"Wolf Creek" (2005)

SPOILER ALERT

I remember the first time I saw it, I would've never thought that Nathan Phillips' character was going to be the sole survivor. I thought he was the first one to be killed.

I've always wondered if there is an intentional subtext to Phillips's character Ben possibly being gay. The two female characters mention whether or not they believe he "actually has a girlfriend in Sydney", and the brief kissing scene between him and one of the women is awkward and abrupt, almost as if he's not into it. An Aussie bloke going on a three-week excursion with two young female British tourists and simply acting as a buddy does not exactly scream "heterosexual" to me. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Is it a musical?

I know some people find the Mick Taylor character funny (and I believe the sequel and TV series possibly played this up) as a kind of Crocodile Dundee pastiche, but the way Jarratt plays him in the movie is bone-chilling to me. He strikes the "charming on the surface, sinister underneath" chord perfectly, and when the evil comes out, it's really scary.

The true story of Ivan Milat (aka the backpacker killer) is just as terrifying.

R5 a few years back I met a TRASHED Australian guy from Melbourne at a bar in Portland, OR. He was there visiting with his wife (she was originally from Portland, but she had moved to Australia with him and was back visiting family). My friends and I got to talking to them for quite a bit that night, and at one point we started discussing Australian movies. I told him Wolf Creek was one of my favorite horror films. He was very, VERY passionate about how vile Milat was, and how glad he was that the man was dead. I think Milat had died recently. I only knew about the case because of the film, but it was obviously an extremely well-known story in Australia. Those crimes were extremely fucked up.

It IS Wolf Creek!

This movie scared the living shit out of me. There's also a Wolf Creek 2 which was also horrifying.

I would say it's one of the very best, most effective horror films. The long, slow opening distorts the sense of time such that the rather short grueling segment seems to last forever. The ambiguity, the sinister tone cast by the roadhouse scene, the grey pall over that crater, the impression of vulnerability in the enormous physical distances between people and places... everything adds up brilliantly I think.

It creeps me the fuck out and having seen it start to finish only once, it's a film that comes to mind with a frequency well beyond what I would prefer.

It's a good movie but it was too stressful for me to actually enjoy it. I think Snowtown is a better Aussie crime movie.

There is a definite homage to “Picnic at Hanging Rock” when all the clocks stop at the same time which is fitting as a young Jarratt was in “Hanging Rock”.

I was watching this in a packed theater in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was right after Christmas so everybody was out and about. At the very end after Ben frees himself and escapes, when the screen reads “Ben Mitchell now resides in Northern Australia” a woman in the row ahead of me screamed out, “N***a, why you still livin’ in Australia??!!!”

Best tension breaker ever.

The trailer for the upcoming Dangerous Animals felt like Wolf Creek on a boat to me

I said the exact same thing to my companions this evening, R13! It was one of the trailers before we watched Final Destination.

Wolf Creek is perhaps my favourite horror film. The second season of the series is also fantastic.

Both the first film and the second season of the series showcase the stark beauty of the outback, introduce you to characters that are completely out of their element and just slightly annoying enough that you don't care when they are eventually slaughtered. Jarratt's portrayal of Mick is bone chilling. Believe me, there are men just like him in most Australian country towns. Perhaps not murderers, but mentally unbalanced, callous, ruthless and ignorant.

Speaking of Ivan Milat - he attacked, killed and buried some of his victims in the Belanglo State Forest south of Sydney.

A friend of mine was a couple of weeks into dating someone new when the girlfriend suggested that they got out of town and go camping. She said yes and that weekend they were cruising down the freeway escaping the Sydney Friday arvo traffic.

After an hour or so the girlfriend turned off the freeway and they ended up in a heavily forested area where they set up camp before the sun set.

It was all very cosy and rustic and lesbian and my mate asked the girlfirend “this is lovely - what’s this place called?”. The girlfriend answered “The Belanglo State Forest”

Fuck that, R16! I'd have packed up and left.

RE: Ben being possibly gay, there's also the exchange between him and Mick where Ben tells him he's from Sydney, to which Mick jokingly responds "The poofter capital of Australia!" Ben awkwardly laughs at this. Kristy also makes a comment to him early on at the gas station about his "so-called girlfriend" which he also has an awkward nonverbal response to. And there's also the burly men at the gas station diner who talk shit to him and the girls, and one of them calls him "sweetheart". It all could just be pointing to him being a city boy out of his element, but there's some ambiguity about the character's sexuality IMO.

R11 yeah, I noticed that too. There is definitely an homage there. When they first get to the crater (before their watches stop), there's as scene where Ben and Kristy are relaxing on the ground beneath an umbrella, and she says something, pondering about the crater and its creation by a meteor. It suggests something quasi-otherworldly about the landscape, and parallels the scene in "Hanging Rock" where all the girls are lounging beneath the rock formation.

An absolute classic- This came out when I was 25 and it was just epic to me. I think (if I recall) 2004-2009 was a real horror resurgence- ( remember loving this one, and a horrific French thriller Called Inside "Le Interieur "(sp) ,The Hills Have Eyes remake.. there were many horror films during this period-

The sequel was slightly campier, far more over the top, and FAR gorier (that scene with the campers was just NASTY as was the opening with the cops- holy SHIT) Mick was much funnier too- Totally different from the original but good in its own way.

FYI- A sequel is in pre production right now and should be shooting soon- It has been delayed for years as John Jarratt was accused of rape (from many years ago) He was found not guilty.

John Jarratt was a handsome guy in his youth. He showed full-frontal in the film "The Odd Angry Shot" (1979). Nice body, cock, and a really cute ass.

[Quote] This movie scared the living shit out of me

I’ve never understood this expression. Living shit? That’s a disturbing thought. Imagine it squirming around in there, alive.

What is “living shit?”

John's ass was quite suckable

I meant "fuckable", but autocorrect also wasn't wrong—suckable, too.

This movie was so scary I couldn’t finish it. Not even during the day.

R25 I don’t find it scary to be honest, just gruesome and rather depressing. The ending with that somber musical score is very elegiac. It’s a grim movie, but not scary (at least to me).

[quote] I meant "fuckable", but autocorrect also wasn't wrong

Maybe not, but your link to the Pic is broken. When will morons move on from Imgbb? The memo has gone around several times now. Enough already!

Twenty years ago I was filling my car at the local servo when who should pull in to the adjoining petrol pump but John Jarratt?

He was at peak hotness wearing a navy shearers’ singlet and well worn 501s. He was hot.

[Quote]Maybe not, but your link to the Pic is broken.

Works fine for me 🤷‍♂️

Ebert & Roeper gave it thumbs down.

Ebert hated the movie with a passion.

R32 Ebert for whatever was very sensitive to graphic violence against women in films. He always felt it was exploitative and would lambast films like this. Even with something like I Spit on Your Grave, in which the victimized woman gets brutal revenge, he absolutely loathed it. In Wolf Creek, both the women are the ones to die (and quite brutally), so I’m not surprised he hated it.