Review of Wolf Creek (2005) by John M — 14 Mar 2009

Certainly not a movie you'd ever say you "enjoyed", and not a movie for everyone - if fact I wouldn't directly recommend it to anyone, and I'd advise almost every girl I know to avoid it.

More graphic than gory, and far from "fun" schlock horror, this is an intense psychological thriller, if you remove any concept that the "thrills" might be fun. I didn't enjoy it, per se, it really is a horrible film in many ways, but if you measure a film's success by how much it involves you, then this is brilliant, because I found it truly gripping, and very suspenseful.

I simply couldn't look away. I also admired the writing and guerilla style film-making, and the pacing of the pic - especially the growing foreboding in the 2nd act, was pulled off perfectly. Owes a lot to "Texas Chainsaw" and "Blair Witch", but just as much - for better or worse - to Oz's real life backpacker abduction horrors like the Milat and Falconi cases.

Anyone who knows any details of those cases, or any true psychopathic killer stories, might find "Wolf Creek" even more intensely disturbing than the rest of us. Enter at your own peril.