Wolf Creek

Three friends go on vacation to a tour in the Australian outback. There they meet all sorts of weirdos who fuck with them and make them feel like scared rabbits. When their car breaks down, they get help from a nice-acting dude (John Jarratt) who turns out to be a psychotic serial killer who tortures and hunts them down like animals.
Based on real-life murderer Ivan Milat, this movie gives me mixed feelings. It’s the kind of film I hated the first time I saw it, but it has warmed up on me a little over the years, but not much. The main problem is from the three leads. Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi and Nathan Phillips are not very well written and rounded characters, and to me they seemed like the kind of people I used to hate during high school. How many times am I going to have to see these obnoxious “party till you drop” kind of people who fall prey to a murderer? It’s a tired cliché and I find it very lazy from the part of the filmmaker. It’s not so much to ask for well-written and realistic characters, is it? I also got bored with the way this film was shot. The first half of the film looked more like a promotional video to come visit Australia, and it bored me to tears.
Thankfully the film picks up on the second half when the serial killer character comes about. John Jarratt is hilarious and scary at the same time. The movie disappoints on the gore department, although I will say the murder of Kristy’s, being hunted like an animal on the street. It’s very suspenseful and very well shot. It revived the exploitation genre in Australia and led the way for better films to come, but this film simply lacks in it’s convictions.