Wolf Creek (film)

Wolf Creek
A woman sitting on a deserted highway, her white shirt is stained with patches of blood
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGreg McLean
Written byGreg McLean
Produced byDavid Lightfoot
Greg McLean
Starring
CinematographyWill Gibson
Edited byJason Ballantine
Music byFrank Tétaz
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 24 January 2005 (2005-01-24) (Sundance)[3]
  • 3 November 2005 (2005-11-03) (Australia)[4]
Running time
99 minutes[5]
CountryAustralia[6]
LanguageEnglish
BudgetAU$1.4 million[7]
Box officeAU$35 million
(US$27.7 million)[8]

Wolf Creek is a 2005 Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean and starring John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi. Its plot concerns three backpackers who find themselves taken captive and subsequently hunted by Mick Taylor, a serial killer, in the Australian outback. The film was ambiguously marketed as being "based on true events", while its plot bore elements reminiscent of the real-life murders of backpackers by Ivan Milat in the 1990s and Bradley Murdoch in 2001, both of which McLean used as inspiration for the screenplay.

Produced on a budget of $1.1 million, Wolf Creek was shot in South Australia, almost exclusively on high-definition video. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. It was given a theatrical release in Ireland and the United Kingdom in September 2005, followed by a general Australian release in November, apart from the Northern Territory, out of respect for the pending trial surrounding the murder of Peter Falconio.[9] In the United States and Canada, it was released on Christmas Day 2005, distributed by Dimension Films.

Wolf Creek received mixed reviews from film critics, with several, such as Roger Ebert and Manohla Dargis, criticising it for its unrelenting depictions of violence.[i] Other publications, such as Variety and Time Out, praised the film's exploitation film aesthetics, with the latter calling its straightforward depiction of crime and violence "taboo-breaking".[12] The film was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Director (for McLean). In 2010, it was included in Slant Magazine's list of the 100 best films of the decade.[13] A sequel Wolf Creek 2 was released in 2013, whilst a television spin-off ran from 2016 to 2017. A third film has been in development for several years.

  1. ^ Shelley 2012, p. 199.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference dimension was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference getty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference aubo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "WOLF CREEK (18)". Optimum Releasing. British Board of Film Classification. 17 June 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Wolf Creek's killer weekend". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 7 November 2005. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  7. ^ Goldsmith, Ben; Lealand, Geoff (2010). Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand. Intellect Ltd. p. 191. ISBN 9781841503738. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  8. ^ Benshoff 2017, p. 351.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference mercer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference dargis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ebert was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference timeout was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference slant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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