Film: Wolf Creek

[katmeow]

[Copied from Aust Social]

Went and saw Wolf Creek tonight. I'd read several reviews ranging from a 'best horror film in ages' to 'I walked out because of the sadistic violence'. Anyway, I tried to put all of that aside and judge impartially, but to be honest, I can't say I'm that impressed.

The dialogue at the beginning felt sort of amateurish, the conversation between the three characters seemed stilted and unnatural. One thing I will give the film marks for was the cinematography - the outback scenes looked awesome and really contributed to the sense of isolation. But overall, the first half really dragged on a bit.

John Jarrat was creepy as hell, but in terms of being a horror film - I think there is so much more you can do in terms of suspense than what this film displayed. I didn't really have any edge of the seat/nail biting moments.

As for the violence, yes it was graphic, but I didn't find it any more shocking than some of the other slasher flicks I've seen. Maybe I've become a bit desensitised, but it didn't impact me that much. From the reviews I thought the violence was going to be constant throughout the film. I'm a bit torn between whether I think it was necessary for the story, or whether the film could have been more suspenseful without it. Some of the scariest films I've ever seen actually contain very little blood and gore.

Even though it was based on true events, I found the plot a little farfetched at times and it just ended really suddenly. I didn't walk away feeling particularly entertained, frightened or disgusted... it was a bit of a non-event really.


I give it 2/5 - I was really expecting more...

Anyone else seen it yet?

 

[breakyaself]

I also saw it tonight ! Lucky I had a sexy boy to bite when things got too gruesome !

Anyway, I thought the film was brilliant. I have heard such bad things about it. Some people have talked about certain aspects of the violence, for example it being unnecessary, and waaayyy too gruesome. I have also heard many people walking out and some critics saying that it didnt have a statement and no storyline.

WELL DUH !

The film was not meant to have a statement. It was pure entertainment, and I believe that any stronger 'storyline' would have destroyed the films stronger points. Its violence was not over the top, yet it was disturbing, because as someone else pointed out in another thread, it conveyed what a serial killer might actually act like. And quite frankly it is disturbing to know that there are individuals out there that act like that. To be so personal with him and see how he manipulated and then mangled those people is really confronting, and disturbing. Because of this I can understand that some people wont appreciate its pleasurable highly artistic and entertaining cinematic value.

And Kat I TOTALLY disagree with you about the first half of the movie. I thought it completely necessary and perfectly timed. The acting was superb, and I really connected with the characters, which was the point in the length of the first half. I remembered similar conversations and situations those tourist had been in and laughed like most of the rest of audience did at a lot of points, because the content resonated with me, more than once! especially the kiss. God that was just perfect, and was not overplayed as a storyline.

This is the best Australian film ever produced.

It is nothing more than a piece of entertainment, yet, it is still a beautiful piece of art.

4.5/5 (losing half a point for expected gore factor not measuring up !)

 

[silvia saint]

i haven't seen it yet, and it's giving me an excuse to leave the house, but i doubt i'll end up saying it's the best australian film, that's a toss up between 'mad max' and 'picnic at hanging rock' for me. i am however pleased to see what appears to be an unpretentious low budget australian film doing so well at the box office in the uk, hopefully the same will happen in the usa when it is released there early next year.

it is what it is, a genre film, and from the sound of things it does what it sets out to do. from the previews i've seen, john jarratt is all too convincing as the killer. check out haute tension (high tension) if you like the hardcore factor that is lacking in horror films of late.

 

[zephyr]

I saw it and was horrified...I had to leave half way through. I didnt know what it was about before I went in so it was a real shock to the system. I think this film went too far. The half of the film I did actually stay in the cinema for I spent hiding under my jacket but I could still hear the screams.

I wasnt the only scaredy cat, about 5 other people practically RAN out when I did.

I th film was well scripted and well acted for sure. It will win awards. It was still unwatchable. I do NOT recommend this film, even on dvd.


BTW- this should be moved to Film and Television, which is an international forum so who cares if its not out in the States yet.

 

[swifty]

I'm with you on this one Kat, I thought it was the biggest bag of puss out. The character development was fucken terrible (can't even remember the names of the characters), there was so many cliche aspects of this escape, get caught again, escape, get caught again, and well the graphic violence, pffft, didn't really see any, and I've heard this compared to the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

I was totally disappointed, thankfully I was given free tix from Triple J so I don't feel ripped off in anyway, but if I'd paid for this I'da been even more pissed about it. As far as horror movies got, it was a little soft in the middle....

 

[hoptis]

I thought it was okay. Saw it on Saturday night.

