Wolf Creek

Plot synopsis:
In Broome, Western Australia, 1999, two British tourists, Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi), are backpacking across the country with Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), an Australian friend from Sydney. They constantly get drunk at wild, extravagant pool parties and camp out on the beach. Ben buys a dilapidated Ford XD Falcon for their road journey from Broome to Cairns, Queensland via the Great Northern Highway.
After stopping at Halls Creek for the night, the trio make another stop at Wolf Creek National Park, which contains a giant crater formed by a 50,000-ton meteorite.
Hours later, upon returning to their car, the group discovers that their watches have all suddenly stopped and that the car will not start. Unable to solve the problem, they prepare to sit out the night. After dark, a rural man named Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) comes across them and offers to tow them to his camp to repair the car. Initially hesitant, the group allows Mick to take them to his place, an abandoned mining site several hours south of Wolf Creek. Mick regales them with tall stories of his past while making a show of fixing their car. His manner unsettles Liz and Kristy, although Ben is less concerned. While they sit around a fire, Mick gives the tourists water which he describes as "rainwater from the top end". The water eventually causes the tourists to fall unconscious.
Liz awakens to find herself gagged and tied up in a shed. She manages to break free, but before she can escape from the mining site, she hears Mick torturing Kristy in a garage, and witnesses him sexually assault her. Liz sets the now-dismantled Falcon on fire to distract him, and goes to help Kristy while Mick is busy trying to extinguish the blaze. When he returns Liz manages to shoot Mick with his own rifle, the bullet hitting him in the neck and apparently killing him. The women attempt to flee the camp in Mick's truck. But before they can do so, Mick stumbles out of the garage, revealing the gunshot was non-fatal and that he's still alive. He proceeds to shoot at them with a double-barreled shotgun before giving chase in another car. The women evade Mick by rolling his truck off a cliff and hiding behind a bush, before returning to the mining site to get another car. Liz leaves the hysterical Kristy outside the gates, telling her to escape on foot if she does not return in five minutes.
Liz enters another garage and discovers Mick's large stock of cars as well as an organised array of travellers' possessions, including video cameras. She watches the playback on one of them and is horrified to see Mick "helping" other travellers stranded at Wolf Creek in almost identical circumstances to her own. She then picks up another camera which turns out to be Ben's, and while viewing some of Ben's footage, she notices Mick's truck in the background, indicating he'd been following them long before they got to Wolf Creek. She gets into a car and attempts to start it, but Mick shows up in the back seat and stabs her through the driver's seat with a bowie knife. After more bragging and furious about his truck getting wrecked, he hacks Liz's fingers off in one swipe, and headbutts her into near unconsciousness. He then severs her spinal cord with the knife, paralyzing her and rendering her a "head on a stick". He then proceeds to interrogate her as to Kristy's whereabouts.
By dawn, Kristy has reached a highway and is discovered by a passing motorist. He attempts to help Kristy, but is shot dead from far away by Mick, who has a sniper rifle. Mick gives chase in a Holden HQ Statesman, prompting Kristy to take off in the dead man's car. She succeeds in running Mick off the road when he catches up, but he gets out of the car and shoots out Kristy's back tire, causing the car to flip over. Kristy climbs out of the vehicle and attempts to crawl away, but is immediately shot dead by Mick. He bundles Kristy's body into the back of his car, along with the body of the dead motorist, and torches the wrecked car before driving off.
Ben, whose fate until now has not been revealed, awakens to find himself nailed to a mock crucifix in a mine shaft, with two aggressive, caged Rottweilers in front of him. He manages to extract himself from the crucifix and enters the camp in early daylight. Ben escapes into the outback, but becomes dehydrated, and eventually passes out beside a dirt road. He is discovered by a Swedish couple who take him to Kalbarri, where he is airlifted to a hospital.
A series of title cards states that despite several major police searches, no trace of Liz or Kristy has ever been found. Early investigations into the case were disorganised, hampered by confusion over the location of the crimes, a lack of physical evidence and the alleged unreliability of the only witness. After four months in police custody, Ben was later cleared of all suspicion. He currently lives in South Australia. The film ends with the silhouette of Mick walking into the sunset with his rifle in hand.

Tags: murder

Review:
I am a huge fan of the Wolf Creek movies, John Jarratt does a great portrayal of outback killer 'Mick Taylor', when I first saw the preview for this it got me genuinely excited.
