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Film review

Wolf Creek: Filmflam

Run for your lives from this grisly Christmas present from Down Under, where it should have stayed.

By PHILIP BOOTH
Published December 25, 2005

The truth about Wolf Creek, a Sundance favorite from Australia considered the year's indie fright fest to beat: It's relentlessly grim and unapologetically bloody, a slay ride of a Christmas Day release that boasts all the gore of a slasher film and none of the over-the-top campiness that's made recent horror movies - Land of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead - so appealing to wide audiences.

Does anyone get out alive? There's a good chance that more than one unsuspecting filmgoer won't have the stomach, or the heart, to stick around long enough to find out.

Wolf Creek, the debut feature from Aussie writer-director-producer Greg McLean, begins with a bit of trickery, as an opening title reveals that the movie is based on true events. Not exactly: The villain in McLean's film reportedly is a composite of several killers, including "Backpacker Killer" Ivan Milat, who was convicted of seven murders in 1996 and imprisoned for life.

McLean, with the use of another opening title and several initial plot turns, also suckers the audience into believing that his film might simply be an eerie, even quirky tale about strange disappearances, a la the Australian-made 1975 chiller Picnic at Hanging Rock. Or perhaps the story will veer into sci-fi? No such luck.

The filmmaker uses an extended set-up to create affection for the three central characters - a pair of good-natured British girls, Liz (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi) on holiday in Australia, and their newfound Aussie surfer friend, high-spirited Ben (Nathan Phillips).

The three, after partying hard at a west coast beach town, decide to share a station wagon for a long drive across the continent. They joke around, bicker and flirt before arriving at the first planned stop, Wolf Creek National Park. There, on a chilly, rainy day, they take a long hike to the park's meteorite-created crater.

They return to discover the car won't start. But a friendly-enough eccentric who introduces himself as Mick (Aussie screen veteran John Jarratt) comes along and offers to tow the trio and their vehicle back to his compound, where he'll do the repair for free. After listening to Mick's stories about life in the bush, punctuated with his goofball cackling, the three travelers fall asleep around a campfire.

From there, Wolf Creek rapidly descends into a morass of horror. The twist, so to speak, is that the terror goes on and on, as Liz, Kristy and Ben are plunged into a nightmare from which there seems to be no exit. A measure of McLean's success as a storyteller: Audiences will feel the same way.

Grade: C+

Director: Greg McLean

Cast: John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi

Screenplay: Greg McLean

Rating: Unrated (probably R); explicit violence

Running time: 98 minutes

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 11:52:04]