Movie Review: Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek (2005) 

Directed by Greg McLean

Written by Greg McLean

Starring John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra McGrath 

Release Date December 25th, 2005

Published December 31st, 2005 

Are there any words, in relation to movies, anymore full of shit than 'Based on a true story'. Take the term 'based on'. It's a term that means the instances depicted here on are free of the strictures of what really happened. The words state that what really happened is not as important as how the filmmakers are going to present it.

The term 'based on' could be applied to nearly any film. Deuce Bigelow could be based on a true story. After all there is such a thing as a male prostitute. That is all you need to base a story on. In terms of the horror film Wolf Creek the 'based on a true story' tag is part of the films charmng little ad campaign that attempts to portray the film as a new kind of horror film. A more brutal and realistic brand of horror free of the comic nature that overtook much of the genre in the era of Freddy and Jason and further free of the ironic, knowing humor of, what I call, the Kevin Williamson era, the Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer era.

The marketing campaign however, like most marketing campaigns, is a complete lie. Wolf Creek brings nothing new to to the genre. Despite its supposed basis on a true story, Wolf Creek relies on the common attributes of the genre. The film is about the re-creation and presentation of uncommonly brutal violence, sadism and death. Thus, it is no different from Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers or the masked man in Scream.

The stars of Wolf Creek are three previously unknown actors. Nathan Phillips is Ben, Kestie Morassi is Kristy and Cassandra McGrath is Liz. They are three party hardy pals taking a roadtrip through the outback to check out a famed tourist destination called Wolf Ceek crater.

In the midst of the desolate, dry, climes of the outback a meteorite hit and left what is said to be the largest crater known to man. The impact, is said by Ben, to have been equal to several nuclear blasts. It is an impressive sight as are a number of the gorgeous outback vistas and mountainsides in the film. The scenery is at times so lovely as to be nearly hypnotic.

After visiting the crater the trio find that their car will not start. After a few hours they are lucky to meet an outback dweller named Mick who offers to fix the car for free back at his camp. Unfortunately for our trusting trio, Mick happens to be a sadistic murdering psychopath and they are about to be subjected to some stomach turning brutality.

Written and directed by aussie Greg McLean, Wolf Creek wants to be an edgy new brand of horror that plays on peoples real life fear of being lost with no help in a vast possibly metaphoric wasteland. But in the presentation of its brutal violence Wolf Creek shows itself to be no different than any other horror film.

Most horror films are not about characters, storytelling or skilled filmmaking, they are about the ways in which violence is presented. Some films revel in the creative ways they can present a violent death (Final Destination, Saw 1 & 2), some are about the comic ironic ways of violent death (Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th et al) and some are about sheer brutality (Last House on The Left).

Wolf Creek falls into the last category and is nothing special in that right. The violence in Wolf Creek is no more shocking or horrifying than anything in Hostel or Last House on The Left. It is in fact lesser than either of those two films because its characters aren't as deep or interesting. Not that I am a fan of anything in either Hostel or Last House on the Left, but atleast neither of those films bored me the way Wolf Creek does.

The characters in Wolf Creek are the typical stick figure representations of real human beings that are typical of the genre. Just because the director is following these characters with a handheld digital camera does not make them any different from the camp counselors who line up to be shredded by Jason Vorhees.

This is where the based on a true story tag, I gather, is supposed to make the difference between Wolf Creek and typical horror films. By convincing us that what happens in this film may have happened to someone in reality, we are supposed to be more horrified. However, because violence and sadism is presented in the typically broad fashion of the genre its never believable as a reality.

It is factual that people have disappeared and are presumed dead, even murdered, in the vast wasteland of the Australian outback. The deaths however are likely no more elaborate than the average murder. The creators of Wolf Creek are not interested in presenting a realistic scenario of murder in the outback, i.e someone killed in the commission of a hold-up, a robbery or a car-jacking. A realistic scenario is not elaborate enough. So director McClean and his collaborators amp up the sadism and brutality as a cinematic convenience. A tacit admittance that Wolf Creek is merely a genre excercise and not an expression of true fears.

In being solely about the presentation of shocking (or not so shocking) violence Wolf Creek is merely typical of its genre.