Being a child of the Internet, I've become completely desensitised to film violence so I didn't find the gore even the slightest bit disturbing.

SPOILER WARNING

I had little sympathy for the characters after they managed to disable the killer and not finish him off. I would have stayed around and taken however much time it would have required to slowly hack his head from his body, even with a little Swiss army knife. I know it's a common horror movie thing to do that but still, it's a tad annoying when it's so obvious.

Mind you, this moofie and Little Fish are great for the local film industry.

 

[[]Tabernacle[]]

Saw it, thought it was ok but didn't really do anything to make it stand out from the literally hundreds of similar films- except be australian. The violence was pretty tame compared to what i expected to see based upon people's descriptions of the film.

Went home and watched the devil's rejects on DVD afterwards not a single nightmare from either- must be completelt desensitised as well

hoptis: i agree with you, that chick should have grabbed john jarrats crocodile dundee knife while he was down and turned him into a 'talking head'- they deserved everything they got after letting him off with a little gunshot wound on the neck and a pat on the back with the rifle!

 

[L2R]

I really enjoyed the tense-ness i felt while watching WC. A very well executed scary movie.
But I felt much more shook up by the far superior "Little Fish".

 

[Raz]

meh. It started off like an Australian Tourism ad and finished off like a KEEP THE FUCK AWAY FROM AUSTRALIA anti-tourism ad. Did anyone notice that other than Ben the only sympathetic characters in the movie at all weren't Aussies?

The insane violence and general fucked-upness between the beginning and the end was extremely well-done...the only other movies I've seen that have given me that unsettling feeling of wrongness were the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Ghosts of the Civil Dead. Two of the friends I went with were nearly in tears before the movie ended...one of them spent half of it watching the reaction on my face rather than the actual film because she couldn't stand to actually watch the screen.

Just another point as well....Ben allegedly had a crush on one of the girls he was travelling with, but he had absolutely no chemistry with her at all. He and the other chick clicked together way better. It was a strange characterisation and considering it has no real bearing on the way the movie turns out I don't know why they didn't just alter that part of the story once they saw those three actors interact...

 

[Perpetual Indulgence]

This movie was drawn out and predictable.
As it was based loosely on actual events the thought of "what if this could happen to me" still did not make it intriguing to watch.
I would recommend waiting to rent this one.

 

[belfort]

yep, i am too jaded/desensitized to horror flicks these days as well...it suck becaus i realy WANT to be creeped out but am always left feeling disappointed.....movies like SAW shock a lot of youngsters but to me it sucked..well, i was OK, nothing special....

1974s texas chainsaw massacre still is the most disturbing movie i have ever seen...the extremely unsettling visuals and its crazed hitchhiker, family of redneck cannibals was great and the vibe of it "having actually happened" scared the piss out of me...the big problem is, how can any movie top what TCM did??i mean, we have all seen crazed redneck/mutants, weve seen cannibilism, weve seen the 'nice guy turned mad' killers, so wht else an they throw our way to scare us???they have exhausted plot devices so now they try to creep us out by upping the gore tenfold...to me, the mre gore there is, the less quality the film has...for instance, if ya really want to get creeped out watch either TCM or SESSIoN 9, both very unsetting film but they have hardly any gory scenes...

the Hills Have Eyes remake is coming out soon...im not sure if it can bring anything new to the table, but we will see...

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

Any movie people said they had to get up and walk out of Im GOING to see in the theater. BUt I never really believe this. Ive heard this about a bunch of movies and they never really are that horrifying. Perhaps Im really desensitized. I WANT a movie to be ungodly disturbing. I find most scary movies to be not nearly scary enough. Going to see this in a few hours. Ill be back soon with my thoughts.

 

[Banquo]

rate it %)

 

[vibr8tor]

I found it to be what I was expecting. Nothing more, nothing less. The only thing that really angered me was the obnoxious people in the theatre screamng out what shit they thought it was. I didn't find the violence all that disturbing; the commercials kinda let you know what to expect.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

Saw this last night. ******warning some possible spoilers********

What I liked:

