ViewGuide

Created Mar 15, 2008 05:10PM PST • Edited Mar 15, 2008 05:10PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   “Wolf Creek” is raw, nasty, bleak and unpleasant. As such it will undoubtedly, understandably turn away many viewers. For this horror fan, however, director Greg McLean’s visceral and disturbing debut is an extremely unsettling work of simplistic horror that refreshingly stands apart as a genre film whose plot trajectory is not dictated by gimmick and cliche. The story of two British holidaymakers (Kestie Morassi, Cassandra Magrath) and their Australian friend (Nathan Phillips) being kidnapped and tortured in the Australian outback, “Wolf Creek” is a gruelling and intentionally unpleasant movie that while not totally “based on a true story” (as it claims, a la “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) draws inspiration from several real-life murders that have occurred in the visually endless, unconventionally claustrophobic setting.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   The acting is top quality all-around, with few supporting performers making an appearance outside the four central characters. Kestie Morassi, Cassandra Magrath and Nathan Phillips are all excellent as the victimised protagonists, likeable and relateable enough in their lead performances that the viewer crucially cares for them and actually wills them to escape the clutches of the murderous Mick. As aductor and potential serial killer Mick Taylor, John Jarratt brilliantly plays his character, essaying one of the most memorable horror villains to have come along and (in a totally different performance) rivalling even Anthony Hopkins’ performance as Hannibal Lecter.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Greg McLean directs “Wolf Creek” so capably that it scarcely seems like the work of a first-time filmmaker, more like an effort of an established veteran in the business. The screenplay by McLean is also shockingly good, plentiful in deep characterizations and packed with believable dialogue that doesn’t spell out anything that’s going to happen. The musical score meanwhile is modest yet effective, fittingly pop/country-esque songs mixing with your usual moody horror sound-effects superbly. The visuals – either the vast desert landscape or the brutal violence occuring amidst it – are sublime.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.2

    “Wolf Creek”‘s violence is brutal enough that it has offended many a viewer, but this gruesomeness nonetheless lends to the story and is used in a way that is actually scary, in lieu of films like 2006’s “Black Christmas” remake. The sexual edge is more suggestive than physical or visual, while the typical rudeness comes along with a film wherein a vicious antagonist clashes with headstrong good-guys.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Monstrous 5.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Glib 1.9

    One character gets shot in the throat only to keep on trucking for the remainder of the film, while others suffer other seemingly debilitating injuries only to keep going. It’s the usual for a horror film, inevitable sacrifices of some reality that only betters the film itself.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.1

23. Biological Surreal 2.3

24. Physical Glib 1.2