Reviews

Just got back from watching it tonight, let me tell you, the first big surprise was how how many people turned out for it, for a Thursday night the place was packed as if Harry Potter had just come out, it's been a while since my local theatre was like that.

Now to the movie itself. I liked the first one but this one was an improvement. Mostly because of Scott Speedman's character Michael. The last movie only gave us a glimpse into what he has become, and here we get to see him kick butt alongside Selene as what is pretty much an equal. Watching him fight and take-down werewolves was great.

The action scenes were bigger, with great direction and camera-work. the special effects are also great, especially the scene with their winged-nemesis pursuing their truck. Make-up is amazingly well done. It was refreshing to see that the werewolves were still practical make-up creations rather than CG.

There was also the added bonus of sex scenes. one where a guy is having fun with a couple chick vampires, and one between the two leads. we get to see most of Beckinsale's lovely figure (MILF is an understatement) but no direct frontal shots. ladies will enjoy much shirtless Speedman action.

The opening segment makes it worth a look, i definitely recommend it to anyone who liked the first or thought it had promise.

Two British tourists (Magrath and Morassi) travel through Australia's Outback with their Australian Guide (McPhee) to see possibly the biggest meteor crater in the world. Along the way they take some assistance from a stranger (Jarrat) when their car stops working. After this film, you are likely to never want to take assistance from a stranger again. This film resonates quite a lot, in light of recent similar events that have taken place in the outback.

Literal nail-biting terror is the term i'd use to describe the experience while watching this in the theatre today. I haven't felt so uneasy while watching a horror movie in a long time. Maybe the last film that came even half as close was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which I didn't expect to be so brutal.

The reason that Wolf Creek succeeds further than TCM however is that it isn't held back by a Hollywood budget and Hollywood actors. The reason i say held back is because i feel in instances like these, the less money thrown behind the movie, the better. When a movie obviously looks expensive you are taken out of the picture and you sit there realising it's all just stylisation. Wolf Creek avoids this, which is why it is the true successor to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The great thing about the original TCM was the documentary feel. It gave the illusion that what we were watching was secluded and, almost intimate. A movie that didn't feel like a whole crew was on set but rather felt like just one cameraman following the events in the film. The director of Wolf Creek (Greg McKean) understood this from the get-go. And while this film is only set six years back, he completely manages to encapsulate the hard-edged menace, and hand-held, intimately-shot feel of horror films from that era, and better than Rob Zombie did in The Devil's Rejects. This wasn't a movie with an overbearing score, a cutting edge or carefully chosen soundtrack, or hugely recognisable actors.

There are scenes of graphic violence in Wolf Creek that left me shaken. This film is gritty and cold and makes you feel rotten while watching it. It doesn't play anything for jokes, and that is one of the things that makes it very effective. The main thing that makes it effective though is that we get to know the characters for a fairly long time before things start to turn sour. McKean realises that the best horror is when you don't want the characters to die. You don't even want them to get in trouble. So many horror films exist solely to build a body count and have the audience take pleasure in watching people get killed, and here it's the exact opposite.

Jeff Jarrat's performance was completely spot-on. I actually thought i would have trouble believing that the guy who used to be on Better Homes and Gardens could pull off something so terrifying. He played it with the right mix of outback larrikin and completely evil bastard. The rest of the actors felt very real and played their respective parts admirably. I didn't even recognise Kestie Morassi (Dirty Deeds) because i thought she was really just some British chick.

It is so great that after so many horror movies trying to capture that rough 70's feel, that one finally does so without coming off as just an imitator. The movie is so good, i believe it will definitely be remembered as one the best horror movies of our time. And best of all, it's so good not even hype can take this one down.

Now maybe people will forget Australia made crap like Undead and Cut.