I enjoy this style of film..the lighting and just the way it was filmed made it seem more realistic somehow. The characters, while attractive, looked like real people, as opposed to some movies where all the women are constantly in perfect lighting and all have huge tits and perfect bodies, etc. The acting was pretty good, I thought. The characters acted like real people to me, there wasnt a lot of cheesy bullshit sounding lines..I enjoyed the characters in the begining part of the movie (it was a little slow at first but I never found myself bored). The "first kiss" between the two characters was realistically akward but also very cute and made me smile (too bad their little romance was pretty pointless when you consider the rest of the movie). I really felt for these people, their situation seemed very possible, and unlike some horror movies where the character goes into the creepy abandoned house where there is very obviously a psycho murderer hiding, and DESERVES TO DIE, the situation these people were in wasnt really their fault. I found myself thinking, my god, if this happened to me, what WOULD I do? They really didnt "ask for it" in any way. I think relating to the people was one of the best parts of the movie, for me. I also really liked the scene where the girl actually escapes and manages to get someone to pull over and help. Just the scene where he sets the thermous on top of the car, looks down, looks back up and it has a bullet hole in it was awesome. That little scene where she tries to escape was my favorite in the whole movie. I was like go go go! Even though I knew she obviously wasnt gonna make it.

What I didnt like:

I have to say, after the way people talked about this film, I was expecting something a LOT worse in regards to the gore and violence. Whats the big deal? What happened in this movie that could possibly force someone to walk out of it? There was very LITTLE violence, really...the only part of the movie that even remotely made me cringe involved something that COULD have happened, but didnt end up happening: When the guy is crucified to the wall and obviously was going to have his legs eaten off by a starved, vicious dog. I thought, oh man, here comes the gore everyone talked about, but no...it didnt even happen. I have to admit the thought of that situation, and the body of the guy before him who actually had suffered such a terrible fate (not to mention the poor dog kept hungry in that small cage) made me a little queasy. But like I said, I was expecting to have to watch this guy get eaten alive, I was suprised when he escaped. And this was by far the WORST thing in the movie...I was ready for something much more.
Two other things that drove me mad : 1) WHY WHY WHY, when you are in the hands of a total sadistic psychotic MURDERER, and you actually have the lucky break of shooting him, and him going unconcious, do you NOT MAKE SURE HE IS DEAD? Let me tell you, if I was in that situation, I would not have stopped bashing that motherfukers skull with everything big and heavy I could find, until his brains were splattered all over the room. BUt no..they just leave him there and try to escape. WHY NOT KILL THE BASTARD??? GOD....it drove me mad. And 2) the only other really stupid part was when the guy pops up in the backseat of the car...where did he come from? How did he know she would get in THAT car? And why didnt she hear him coming, they are out in the middle of nowhere, in silence..she didnt hear his truck pull up? This movie wasnt full of stupid horror movie cliche twists, that was really the only moment that seemed extremely ridiculous for me. I also didnt really understand how the police could search everywhere in that area and not find the dudes hideout, but thats the way it goes I guess....

Overall, I liked this movie. Not the BEST scary movie ever, but a pretty good movie. Realistic seeming characters, and a situation I could genuinly feel sympathy for. I would have liked a little more action and gore, it seemed that at least half of the film is just leading up to the good stuff. I gave this movie three stars. Dont expect the goriest movie of all time, but for horror fans, I recommend it. Its better than a lot of the stupid cheesy crap thats out there.

 

[smotpoker]

I saw this last night and have mixed feelings about it.

Mynameisnotdeja, you pretty much summed it up.

I don't see what was so bad about this movie as far as the gore goes. There wasn't really anything too bloody, I didn't see any guts at all.

The cinematography was excellent, the lighting and everything else made the situation feel very very real.

And the characters were real, it could've been you or me.


SPOILERS BELOW HERE



The biggest thing that dissapointed me was that none of the girls survived; I always hate that. But I guess if it's based on true events they gotta go by what really happened.

Nothing great by any means, but it kept me entertained. 3 stars.

 

[cydonorb]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There is a lot of skepticism as to whether this film is based on reality. Apparently the "Based on a true story" tagline was not used to sell this film in Austrailia.

Can any Bluelighters from Down Under shed a little light on this? If this film is indeed based on a news story it would have to be well known.

On the other hand it could be total bullshit OR be a stretch--ie the first TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (the best hoor film ever IMHO) claimed to be based on real events but was actually VERY loosley based on the exploits of Ed Gein (Hitchcock's PSYCHO was also based on the Gein story as was 1974's DERRANGED).

 

[belfort]

it IS very loosely basd on real events, but they are er exagerrated...read up on Ivan the backpack murderer...forget his last name..

 

[Reverend_Lust]

dvd rip is online so i snagged it. Like the others have said the charecters are retarded as shit. I would have fucked shit up if it was me. Reminded me alot of texas chainsaw mascure

 

[DJAcetone]

Lame ass movie. And I'm the biggest horror buff you'll find. Australians trying to rip off Chainsaw Massacre, and failing horribly. None of the characters were interesting, and it's hard to be scared of guys with accents, I'm sorry, it's just not scary.