It looked a lot more deeper than the conventional slasher type Wolf Creek movies, this one had the vibe of being more psychologically involved.The show started off fantastic, we were thrown right into the action, meeting front runner Lucy Fry, depicting the main character whose family gets brutally murdered which ultimately sends her on a revenge trip to kill Mick Taylor.
The nonsensical parts of the story started to gather up and it started to make the show very unbelievable and frustrating, all of the injuries that the main character suffered seemed to have gone away shortly hours after, when any normal person would have simply died from them.
This show had so much potential, leading on from the great legacy of Mick Taylor it could have gone many different ways.
The show started fantastically and I honestly could not fault it for the first 3 episodes, but after that it became very cheesy in it's story-line and if you were an Australian watching this it was enough to make you cringe.If the director actually portrayed Australians as normal civilians like we actually are, Mick Taylor would have been seen as more menacing and frightening.
I was leery of watching this series but found it to be far better than both films.
There is something so satisfying, watching a character grow the way Eve does.
I appreciated that this is not merely a slice and dice horror series (the films are fine and offer an effective urban legend, but the overwhelming gore and terror wore me out), but something with nuance and back story.
John Jarratt does his usual believable, sinister performance as the game-playing butcher, Mick, the guy you never want to run into in a dark alley, the Outback or anywhere else.Great job..
This TV mini-series had a lot of potential to become a yearly vehicle showcasing Mick Taylor's crusades against a wide variety of victims.
The first season delivers a modicum of brilliance you'd expect from another Wolf Creek installment, followed by inconsistencies and unnecessary plot points that drag down what we really want to see in Wolf Creek - Mick Taylor in his native glory.The premiere's pre-credit sequence sets up the season in a superb fashion.
It mirrors some of the greatest moments from the Wolf Creek films; Mick Taylor sharing an innocent chat with his unknowing victims, cracking jokes, laughing inappropriately, and sharing hunting stories to earn their trust before he strikes.
As it is, the only reason to watch Wolf Creek is to see Mick Taylor, and aside from the beginning and end, you don't see very much of him.
It makes me yearn for Wolf Creek 2's approach of having the entire story revolve around him, since that's far more interesting than him sitting on the sidelines for the majority of the story while we follow a boring heroine run around the continent searching for him.
Hopefully the second season, or third movie, gives Jarratt the screen time he rightfully deserves.
I'd support a Luther-esque approach in a second series; maybe have Mick terrorize a certain set of victims for a couple episodes, then move on to another group for the next two, then another, etc.
If you're a fan of the Wolf Creek movies, I'd recommend watching the first episode and stopping there.
Hopefully it's given the chance to; or maybe Mick Taylor is just better suited for the big screen..
Being a huge fan of Wolf Creek and part 2 the movies - then just last week discovering a MINI SERIES had been made.....
I binge watched this yesterday.Mick is back and (had to be) played by the incredible John Jarrett.
The kicker is it starts off with SUCH promise - Mick is introduced within the first 10 minutes with a BANG - from then on the story of one survivor recovering from that ordeal then slowly seeking revenge begins.Along the way this portrays the Ozzie outback in a very nasty crude way - by god if you plan to travel there NEVER speak to ANY man at all - according to the writers and director ALL men are murderous vile inbred rapists - or members of gangs with a below zero IQ.
God forbid if they endorsed this?Forgetting the tourist side of things the problem with Wolf Creek the series is you could easily have condensed it into a 3 parter.
Based on the Wolf Creek movies: "Wolf Creek (2005)" and "Wolf Creek 2 (2013)" which I liked so I had high hopes for the series, but unfortunately it didn't quite deliver.It has it's moments particularly in the first and last episodes but the road there is a bit sketchy with far too many detours adding multiple characters to the mix which takes away from the main story.John Jarrat is back as the bad guy Mick Taylor and that's great but for some reason the creators doesn't think that he's enough of a threat in the series so they randomly throw in a biker-gang as well.Lucy Fry is our heroine in the saga, everything about her just screamed "model" to me when I saw her, from the lack of emotion in expression down to her walk, so it was unsurprised when I now googled her and found out that she in fact was a model before she took up acting.I mean she's not at like Claudia Schiffer level of acting or anything but the character she plays undergoes a transition that need to be dealt with by an actress with a little more experience.A direct quote from hers in real life is "I am enough - you don't need to do anything.
