In the beginning of the year 2000, horror films (as we know them today) rarely existed. Fans of the horror genre had become jaded due to the constant swirl of remakes and sequels to films such as Scream or the Children of the Corn series. It had seemed that Hollywood had forgotten how to create a truly disturbing scary movie for the masses. Then, in 2002, Eli Roth came out with the film Cabin Fever. Audiences went wild for the massive amounts of gore and torture he threw onto the screen and, by 2005, it seemed a movie patron couldn’t go to the theater without seeing the various splatter movie posters covering the cinema walls. One little hidden gem among them was director Greg Mclean‘s Australian torture flick Wolf Creek. Critics either loved it or hated it but, one thing was to be said about this film, it was very different than the other splatter flicks making the rounds. Besides being a relatively small indie film, one of its many positives was that it allowed us to get to know the protagonists closely and then shocked you with what seemingly good-natured Mick Taylor’s (John Jarratt) intentions were with our backpackers. It combined drama, suspense, horror, slasher, and almost every other genre into its 99 minute runtime. With 2013’s Wolf Creek 2, there is a definite lack of all the things that made the original so great. Warning: review may contain potential spoilers for some of you guys.
As with the first one, our setting is the beautiful North Western Australian outback. We see two cops waiting to catch someone going over 100 km/h (in actuality, the speed limit in North Western Australia is 110 km/h). They clock a truck going only 97 km/h (which is below the speed limit) but poorly decide to chase after the vehicle and give the driver a hard time. As you can guess, they picked on the wrong vehicle to mess with and Mick Taylor isn’t really one who deals well with taunts. Fifteen minutes in, the cops are quickly disposed of and we now have two German backpackers named Katarina (Shannon Ashlyn) and Rutger (Philippe Klaus), who can’t seem to find a ride until they bump into Mick. With how the first 15 minutes started, I started to become giddy with terror. Unfortunately, at the sixteen minute mark, that’s where it stops. I found myself having to wait a half an hour for a protagonist named Paul Hammersmith (Ryan Corr) to even remotely root for and for some type of action to occur. Even then though, it’s not until around the last half an hour of this 106 minute film, where it begins to feel Wolf Creek-ish and we get to see Paul and Mick playing a bit of cat and mouse (along with an intense 10 question trivia session). Their banter back and forth towards the end is great, but it’s a little too late to make up for the first hour.
If I was to compare Wolf Creek 2 to it’s predecessor, I would be extremely disappointed. As a sequel, it’s rather boring and watered-down, repeating the same formula as the first, minus the creativity and vision. I felt no connection, whatsoever, with the protagonists. The backpackers are useless and give the viewer nothing to root for, especially when they depict a woman sitting and screaming while her boyfriend is attacked for a good minute or two. This film felt very rushed, as if the director wanted to get right into the furious action and horror. But, the horror and action scenes that do exist are minimal and mediocre until the end. When you factor that into the mix and minus the connections we felt with the last batch of victims in Wolf Creek 1 you are left feeling letdown.
That all being said, I do believe that if viewers do decide to see this flick, they should see it without the first one in mind. Since it’s the same story (just with different characters), I personally found the film watchable once I let go of any memories and recollections of the first. The cinematography was still wonderful, capturing the beauty of Australia and director Mclean uses this beauty to highlight a funny small scene that includes a vehicle chase and kangaroos. John Jarratt, who is a phenomenally great method actor, delivers again, slipping into Mick’s murderous shoes effortlessly. As Paul, Ryan Corr did fantastic with the script he was given and, with barely speaking until the last third of the film, emoted fear and horror that was quite terrific. I just wish these two had a better script to show how brilliant and exceptional their acting chops really are.
Rating: A horrible sequel to an original film; a mediocre flick as a stand alone movie (4/10)
Wolf Creek 2 will be available on Blu-ray and DVD from Image Entertainment on June 24th.
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