(2005) ****Liz rummages through items in her captor's office. There are stories of traveller disappearances in newspaper clippings speckled with blood -- perhaps even the blood of the very victims were dripped on their respective articles. There are family photos, foreign currency, return airline tickets never to be used. There are also video cameras.
Liz switches one on and watches, her heart sinking, the final hours of a family of three. There's footage of the family's car, broken down in the same spot as that of Liz and her two companions. There's footage of the car being towed along the same fateful road that the trio took to get here. Liz shuts off the camera when she sees footage of Mick, her captor, doling out water to the family. "Nothing like rain water from the Top-End," Mick exclaims. He's performed the same ritual with Liz and Kristy and Ben, uttering the same platitude while passing out cups to the trio. It's something in the water puts you to sleep and when you awake, you're already doomed.
Standing in that room, surrounded by tragic artifacts, Liz finally grasps the complete gravity of her predicament. Heaps of evidence and dozens of bodies lying around, but it's all located miles from civilization in an anonymous quadrant of the bush. Like Rex Hofman in The Vanishing, Liz knows all now, but will never be able to tell anyone.
I'd been advised that the violence in Wolf Creek is pretty grim, and it is. I'd also been advised by JohnnySweatpants's review from last year that Wolf Creek doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before. That's true too. Obviously it's preposterous to consider such grisly violence, even on-screen, as routine. It's a no less awful story for coming after Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, for instance. But in comparison to TCM and TCM:B which came out a year after this, I'm not, y'know, overwhelmed.
What I am overwhelmed by, the reason I'm giving it four stars, is the cinematography. It's gorgeous. The early scenes of Liz, Kristy, and Ben motoring through Southern Australia are peppered with very wide angle shots of the Australian bush. Sometimes the characters are just tiny action figures sauntering across a corner of the screen, meanwhile the sky dominates the rest - thick sheets of cloud filling the upper half of the screen, reflecting brilliant pink light. These shots alone make the film well worth checking out.
JPX wrote a review of Wolf Creek last year as well, but we will all have to take it less seriously as it was posted in December -- BOOO! Check it.
5 comments:
Welcome back, old friend.
Let that be a reminder JPX. November 15 is the cutoff date. I asked Gretchen and she told me that she's not gonna budge on that one.
I watched this last Horrothon, surprisingly without JPX. I thought it was great. I completely agree with you about the cinematography Marc. That was one of the reasons I liked it. I vaguely remember the end of this movie, but there was a moment towards the end that was perfectly captured, it was simple, beautiful, expressionistic and gave me a chill.
thanks whirlygirl. i want to know what moment you're talking about. it's okay. you can tell me. screw all these other people who haven't seen it.
Wait a minute, I watched and reviewed this last year! I loved it.
Marc, go here to hear what really happened (since it's based on a "true" story), http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/wolf_creek_true_story.html
Marc, my memory is a little foggy, but it is shortly after the only survivor escapes. I think I am going to have to watch the end again, to refresh my memory or I will probably explain it all garbled.
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