Wolf Creek (2005)

Saturday night my lil' sister and I huddled up on the couch to watch a movie we had both waited a while to see - Wolf Creek. All I knew about this movie was that it was Australian and involved three kids stuck in the desolate Outback with a sadistic killer. I was hoping to be scared a little to a lot. I had heard this film being compared to the (original) Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so I was pretty stoked.

Wow, was I wrong...this movie was horrible!

Wolf Creek begins with friends Ben, Kristy and Liz taking a road trip across Australia to Wolf Creek Crater in the Outback. They are happy and relaxed, and there is a burgeoning romance between Liz and Ben. This part of the film is slow, dreamlike and lazy - a serenity that is shattered abruptly at around the 55 minute mark. They arrive at their destination, Wolf Creek, and spend a few hours hiking. Back at their car, they realize that all their watches have stopped working. Not only that, but their car won't even start. Soon, headlights approach and an Outback man by the name of Mick offers to tow their car back to his place. Here, he says, he can fix it and they can be back on the road in no time. The kids feel their isn't something quite right about him, but his back-woods charm convinces them to trust Mick. He tows them further and further into the Outback, hundreds of miles away from a soul, to his encampment. Around a roaring campfire, they all joke and talk until one by one they drift asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Mick who is still "working" on their car. Here the DVD hit about 55 minutes and the three friends entered into a nightmare.

After a full night and day's sleep, Liz wakes up bound and gagged. She escapes and follows Kristy's screams to a warehouse where she is being tortured by Mick. Yada yada running screaming running running bleeding screaming running yada yada...(Translation: Liz and Kristy escape together, end up trashing their escape truck, Liz goes back to Mick's camp to steal another car, finds some interesting tidbits, ends up getting killed anywho - lots of screaming, running, bleeding).

After Liz doesn't return, Kristy runs runs runs and just keeps running until she hits a main road. Here, a man who stops to help her just ends up dead, as does she after a quick car chase with Crocodile Dundee (I mean Mick, but whatever, I wasn't caring at this point).

So, both Liz and Kristy are dead - but where's that clever Ben? Ah, he's still holed up in one of the torture chambers. He also manages to escape from a crucified pose Mick has devised for him and runs runs runs until he passes out by a road. Luckily for him, some German tourists pick him up and he is safe.

The end of the film states that no traces of Mick or the girls were ever found, and after being held under suspicion, Ben is released.

Geesh, was I ever bored with this movie! I was just never really scared, and that's my big complaint with this movie. I was horrified by some of the things Mick does and says to the girls, but never truly scared. Torture scenes can be scary (see Audition), but the ones from Wolf Creek were just there to horrify or exploit the audience. And why the heck did they leave Ben out of the action for so long? That seemed like a major mistake to me.

I liked the beautiful shots of the Aussie Outback and the slow start to the movie. It made me wait for the action, and I love me some delayed gratification! Yet, when the action did start, it was a major let down.

My lil' sis, who also enjoys horror movies, did not like this movie either. At the end, we both said, "Geez, that was dumb!"

Ugh...what a waste of a Netflix movie! And to those of you who have compared this to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre...all I can say is, FOR SHAME!!

Check it out on Amazon!