Wolf Creek (2005)

Wolf Creek is a 2005 Australian horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Greg McLean, and starring John Jarratt. The story revolves around three backpackers who find themselves held captive and subsequently hunted by a serial killer in the Australian outback. The film was ambiguously marketed as being "based on true events"; the plot bore elements similar to the real-life murders of tourists in Australia by Ivan Milat in the 1990s and by Bradley Murdoch in 2001.

Wolf Creek premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and premiered in Australia in March 2005 in Adelaide. The film was later screened at the Cannes Film Festival the following May, and was released in cinemas across Ireland and the United Kingdom in September 2005. In its home country of Australia, the film received a general release in November 2005, apart from the Northern Territory, out of respect for the trial surrounding the murder of Peter Falconio. The film was purchased for distribution by Dimension Films in the United States, where it was released on Christmas day 2005.

Upon release, critics such as Roger Ebert dismissed the film for its raw depiction of violence, particularly against women, with several stating they walked out of their screenings; other critics praised the film's grindhouse aesthetics and called its straightforward depiction of crime and violence "taboo-breaking". Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Director (for McLean). In 2010, it was included in Slant Magazine's list of the 100 best films of the decade.

Synopsis

In Australia in 1999, two British tourists, Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi), are backpacking across the country with Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), an Australian friend from Sydney. Currently in Broome, Western Australia, they constantly get drunk at wild, extravagant pool parties and camp out on the beach. Ben buys a dilapidated Ford XD Falcon for their road journey from Broome to Cairns, Queensland via the Great Northern Highway.

Actors