Miguel Cervantes once wrote "
is it not better to stay peacefully at home rather than roam the world seeking better bread than is made of wheat
" Staying at home seemed an even better idea after I'd seen "Wolf Creek," the Australian import finally released here on Christmas Day---talk about "counter-programming." Inspired by (but not claiming to be a documentary about) the real exploits of convicted murderer Ivan Milat and others, "Creek" has had the benefit of word of mouth and an effective low-key ad campaign and damn near lives up (or down) to it. Producer/writer/director Greg McLean's not pulling any punches in his feature-film debut. Not since "Wrong Turn" (from which "Creek" borrows a few elements, likewise from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Blair Witch Project," "Breakdown," "Joy Ride," "House of Wax" and inevitably "Mad Max") has there been a balls-to-the-walls horror flick delivering this quality of goods. ("High Tension" had it's moments but for me suffered from it's unacknowledged rip-off of Dean Koontz' "Intensity," it's comically Grand-Guignol degree of splatter and it's ludicrous premise-annihilating ending.) Ultimately these are chase movies more or less. For these to work (at least for me) there needs to be at least some glimmer of likability to the victim characters (as opposed to "House of 1000 Corpses" where they were so annoying that I wanted them all to die immediately) and they need to have at least a shred of a chance of escaping (as opposed to "Devil's Rejects" which felt like a "snuff film"). "Creek" fits this bill. I don't think we even always need a "happy ending" any more; don't look for one here.
At the outset a bunch of young twits are drinking and cavorting at the beach and at a swimming pool, reminding me of that TV ad with Paul Hogan for Australian tourism---"Okay, number one---you're gonna get wet." (The famous "knife" dialog from "Crocodile Dundee" is referenced not once but twice.) Eventually we focus on three of the carefree "Na na na na na na, live for today" youths as they drive across approximately eight zillion miles of Outback. Two of them, "Liz" and "Ben" (all the cast members were enjoyably unknown to me) seem to be putative lovers; there's a kissing scene with them that's really sweet and natural-seeming; the "odd girl out," "Kristy," warns Ben not to mess with Liz's emotions or Kristy'll kill him, a little easy irony since we know they'll all be in deep doo-doo soon. There's what Roger Ebert might call the semi-obligatory scene where the kids stop for gas and have a run in with the crude sexist bullying local yokels. (Can there ever be a movie in which local yokels in a bar or gas station are just "regular people" or maybe even nice?) Then there's the inevitable car failure with a nice red herring about radiation from a meteorite crater possibly being responsible. Then the ostensible Good Samaritan shows up with a tow-truck, and we're off to the proverbial races .
I won't delve into the details; if they're why you pay to see movies like this, I'll let you enjoy 'm fresh; I don't think you'll be disappointed unless you're seeking geysers of gore (go rent "High Tension" instead). The terror and violence is played absolutely straight, no winking at the camera here. The veteran Australian character actor who plays the killer hits just the right note: not an eye-rolling loony, not a zombie, not a mutant, basically a guy who's been intimate with violent death most of his life (there's a fleeting Vietnam reference, reminding us that wasn't just a Yank war) and having been alone in the wilderness so long is unaware of any limits on anything he can do. There are only a few scenes where the script requires the victim characters to act with traditional horror-movie stupidity, notably when Liz, desperately searching for a set of car keys so she can rescue her friend and then flee, seems to have plenty of time to watch video footage shot by earlier victims. Most of that scene in fact is lifted directly from "Wrong Turn" but there's a nice nasty twist to it which latter provokes only a little of the "Hey, wait a minute " reaction. It also seems a slight stretch at the end when we're informed that not only were the two girls' bodies never found (nor, I guess, that of the nice old guy who got killed trying to be helpful) but the killer and his encampment just vanished into thin air. I mean even in Australia they have the latest search technology I would've thought, but then it's fiction after all, plus the place is really really big. For those who care, there are some great visuals including an absolutely gorgeous sunset shot, plus the music is very subtle and effective---maybe too much so, as at the end I came away feeling rather somber and reflective, or maybe that's what Mr. McLean wanted. (I'd be curious to know if he's seen the original "The Vanishing," which left me in a similar mood). But then on the way home I had the "Bomb the Rocks" CD by the 5.6.7.8s playing & I wasn't "bummed out" at all, even thinking that the lilting ballad "Dream Boy" would've worked for some of the killer's scenes .
So see the Australian beauties of nature in the movie! Don't go there and get killed! We'll keep importing the beer!
At the outset a bunch of young twits are drinking and cavorting at the beach and at a swimming pool, reminding me of that TV ad with Paul Hogan for Australian tourism---"Okay, number one---you're gonna get wet." (The famous "knife" dialog from "Crocodile Dundee" is referenced not once but twice.) Eventually we focus on three of the carefree "Na na na na na na, live for today" youths as they drive across approximately eight zillion miles of Outback. Two of them, "Liz" and "Ben" (all the cast members were enjoyably unknown to me) seem to be putative lovers; there's a kissing scene with them that's really sweet and natural-seeming; the "odd girl out," "Kristy," warns Ben not to mess with Liz's emotions or Kristy'll kill him, a little easy irony since we know they'll all be in deep doo-doo soon. There's what Roger Ebert might call the semi-obligatory scene where the kids stop for gas and have a run in with the crude sexist bullying local yokels. (Can there ever be a movie in which local yokels in a bar or gas station are just "regular people" or maybe even nice?) Then there's the inevitable car failure with a nice red herring about radiation from a meteorite crater possibly being responsible. Then the ostensible Good Samaritan shows up with a tow-truck, and we're off to the proverbial races .
I won't delve into the details; if they're why you pay to see movies like this, I'll let you enjoy 'm fresh; I don't think you'll be disappointed unless you're seeking geysers of gore (go rent "High Tension" instead). The terror and violence is played absolutely straight, no winking at the camera here. The veteran Australian character actor who plays the killer hits just the right note: not an eye-rolling loony, not a zombie, not a mutant, basically a guy who's been intimate with violent death most of his life (there's a fleeting Vietnam reference, reminding us that wasn't just a Yank war) and having been alone in the wilderness so long is unaware of any limits on anything he can do. There are only a few scenes where the script requires the victim characters to act with traditional horror-movie stupidity, notably when Liz, desperately searching for a set of car keys so she can rescue her friend and then flee, seems to have plenty of time to watch video footage shot by earlier victims. Most of that scene in fact is lifted directly from "Wrong Turn" but there's a nice nasty twist to it which latter provokes only a little of the "Hey, wait a minute " reaction. It also seems a slight stretch at the end when we're informed that not only were the two girls' bodies never found (nor, I guess, that of the nice old guy who got killed trying to be helpful) but the killer and his encampment just vanished into thin air. I mean even in Australia they have the latest search technology I would've thought, but then it's fiction after all, plus the place is really really big. For those who care, there are some great visuals including an absolutely gorgeous sunset shot, plus the music is very subtle and effective---maybe too much so, as at the end I came away feeling rather somber and reflective, or maybe that's what Mr. McLean wanted. (I'd be curious to know if he's seen the original "The Vanishing," which left me in a similar mood). But then on the way home I had the "Bomb the Rocks" CD by the 5.6.7.8s playing & I wasn't "bummed out" at all, even thinking that the lilting ballad "Dream Boy" would've worked for some of the killer's scenes .
So see the Australian beauties of nature in the movie! Don't go there and get killed! We'll keep importing the beer!