Aussie New Wave: Wolf Creek
Article by Bindi Lavelle

Much credit must be given to Wolf Creek, an Aussie film which proves that making a genre film doesn't compromise Australian story telling or our unique voice.
Wolf Creek took the accepted conventions of Australian film and gave it a more sinister edge; the familiar larakin arachatype is the villain rather than the larconic hero audiences are so used to. While the Australian landscape is less than welcoming, with the cinematography highlights the alien and isolating qualities.
Wolf Creek's strength lays not only in the above, but also in it's baring in reality; the film is based on two well known cases in Australia.

SJohn Jarratt's character Mick Taylor was based on infamous backpacker killer Ivan Milat; A serial killer who targeted it backpackers and dumped their bodies at a near by national park.
While the abduction of the backpackers in the film was based on the kidnapping of Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees, a UK couple on holidays in the Northern Territory who were abducted and brutalised. Lees escaped while Falconio has never been found.
The film uses this basis along with Jarratt's creepily convincing acting to build an unsettling atmosphere. It is this atmosphere which drives the tension of the film and makes the scenes of violence more shocking, imprinting them firmly in the viewer's mind.


Wolf Creek premiered at Sundance and later screened at Canes in 2005. Although receiving mixed reviews from critics, many turned off by its graphic content, it was a commercial success.
Wolf Creek is a film which exemplifies Australian film and the horror genre. It is a film which has influenced and left a mark on the Aussie film industry, leading to more Australia horror films.