The simplicity of how easy acting can be." And that would explain why her performance became what it is and I would probably tell her to rethink that idea.Anyway, overall the series is okay but in the end somewhat pointless and it could have been a lot better if they didn't lose focus as often as they did..
Especially the performance from John Jarratt playing the villain Mick Taylor.
All the characters are fun to watch, so I really don't get why people aren't satisfied with the story.
Because the story is everything you ask for when you watch a horror series like this one.
A short review of Season 1 of the "Wolf Creek" TV series (2016).
(They can be difficult for even seasoned fans of the genre to watch.) And last year's follow-up television series faithfully channeled so much of their mood, tone and atmosphere that it should have been just as effective.
I think it's been a long time since I saw a horror film or series so successfully project a mood.
Also returning, of course, is John Jarrett in his perfect and perfectly frightening portrayal of the serial killer Mick Taylor.Lucy Fry's young American antihero, Eve, is the latest to face off against him, but there's a twist — after surviving the slaughter of her family, she resolves to find and kill him.
We actually don't see much of Mick for many episodes — the story focuses on Eve's haphazard, calamitous odyssey through rural Australia, encountering criminals, good Samaritans and just plain lunatics.
I get the sense that fans might tune in to see a horror film, but might be disappointed by a moody, loosely plotted travelogue through McLean's brutal fictional interpretation of the Australian outback.I wondered how the screenwriter here could make such a major miscalculation.
They contained what seem like lots of supporting or ancillary material connected with Mick's victims, which were ultimately interspersed with the intense violence that made them terrifying movies (not to mention Jarratt's flawless portrayal of a violent sociopath).But those movies both had an hour-and-forty-minutes running time.
I honestly think I would have enjoyed Season 1 much more if it had been edited down to half its length — into maybe three episodes or one feature film.Oh, well.
Didn't Like It. Now i'm a major fan of the wolf Creek movies i love the Mick Taylor character i'd definitely put him up there above the freddy Krugers and Mike Myers in the top serial killer categories on film.
So i wanted to check out the Wolf Creek TV series.Didn't like it,totally unrealistic.For starters the Mick Taylor character is hardly in it.It mainly focuses on this young woman out for revenge for the murder of her family by Mick Taylor and all the highly unlikely scenarios she gets herself into while on her quest for revenge.For starters a young American woman running about by herself in the outback totally vulnerable she'd have been dead within a week she wouldn't have stood a chance .Now i'll just have to wait for Wolf Creek 3 to come out..
If you want to be on the edge of your seats and delivered those truly disturbing cringe worthy moments that only Mick can deliver - then you will not be disappointed at all.A lot is put into the 6 episodes per season yet there are times where it seems to drag a bit or scatter.
10 -13 episodes per season would have been ideal as then it would have given it time to develop a more solid story line from his childhood onward etc.
However, I still enjoyed both seasons.For me WOLF CREEK is still a 10/10 because S2, to me, topped S1 and I wanted to keep watching episode after episode and that was with both seasons!.
And that is if I do not lose interest first.WOLF CREEK is a tv series I would buy on blu-ray and watch again which is something I would not do for all tv shows and/or movies..
If you loved or liked the movies you will find plenty to enjoy in the series.Both seasons have six episodes each.
And each tells a different story featuring outback serial killer and larrikin Mick Taylor.
There are seperate stories All of the actors in both series are great in there respective roles.
From Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Outlaw,Stalkher to Shiver, he is truly a talented actor.Like the movies, the show is violent but not in an over the top way like it was in Wolf Creek 2.
I am an Australian and seeing the shots in this makes me feel proud knowing how beautiful my country really is.I hope we get a third film or a Season 3 sometime soon.
They are prequels to the movies and television series and you find out how Mick got to be the way he is.
Mick Taylor has well and truly worn out his welcome, same old same old, no plot, please Stan spend your money on better drama/ thriller/ anything for us to watch.
Painful to watch and an insult to the movies,very poor writing, acting and plot holes galore,typical Aussie rubbish, how anyone could rate the first series is beyond me,the young American actress had to be related to someone because she was totally unbelievable in her role ,really terrible,the second series is even worse ,why Stan is funding these rubbish series I can't understand, try an original idea not turning great movies into crap series or just buy more HBO showtime content that is quality ie: Ray Donovan ,the Borgia's ,billions ect this is what people want to see well written watchable drama.wake up.
