Wolf Creek (2005)

Torture Porn Mars Masterful Build-up of Tension

The tension created in Wolf-Creek is unbelievable. I haven't been that wound up during a thriller since I watched "Event Horizon" when I was 13. From the very start the film creates an atmosphere of alienation and vulnerability, all set against the inhospitable backdrop of the Australian outback.

In this type of film the core group of characters usually provides a solid foundation and comfort zone for the viewer. We know these people are "Safe" as long as they stick together. In Wolf-Creek, however, the core group lacks that kind of cohesiveness, an unexpected element that isolates the characters from each other even when they are together.

We are introduced to Liz and Christy, two young Brits who embark on a spontaneous tour of Australia, content to let their impulses guide them. With them is Ben, a reckless bad-boy type the girls befriended and invited along. In such a constellation sexual tension is a given, and before the story is even underway an uneasiness has fallen over the trio.

This idle tension is turbocharged with the arrival of Mick, a grizzled 'Outbacker' who happens upon the youngsters and their broken down car - In an isolated park in the middle of the desert - At night.

The affable Ausie offers to tow their car to his garage where he promises to fix it up and send them on their way. As they sit around the campfire and talk to their new friend, Ben can't resist his macho impulse to put the back-country Mick down. In this moment, shortly before the scales of destiny tip horribly against the trio, we catch a glimpse of the real Mick hidden just below the cheerful exterior.

Unfortunately, this is where the film became unpleasant to watch. I like my excessive gore just as much as the next guy, but I'm sick of watching people being sadistically tortured.

When an alien spears a guy through the stomach and blood spews out of his mouth I lean forward, wide-eyed and say "Holy Sh**! Did you see that! Sweet!" and then I high-five the dude next to me. When some psycho paralyzes a girl with an 8inch hunting knife to the spine just as you think she's going to escape, then promises her a slow and painful death, or when he waves the same knife at a bound and bloody woman while he threatens to cut off her breasts, the only thing I feel is acute abhorrence.

The kind of violence in these films is a calculated imitation of sexual sadism, whether the sexual gratification is made explicit or not. Torture for the sake of titillating the audience, making us uneasy and selling it as thrills, is a cheap parlor trick that takes advantage of our darkest impulses. We may not be aroused by torture, but we can't seem to look away either, and once we've made peace with consuming the pain of others for entertainment, we come back again and again. The Roman's discovered this in the Colosseum, and Hollywood has rediscovered it in the modern slasher film. The popularity of the SAW series is a testament to the fact that Torture Porn sells.

I'm not judging those who loved this movie, and I'm not saying you're a sadist (although some fraction of Torture Porn fans most certainly are). Everyone is entitled to choose the type of film that entertains them, and censoring this type of content wouldn't change the fact that it would still sell. However, this film gets 2 stars from me for wasting its potential on base brutality, and this review is a warning to others who share my views not to subject themselves to this film.
September 18, 2008

worthless

Creepy yes , but not the kind of creepy that was intended.
It sort of reminds me of the scene from RESERVOIR DOGS, where Michael Madson is dancing , and cutting off the cops ear...
It makes you feel embarassed to watch.
It's like the director is having way more fun then anyone else.
For fans of juvenile titilation only. August 16, 2008

Some potential wasted on lovely sadism in the Australian sun

Wolf Creek definitely makes a go at being a fresh, new take on a sorta-slasher movie. For one, it's Australian, so not quite as chained to the Hollywood conventions and necessities. On the other hand, it's a bit uneven and is then only remembered as another lovely outing in the serial killer / torture / sadism / shock genre.

A group of backpackers (two girls and a guy) take a trip to the Australian outback. Eventually, they come in contact with a Crocodile Dundee-type outbacker guy who turns out to be a complete psycho who likes to kidnap, torture, and murder people, sometimes paralyzing and mutilating them for the audience, too.

