Score One For the Bad Guy

Title:  Wolf Creek

Actors /Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away:  You’ve actually probably heard of this movie, if you haven’t seen it as well.

Introduction:  I kid you not, when this movie first came out I saw it on a premium cable channel.  Some years later (recently) I started wondering to myself “What’s that movie where those kids go out to the middle of nowhere and get killed”, which is kind of a broad question to be asking yourself.   I saw this movie pop up on eBay and said, “That’s it!”  I ended up buying the unrated version for three dollars from Games Plus.

Location:  In a sort spring break type town in Australia, then eventually in the middle of nowhere.  It has pretty good filming locations.

Plot:  Three college aged kids- one guy, two girls- embark on a trip to Wolf Creek for some reason.   Along the way they get really drunk, stoned and just all around take bad advice from strangers.   When they take a turn off the beaten path (rookie mistake) their car breaks down.   A guy who just happens to be driving by (and extremely creepy) says that he’s willing to not only tow them to his house but fix their car for free.   Accepting his “kindness” will be their fatal mistake.   After they arrive at his house, they all drink some of his “rain water”, and apparently none of them have heard about the Jonestown Massacre.   When they wake up in the morning, they all find that they’ve been taken prisoner and are about to die.   Only one girl comes close to escaping, but she still gets it in the end.  Awesome.

Acting:  The acting is really good.   I don’t know whether any of these actors made it to another movie or not, but they’re pretty good.

Production:   It’s definitely not low budget, but it gets the job done without a huge budget.

Sex/Nudity:  Not so much, no.   Mostly they’re just on a trip- for some unexplained reason- and the guy kind of likes one of the girls, but you know, no nudity just plain killing going on in here, son.

Special Effects:  They’re somewhat simple, but effective.  Nothing is too over the top bloody, but it’s also not just a bunch of ketchup packets being squeezed around the actors’ necks either.

Overall Verdict:   This remains one of my favorite movies, even only after watching it for a second time, mainly because I realized this was the movie some years ago that fully cemented my belief that we should all cheer for the killer in horror movies and hope that the stupid party kids die nice and pretty.   There has been Leatherface, Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead, Michael Myers and Lindsey Lohan, but you have to admit now that the people who you’re supposed to hope make it out alive… you no longer care—you want to see those people die, and die a most gruesome death at that.   Wolf Creek provides that, and I love it for that.