Wolf Creek 4K

by Anthony O'Connor

Year:  2005

Director:  Greg McLean

Rated:  R

Release:  Out Now

Distributor: Imprint

Worth: Discs: 3, The Film: 4/5, The Extras: 4/5, Overall: 8/10
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Cast:
John Jarratt, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, Nathan Phillips

Intro:
Sharp, gritty and filled with genuine menace and discomfort …

The Film:

Some genre flicks age like fine wine, John Carpenter’s The Thing or Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, for example, are absolute evergreen classics. Others, like a lot of ‘90s output that relied too heavily on early CGI or some of the more derivative slasher flicks towards the end of the 1980s, not so much. Wolf Creek, the low budget horror from director Greg McLean (Rogue, Jungle) happily falls in the former bucket, losing none of its effective menace twenty years after it was first released.

Mind you, it’s not an easy watch.

Wolf Creek is the story of three young friends travelling across Australia. You’ve got affable skippy boofhead Ben (Nathan Phillips) and Pommy best friends Liz (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi). The three of them are having a wild time moving through this wide brown land, stopping to drink, smoke weed and flirt outrageously with one another. Ah, to be young again.

Unfortunately, they decide to visit Wolf Creek National Park, where their car stops working for reasons inexplicable. However, Aussie character Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) shows up with his tow truck, offering to help. So, everything’s looking up! Right? Guys?

Wolf Creek is in many ways Australia’s answer to the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s shot in a handheld style and much of the action feels present and immediate in increasingly uncomfortable ways. There’s a feeling of veracity to the proceedings, which makes the character development all the more effective and the eventual horror sections all the more gruelling. Also, like Texas Chain Saw, the movie was followed by a sequel, Wolf Creek 2 (2013), that almost lampoons the original, rather than attempt to equal its intensity. Probably not a bad idea, honestly, as watching Wolf Creek remains a deeply unsettling, uncomfortable experience with the final third hitting with the impact of a sledgehammer. The “head on a stick” scene alone remains unutterably brutal twenty years later.

John Jarratt is absolutely horrifying as the vicious but cheerfully murderous Mick and every moment that he’s on screen is riveting. Finding that fine line between charismatic and loathsome is a tough act, but Jarratt absolutely nails the assignment.

The 4K remaster makes the film look better than ever before, which means you can “enjoy” the nastier, grislier moments in even greater clarity. Greg McLean really caught lightning in a bottle with this film, and while Mick Taylor went onto more sequels and even a two-season TV show (!), none of those matched the seam of nihilistic darkness and horror that Wolf Creek so masterfully mines.

The Extras:

A decent selection of extras here. There’s an audio commentary from Greg McLean, producer Matt Hearn and actors Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morasi. There’s a Making Of featurette, Meet Mick Taylor: An Interview with John Jarratt, ‘Broken & Twisted’ – a music clip from band Auxiliary One, story board and production sketch montages, trailers, photo gallery and deleted scenes.

Both editions of the film are here, the (superior, obvs) 104-minute Unrated cut and the perfectly fine 95-minute Theatrical version. The whole caper comes bundled in an attractive hardbox that looks like Mick’s blood-splattered flanno, which is both clever and alarming.

Verdict:

Wolf Creek is one of those rare horror films that has aged spectacularly well. It’s unpleasant but undeniably effective, finally giving Australia a proper horror villain. This first outing is very much not for the faint of heart, and the surprisingly rich 4K remaster really hammers home how slick and stylish McLean’s direction is.

Sharp, gritty and filled with genuine menace and discomfort, Wolf Creek is a nasty piece of work but it’s one that resonates with many and truly drills deep into the idea that Australia is a massive, primeval wasteland full of hunters and the hunted.

Mick Taylor is basically the anti-Crocodile Dundee, the dark mirror of the Aussie larrikin archetype, and with this schmicked-up version of his cinematic debut, the loquacious serial killer may just worm his way into your heart. And your spinal cord.