| Product: |
Wolf Creek (DVD) |
| Date: |
22/01/08 (113 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: An intensely enjoyable psychological horror film
Disadvantages: Can at times seem a little too brutally realistic
'Wolf Creek' is a 2005 Horror Film set in the outback of Australia focussing on the journey of three travellers; two British women and one Australian man. The film was marketed as being 'based on true events' in the same sense as that of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', however it must be noted that whilst inspiration is drawn from reality, the film is for the most part a heavily fictional account. With a budget of 1.38 million Australian dollars, 'Wolf Creek' is a reasonably low budget film which is well worth watching in my opinion. Having wanted to see this film for some time, I finally got to see it a few weeks back when it was shown on Film 4 and am definitely glad that I took the time to give the film a viewing.
The Plot
The film begins with the two British tourists Liz and Kristy meeting an Australian man named Ben at a party they are attending whilst on holiday in Australia. Deciding to tag along with Ben for the remaining duration of their holiday; the three of them make their way to Wolf Creek crater, a meteorite impact crater located in Western Australia. Returning to their car having hiked around the crater, they find that the car will not start and begin to become somewhat agitated given that they are now stranded miles from civilisation in the outback of Australia with their only means of transportation now out of the question. Realising that their only choice is to wait for someone to find them here, the trio sit in wait of help arriving and are grateful when it arrives. A man named Mick arrives in a truck and offers to tow them back to his camp to repair their car and although the group are nervous about this given that they do not know where the site is and really know nothing about Mick, they realise that they have no other choice really as it could be days or even weeks before anyone else arrives and so the group are towed to the site of Mick Taylor and it is here that the film really begins to get going.
My Opinion
The film actually begins with the slightly ominous tag line of '30,000 are reported missing in Australia every year. 90% are found within a month. Some are never seen again'; a tag line which sets up our expectations of the film right from the offset and gives us an idea of just what we may be in for here with 'Wolf Creek'. I feel that the film does not disappoint in terms of meeting our expectations, in fact our expectations are more than met as the film progresses and as the film unravels. Never boring, always engaging; 'Wolf Creek' packs a lot into its 99 minute duration and is a film which is always good value for money. Suspense is high at all times and we never quite know what the film will next have in store for us, a true sign of an excellent Horror film.
Whilst the set up of the film may seem extremely familiar; that of three young people alone in the outback where things take a turn for the worse, the film is executed in a way which is not at all expected. Never in 'Wolf Creek' do you feel that this is a genre which has been done to death before, and this is no doubt due to the imaginative and unique directorial expertise of Greg McLean. 'Wolf Creek' was the first full length film from director Greg McLean, one which I feel that he has done a fantastic job of not only directing but writing also. The film is pulled off with terrific style and flair, and with an excellence which belies the fact that this was his directorial début for a full length film. Having now directed a second film in the form of 'Rogue', yet another horror film; I feel that McLean has a bright future ahead of him as a Director and as time progresses will no doubt come through with many more fine films under his directorial belt.
The cast of 'Wolf Creek' is fairly unknown, something I feel benefits the film greatly as rather than being over acted, the film has terrific realism and the cast are extremely convincing in their roles. As his full length directorial début, I feel that McLean's fresh take on the film and use of the unknown was an excellent choice and is one which has definitely worked out for him here. One negative I do have to point out about the casting however is in that of the two 'British' tourists. Whilst the accents provided by the two female actresses are clearly intended to be British, at times they slip into sounding somewhat Australian. Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi are both Australian actresses so this is really no great surprise that this is so, however I definitely feel that the film could have benefited from British casting here in order to solve the problem of the inconsistent accents. Whilst it is at times irritating that the accents of these two keep slipping, this fact does not detract massively from the overall quality of the film I feel as it is something that can easily be overlooked.
Accents aside, as I have already pointed out; the acting is extremely natural from all those cast in the film and I feel that the parts have been chosen extremely well for this film. John Jarratt is superbly convincing as Mick Taylor, showing in 'Wolf Creek' that his acting credentials continue to exude excellence as he appears in his first acting role in a film here since 'Dead Heart' in 1996. John Jarratt is perhaps the star of the show here and plays his part with worrying realism and conviction. Cassandra Magrath as Liz, Kestie Morassi as Kristy, and Nathan Phillips as Ben also excel in their roles here and come across as convincingly petrified throughout the film. Nathan Phillips is perhaps the weakest link of the three here and is at times quite unmemorable in the part that he plays, however nonetheless comes across as a pleasant Australian and all round nice guy whom you do not wish to see harm come to. Never do you feel that the film is in fact just a film, it is all so realistic that you just feel as though this must be a real account of events that truly happened. Given that the film is only 'based' on true events this is clearly not always so, however you do feel that all of what is happening is believable and truly could happen to you if you happened to be travelling in the outback of Australia.
Jerky camera movement throughout the film gives 'Wolf Creek' a documentary feel about it; something I feel McLean was most definitely going for given the factor of the film being heavily marketed as 'based on true events'. The jerkiness of the camera makes the film extremely believable as it gives the film a roughness which would usually be more commonly accredited to the documentary genre. With bringing this feature to the world of the full length film, we as a viewer have pre-existing knowledge that this is a documentary feature and given that it is being implemented in a feature film it definitely heightens the realism factor for us. This is a tried and tested method used in films such as that of 'The Blair Witch Project' in 1999, and in fact here there is a film within a film in that our three key protagonists of Liz, Kristy and Ben are in possession of a video camera which they use to capture on tape their journey throughout the opening section of the film.
Given the low budget of the film, I feel that a lot has been accomplished with 'Wolf Creek' and this without a doubt went a long way to making this one of the stand out Horror films of 2005. Whilst the film is by no means perfect, the most has clearly been made of the resources that were available and McClean has in turn directed a fantastic Horror film of undoubted excellence. Everything about the film seems to fit together superbly, from the naturalistic acting right through to the documentary style camera work; all elements of the film just seem to work and make 'Wolf Creek' a believable and above all enjoyable Horror film.
Final Thoughts
All in all I feel that 'Wolf Creek' is one of the best Horror films I have watched in recent years and is one that I will most definitely be watching again in the not too distant future. The film had me hooked from beginning to end, and although at times I found it difficult viewing given that the film had such great depth of realism and therefore was all the more horrific; it was this which made the film so viewable for me, one where I didn't want to miss a second in fear of missing an all important moment of which there were many. The film is incredibly psychological in its approach, one which will have you on the edge of your seat even at times when there is nothing visibly horrific being shown on screen. Released at the back end of 2005, I am not too sure why it took me two years to finally get around to watching 'Wolf Creek', but now that I have done I would without a doubt consider it to be one of my all time favourite Horror films. Whilst similar films in the genre have tried and failed, 'Wolf Creek' is one which always impresses and never disappoints.
Summary: Wolf Creek is definitely worth watching, an intensely enjoyable psychological horror.
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