Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 22/31 | Slasher 2/5
30,000 people are reported missing in Australia every year. 90% are found within a month. Some are never seen again.
Broome, Western Australia, 1999 Ben is a native Aussie who is buying a car for a trip to Cairns, Queensland. His friends Liz and Kristy are British tourists who have backpacked across Australia for the past two weeks. They’ll be in the car for three weeks — the first stop is Wolf Creek National Park.
The group parties that night before heading off the following day. Things are already a little tense between them — Liz thinks Ben has a crush on Kristy. Kristy wakes up the next morning in bed next to Ben. They hit the road hungover. They stop at a caravan park in Halls Creek and set up camp, where they tell each other scary stories about alien experiences where watches and cars stop working.
The next day, they make it to Wolf Creek, where they hike up a ridge to the top of a massive crater. Ben and Kristy have a smooch and wonder about why the meteor hit where it hit before heading back to the car. They all realize that their watches have stopped. Kristy tries to start the car, but the engine won’t turn over. So, they spend the night in the car and will make a plan in the morning.
In the night, lights approach. Ben thinks it’s a UFO and that they shouldn’t signal it down. But it’s just a truck, and a guy named Mick. Mick offers to help, but they must come back to his place to work on the car.
I’m already approaching the halfway point of the movie. You know where it’s going.
The film focuses on establishing the beauty of Australia for the first bit — picturesque skies, expansive landscapes, and weird-ass emus. Then, as the weather turns, the world grows smaller, and the beauty feels miles away.
Basing a film on true events can be fun when it’s a ghost story because it asks you to expand your concept of what is possible. When it’s based on real-life murders, it feels pretty fucked up.
I can’t remember why I watched Wolf Creek 2 — maybe it was on some list. All I remember is that, when Mick started dressing a couple like a deer and chopping off their genitals, I disassociated through the rest of it. Nothing in this movie comes close to that.
The film does what it says on the box, but not an ounce more. It’s not the violence, but the lazy plotting and half-cocked characterization that doesn’t cohere because they put all the budget into the violence.
** SPOILER TALK ** Mick tortures and murders tourists, or anyone who’s too posh (Ben, being from Sydney, counts). The back half of the movie is us watching him graphically torture and dismember these folks. We get sort of final girl with Liz, who has some awareness. But the film doesn’t want us to have any hope, so she dies.
It doesn’t help that Liz and Kristy make completely nonsensical choices. They escape! They made it! But they push the truck over the ledge?? I don’t understand.
I could go on, but you get it.