What a nasty little flick! That’s a compliment, of course. From the setting, there is not much difference to things like “Hostel” or similar rubbish flicks of the last years. What makes the difference is… everything related to film-making: the actors are very good and very natural, no Hollywood glamour, but just a couple of (English and Aussie) kids, as averagely looking and as averagely talking and as averagely intelligent as people are. The camera work is very well done, too, sometimes with the shaky handheld look, sometimes with a glance at the awesome scenery – again: natural appears to be the word to grasp it. The script has a rather intelligent way of approaching the unavoidable (as people know they go into some form of slasher movie to begin with). It takes its time to show the people doing what people do in their holidays, not too interested in the characters’ depth (maybe there is none) or any conflicts within the group (maybe there are none), but just taking the time of feeling very acquainted to the personnel.
The switch over to the darker aspects of the story comes without artificial drama, but with refreshing sobriety. From then on, it’s a decline into a nightmare that draws its absurdity in particular from the contrast to the long intro. And if you expect heroes in this story: there are none. In that respect the film has a nice happy ending: at last, a film without an idiotic superhero saving the world. There are lucky people and less lucky people, and there are bad guys and un-bad guys. The one does not necessarily coincide with the other. Quick and dirty and enjoyable for those who can endure some mutilation – because there is some…
Overview at Rottentomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolf_creek/
Schnitt-Review (German): http://www.schnitt.de/filme/artikel/wolf_creek.shtml
thomas4cinema 