WOLF CREEK 2

Australia, 2013, 105 minutes, Colour.
John Jarrett, Ryan Corr, Phillippe Klause, Shane Connor, Gerard Kennedy, Annie Byron.
Directed by Greg Mc Lean.


Wolf Creek 2 is in the same vein as the original, which received a great deal of acclaim, critically and from the public. For those who liked the original, the expectations were high, and the hope for more of the same. For those who did not see the original, this film has prologue where Mick Taylor confronts two policeman who want to fine him for speeding on an outback road, just for the fun of occupying themselves, and meet a grizzly end. Here is Mick Taylor, back again.

As with the first film, the landscapes are important, filming in South Australia and the highlighting of the crater of Wolf Creek. Again, as with the first film, the targets of Mick Taylor’s sadistic venom are overseas tourists. This time there is a couple from Germany who are treated brutally. But the main target is a young British man, caught up in the plight of the German woman by accident, and experiencing the full vicious animosity of Mick Taylor.

At times, this is a horrible film to watch, especially the treatment of the German tourist and, at great length, some sadistic antics of Mick Taylor as he tortures the young British man, Paul (Ryan Corr). The treatment of victims is different in this film, Mick Taylor playing games with his worried captive, the young man trying to prove his knowledge of Australia by singing Tie me Kangaroo down, Sport, Mick joining in with great gusto, all verses. (Mick had already been shown running over kangaroos with glee.) There are more songs, with Mick bailing out in disgust when his victim starts to sing the national anthem and there are the usual jokes about ‘girt by sea’. Then there is an Australian quiz, with sardonic references to Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the inability to phone a friend! Dennis Lillee and Don Bradman become a key to whether Paul will have a finger severed for each mistake that he makes.

More Australiana with Dame Nellie Melba singing over the final credits.

The torture genre was popular in the first decade of this century, even being referred to as ‘torture porn’. There is something in this accusation – but, as always, it depends not on what is being presented but how it is presented, and this is always debated according to audience sensibilities, offended by visual torture or able to accept it as part of the genre and storytelling.

It is a fact that there have been killers who abducted and murdered tourists. How this should be treated in fictional films is always a moot point. Greg McLean? has opted to tell this kind of story twice and, whether we like it or not, this is become part of Australian cinema history.

1. Expectations from the first film? The impact of the original? Audiences now knowing Mick Taylor? Those not knowing him getting an impression from the prologue, his dealing with the police?

2. The graphic horror, torture? Accusations of excess?

3. The torture genre of the period? The experience of horror, and the horrible?

4. The film based on actual events, Paul’s experience and the epilogue explanation? how much fact and fiction as actual events? The number of people reported lost in Australia?

5. The portrait of Mick Taylor, John Jarrett and his appearance, stubble, harsh voice, a bushy, his grins and sadistic manner, arrogance, the extreme xenophobia, attacks on the British, no awareness of aborigines and his ancestors as migrants? A portrait of an ugly Australian? The songs, Tie me Kangaroo down, the Australian history quiz? Don Bradman? His madness, torture, the torture chamber, his victims? His sardonic manner? A shadow Crocodile Dundee?

6. The Northern Territory and South Australian landscapes, roads and traffic, absence of traffic, the isolation, the old people’s house, Mick Taylor’s house? The interiors, the chamber of horrors? The songs, contemporary, Born to be Wild…? Classics? The singing of Nellie Melba over the final credits? The effect?

7. The opening, the police, bored, callous, stopping Mick, under the speed limit, their lies, having fun with him, the licence? The fine? The confrontation, Mick shooting the policeman? The crashing of the car? The fire?

8. The Germans, in Sydney, tourists in Australia, the two of them alone, talking, the visit to Wolf Creek crater, the swimming, thinking it was paradise? Not getting any lifts, Rutger and his outburst? Making the camp? Their chatter in the camp, his future? Mick’s arrival, the comment on the fire and smoke, Rutger and his apology, the confrontation, his being killed, his attack on Mick? Death, his being dismembered? The girl looking on in horror? Her being taken?

9. The girl, Mick and his nonchalance, dismembering, her escape, hailing down the car, hysterics, Paul and his help?

10. Seemingly safe, Mick in the truck, the pursuit, on the road, Paul and his attempts at escape, low petrol, the crash, the confrontation?

11. The visual impact of running over the kangaroos?

12. Paul in the desert, the limited water, seeing the house, the couple, his apprehensiveness, the meal and their kindness? Mick at the door, the confrontation, the old man being shot, Paul and his running, the wife being shot? The horse and Mick pursuing Paul through the desert in the night? Taking him?

13. Paul in the house, tied up, Mick and his jingoistic stances, anti-tourists and their presumptions in his country, anti-the British? Singing Tie me Kangaroo down, sport? Other songs, is not liking the national anthem? The Australian history quiz, the threat to cut off fingers, his doing so, Paul it is getting the hammer, hitting Mick?

14. Paul, the attempt to escape, moving through the chamber of horrors, not everyone dead, the dead-end, the spikes on the floor, the cage? Torture and fear?

15. Paul left on the road, the police investigation, considering him mad, the accusation that he was responsible? His going back to England to an institution?

16. Mick Taylor as a legend, no one believing that he was a killer? A shadow Crocodile Dundee?

17. The film as a piece of Australiana, indulgent in horror, critique of the ugly Australian?