Wolf Creek

Beware, there are plenty of psychopaths around the world who will offer you seemingly selfless help, and if you live in the southern Australian outback where you can't get help, you're sure to get into trouble... A likeable representative from the land where horror movies are a rarity and certainly one of the better The Texas Chainsaw Massacre clones. It’s unnecessary to introduce the characters of the three leads because the director doesn't work with them in the second half and whether "he likes this one and she likes that one" is quite irrelevant, but I will probably be one of the few who didn't mind the long introductory first half. I let myself be lulled by the idyll, which was replaced by a premonition of something bad (which started with the presence of the locals with a rightly boorish expression), only to be grabbed by the neck by the director with an unexpected and surprisingly brutal plot development. What brings this film down from a four-star rating are a few perhaps too spectacular scenes and a somewhat tired game with the viewer in the form of presenting the film as a "true story". Not a chance. For fans of movie brutality, however, this piece is a certain notch in the axe's bloody hilt. (26.02.2006)

In the flood of contemporary slasher films, this one is above average. It mainly benefits from the unpleasant atmosphere of the vast Australian outback, which eventually turns into the cramped environment of an old quarry, where a cruel hillbilly sets off an exceedingly harsh and detailed game of torture, which will leave the weaker folks reeling. It is unfortunate that the introduction was a bit unnecessarily long, which could have given way to the "more important" part. Yet my final impression is still one of utmost satisfaction, mixing a beatific smile at the idea that the genre is not dying with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. In my opinion, that’s the best result the Australians could have managed. (03.07.2006)

Surprisingly pretty boring. Little fear, few scares and unfortunately little violence. Plus John Jarratt is pretty ridiculous as a sadistic killer. (22.03.2006)

This film has quite improved after a couple of days. I wouldn’t say it’s very good, it has too many cheap twists and not enough of the proper nastiness that, for instance, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre served plenty of, but I wouldn’t hesitate to say that in many aspects it’s quite special. I haven’t watched many slashers, but I like hixploitation and, on the basis of its predecessors, I know what to expect from it. But McLean doesn’t follow the known structures and conceives the villain in a pretty different way, he’s a heartless redneck butcher who, instead of the classic anonymous threat, incarnates the perils of the Australian bush – at first glance, he’s a rough geezer who wraps you around his finger and rejects the forced global folklore (a great jab at Crocodile Dundee), but he’s actually an unimaginably brutal threat that will either destroy or permanently mark you. The portrayal of the main characters and their personalities is not very interesting, but the leisurely escalation of the atmosphere works well, and when that nice geezer finally shows up, you are already nervously waiting to see what those poor souls will face in the coming hours. Another interesting thing is the structure of shifting the attention between the victims, but I think it was used and worked better when they were in pairs – McLean here keeps his feet on the ground and tries to forcefully generate an impression of realism (the inspiration on two real murders is true, but marginal and very garbled), but he doesn’t quite manage to get the right balance between a shockingly violent slasher and a more sober statement about wider social problems (if the relationship between tourists and the rough people of the sparsely populated countryside can be called that). If the second half followed one direction in a more purposeful manner, I would give it a satisfied 4*, as it is, it gets strong three. (31.10.2020)

Wolf Creek is definitely one of the best horror films based on true events I've ever seen. The film’s slow start is not at all a bad thing; quite the contrary. During the opening forty-five minutes, the tension builds up to such an extent that it can be cut with a knife. And then it really starts to have some serious twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Watching the film, I kept wondering how it all could have happened in reality. Given that it's filmed quite believably, I'm willing to believe that this is how it really happened. (10.04.2020)