Wolf Creek

Year: 2005

Grade: C+

Country: Australia

Director: McLean

Review

australian horror film that emulates the formula of texas chainsaw massacre. it claims to be based on true events, it’s about twenty-somethings being stranded in the middle of nowhere, and it’s about a crazy guy chasing them everywhere. the beginning takes its time to establish a sense of normalcy and develop the characters a bit. their car breaks down, but a nice local offers to tow them to his place and fix the car while they wait. and thus begins their down going…(to quote nietzsche)

a lot of the film’s horror and unfolding turns out to be fairly unexciting and predictable. at one point their watches stop working and i thought that the film might take an unexpected twist, but this was merely a red herring. the crazy murderer is fairly inept in his ability to tie up his victims. of the three protagonists, two of them escape their bindings. the chases aren’t too exciting and his method of execution lacks novelty or shock value.

the film received a fair amount of hype, but doesn’t live up to it. it’s not that the film is bad, it’s just not all that great.