Wolf Creek - Never break down in Australia

‘Wolf Creek’ has to have possibly the most overused plot ever... three (highly-attractive) youngsters break down in the middle of nowhere (the Outback this time) and fall foul to a psychopath.  If you’ve watched horror movies any time since the early seventies then you’ll have seen this story before.  However, that doesn’t make it that bad.  It’s actually quite watchable (assuming you like seeing highly-attractive youngsters getting stalked, tortured and murdered by an unstoppable nut-job.

As with all these ‘slasher’ movies, the first half is pretty slow.  It’s used to set the scene and introduce us to our three (hapless) heroes, showing them enjoying their backpacking tour of scenic Australia.  I don’t think it much of a spoiler to say that things don’t turn out too well for them when they break down in the middle of nowhere and encounter creepy stranger, played by John Jaratt.

Perhaps this is the (true) start to the film?  Because John Jaratt is clearly the star of the film.  He’s brilliant as the psycho-killer who’s hell-bent on making our three youngsters’ lives a living hell.  Apparently the actor spent quite a lot of time prior to filming getting the character’s sinister laugh just right, even staying in character between takes and not showering for a week before filming just to give himself a more ‘rugged’ look.

In fact, you almost want him to succeed.  There’s nothing wrong with the ‘goodies,’ but, at some points, the girls do suffer from that problem that befalls so many slasher films.  They suddenly come down with ‘stupid heroine’ syndrome.  Occasionally they get the chance to either kill him or blatantly escape.  And they don’t.  This leaves us to shout abuse at the TV screen.

But, despite their shortcomings, it’s still a fun film to watch (again, I say that if you’re into killing, murdering and torture).  It’s not original, but if you’re a fan of the genre, you should appreciate this.
Also, it says at the beginning that the film is ‘based on true events.’ I checked up on this on the internet.  It’s true, but in the loosest way possible.  I think I’ll stick to calling this film ‘fiction’ thank you very much.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that