in this film.
In my opinon, the film benefits from the slow beginning, because we get to know our characters before seeing them go through a world of horror and dread. Many people say that the beginning is "So boring" because it's just some people traveling, but it's only because many of us are used to seeing someone killed in the first five minutes of a movie.
Overall, I think true horror fans will be pleased. Wolf Creek is an excellent horror film contains plenty of gruesome scenes, and captures a realism that most horror films cannot achieve. Wolf Creek left me feeling very unsettled, and any movie that can do that is a great one in my book.
Starring: John Jarratt, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, and Nathan Phillips
Theatrical Release: December 25, 2005
Directed By: Greg McLean
Click here to visit the official site
My rating (out of 5 stars):
[Film Library]
[MAIN]