We then get the now-classic escape by the lone girl (or is it the guy?) sequence in which someone witnesses bad, awful things happening (like torture), escapes, fights and wounds the bad guy, escapes, fights more, etc, etc, etc. Adjust the level of nihilism and you get a slightly different ending each time, but still the same dark message: you will die, no matter what. This time, the message is infused with some truly stunning outdoor photography, a bit more character development that I can't recall, and a lack of deep character development (of madman Mick) that I DO recall since it was effectively played and spooky. A few creepy moments to be sure, but few of them involve blood and gore, which is sporadic but not wall-to-wall. No, Wolf Creek is a drawn out exercise in terror that gets pretty demented and depraved, but is only memorable by its (straight down) story arc. No ridiculous plot twist ala the also-foreign High Tension, but nothing really new.

The DVD has a few extras but nothing very enlightening about the film, though overall the release looks amazing in parts with its shots of the outback. Almost two movies in some ways, the plot about the backpackers themselves, the atmosphere, and the photography are largely wasted once the mayhem begins. It doesn't make the stalking more terrifying to know this much mundane detail about these people (like they drink, and smoke, and have relations, etc, etc). Effects fans may enjoy some of the work simulating a real insane killer's skills. Reviled by some critics, hailed by others, that's the type of film it is...either it's a repugnant, sick movie, or an effective, terrifying warning.

No doubt a Wolf Creek 2 awaits one day, because life in these times wouldn't be complete without another film detailing the exact methods of torture used on random people by a serial killer in the Australian outback, perhaps they can top the 'head on a stick' bit here. Used in Vietnam by the USA, reminds the Aussies! August 13, 2008

Monotonous Sadism

I have a point in these gruesome "torture porn" movies where I bail on them and shut them off.

When the victim somehow frees himself-but-it's-usually-herself and momentarily gets the upper hand on the psycho killer, they hit/stab/shoot/incapacitate the killer...and then run away. Now the psycho killer has terrorized the victim, viciously murdered the second or third banana in the cast in front of them, and--these days--sawed off a toe or finger or ear or limb...but the victim will knock down the psycho and run away, leaving the psycho to gather his wits and come after them again.

That happens in WOLF CREEK, another exercise in depressing sadism. The surviving girls knock out the psycho killer (with a shovel, I think) and try to run away. Just once I'd like to see a movie where the victim goes all kinds of crazy on the psycho with that shovel or club or whatever blunt instrument they use and make really sure he isn't coming after them again.

But this is just another tedious movie where young women are tortured and menaced by some gleeful maniac. These movies have gotten progressively worse since the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and HALLOWEEN. Considered grindhouse drive-in trash back then, those two films are now the artistic classics compared to the monthly schlock foisted on us by Hollywood these days.

Where are we at when we're using "tedious" and "torture" in the same sentence? June 23, 2008

Not just another "Teenagers are gonna get it" flick. Gruesome.

This is Not just another "the Teenagers are gonna get it" flick. Gruesome best describes the movie. You may feel as if the movie is never going to start, and I literally thought, "ok, ok, you are trying to establish tension between the two chics and the due....fine, get ON with it...." However, after the initial scenes which get the movie off to a slow start (though camera trickery is used to attempt to overcome this problem), the movie actually begins.

Once the movie truly starts, and the basic plot lines are established (character tension, etc.), the movie sucked me in, grabbed me by the gonads, and didn't let go. Once the Freddy Kruger of Australia enters the story, all hell breaks loose.

I was very surprised by the gruesome and horrific scenes in this movie. I review Pi as "Disturbing," but that was on a different level. Wolf Creek is truly Disturbing, because of the detail of the horrific scenes, the cold blooded ruthlessness....but even more so because it seems so real. This movie leaves you wondering about solo hiking trips and other adventures. Can't say I'll be touring Australia any time soon.

If you like the new The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - Unrated (New Line Platinum Series) movies, you will probably enjoy Wolf Creek. March 23, 2008

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