Matt Van Stone

When I watched the trailer for Wolf Creek I really wasn’t impressed. I thought the trailer had a Texas Chainsaw Massacre copycat feel to it. I like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and most of its sequels (excluding the next generation) but some of the copycats have really sucked. Exhibit A: Wrong Turn. However, I got the movie anyway and was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Now I’ll try and do this without any spoilers. The movie came out last year in Australia and is just now making its way into North American theatres. This is one reason I had for wanting to see it. The last few foreign horrors I have seen (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, and Haute Tention) have all been very good and I wasn’t disappointed by Wolf Creek either. The movie follows three travelers including two girls from the UK and a young man from Australia as they embark on a road trip across the continent of Australia.

Things go smoothly until the three find their car battery dead after an afternoon hike into Wolf Creek national park. They decide to camp out in the car until the morning when they will figure out what they are going to do. In the middle of the night they are greeted with a pleasant surprise, a fellow Australian from the outback drives by and offers to tow them back to his camp where he will repair their car. Yes pleasant indeed.

It’s a bit slow up until this point, but from here on in I found the movie pretty gut wrenching with suspense, which is good. I must say though the character building for the first 40 minutes is necessary. Without that connection to the characters the suspense scenes would not have had as much of an effect. I think a lot of fear comes from apathy and it’s heightened after learning about the relationship between characters.

I must say I’m a sucker for shock factor. I like to be shocked and that’s why I watch horror movies. This movie does it without too much graphic gore. I must admit though there are a few of the classic horror “poor decisions” throughout the film. Like letting a complete stranger tow you into the Australian outback and the classic not dismembering the bad guy while he is down mistake. Those few situations aside I must say I really enjoyed the movie and especially the crazy antagonist played by John Jarratt. Especially the truly evil laugh he does.

I couldn’t recommend this movie to just anyone due to its violent and scary nature, but anyone who says they like horror movies I believe would be able to find something to like in this one. It is definitely in my top 5 for the year.