Whole series seemed very rushed and there were many big gaps in story line the biggest one being between ep4 and ep5 it seemed like months had passed then all of a sudden both the bikers and Mick caught up with her almost at the same time....
Although Mick loves to play games there were too many missed killing opportunities that didn't make sense.
This contains Spoilers: Watched half of this series and had hoped that it would entertain and be as dramatic and a psychological thriller as the WC1 & WC2 films.
The writers have Mick Taylor using his trademark blue Ford F100 which was destroyed in WC1 then this series must be a prequel.
& WC2 it showed how Mick Taylor offered tainted top end water to drug his victims, but this time he is out of his normal environment and the targets are drinking their own liquid refreshments.
d) The writers have made a very poor attempt to divert Mick Taylor's character into a second rate Freddy Krueger - very embarrassing too.
e) The writers also make a strange attempt to make Eve look like Mad Max 2 character when they bring in a dingo as her side kick which quickly becomes a household pet!
Such a sad waste of a great opportunity to continuing the premise of Wolf Creek.
Maybe series 2 will be better but the writers will definitely need to be changed..
Not a good advertisement for Oz. This series all starts well, then they seem to run out of ideas very quickly.
Every Australian male is portrayed as a as either a sex offender, a complete idiot or both and the woman are all portrayed as complete bitches.The story line is where thing get patchy, for a 19 YO girl who was shot and and left for dead and whose family had just been slaughtered, not one relative or government official from the USA bothered to head to Australia to inquire and escort her home, no, she's dropped off at the airport and told take care of yourself and have a nice life.No major homicide investigations,no media, just one country cop to take care of the lot and who seems to think it was a all a big accident.Dozens of tourist missing in the top end and no one is slightly suspicious there is something odd happening up there.
I would have thought a large homicide investigation may have given this show a bit of credibility and interest.They try to focus on the two main characters the Cop and the Girl with the bad American accent , unfortunately they're are not interesting enough to hold attention or interest.
It seems to want to portray the top end and the outback as some kind of wild west or Mad Max type scenario.It is very frustrating that Australian film produces have to resort to the clichéd Aussie Drongos and instead to try to portray Australians as having some intelligence and sophistication.
This series had so much potential but wasted on poor performances, scripts and plots..
Never have I watched a TV series that had the potential to be so brilliant, but is in actual fact utter rubbish.
erm....) The main character has a total lack of depth, coupled with cringe- worthy levels of melodrama (EVEN when taking into account the horrific situation she has been thrown into) and either can't act or is extremely suppressed by awful direction (I'm sure either the actress or the director, or both, or SOMEONE, must have watched too many of those despicable films about melodramatic teenage vampires or something).
And not only that, she repeatedly makes the SAME mistakes to the point where I ended up being "on the side of the villain", who is the only well executed character in the entire series.
I did watch the whole series as I did want to know what the outcome would be, although more because I had fun laughing at it with my girlfriend.
I read, before I watched episode 4 that a viewer felt that it went a bit off list; flashbacks and fragmented scenes from the past; everyone is different and I felt they needed that to bulk out the story, which I did not want to end - ever .I noticed that the prisoner whose hand was sticking out of the ground, had on it a gold band, but if that was meant to be the escaped prisoner, he had cut that hand off?
The first 4 eps really got me excited for the epic showdown between Eve and Mick, but some really poor writing in the last 2 eps harms what could have been one of the great Aussie TV series.
But Lucy was great, really enjoyed her character.
Jarrett obviously has fun with the role but he's too normal to be a mythical Jason/Michael Myers monster, yet too unbelievable to be a truly scary serial killer.The side characters and their stories too are fairly pointless and are pure filler for the most part.
Great actors like Deborah Mailman and Gary Sweet have small arcs which are completely inconsequential within the greater Eve vs Mick story.
Little B-stories like the cop's relationship troubles with his wife pop up every episode and truly offer nothing but filler.
But in the end i think its definitely worth a watch.
I love the setting, the cinematography, the acting, the casting , can't fault any of that but it annoys me the way that modern horror movies/shows are all about gore and impossibly unkillable baddies.Im only watching it to the end out of loyalty to the actors and Australian content , need to leave more to the imagination please.
The story follows some dull American girl on her quest for vengeance after Mick killed her parents and her little brother who gets herself into trouble every step of the way.The second series is far better.
This series offers us a world we do not often see.But like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and Michael Myers before him; Mick Taylor has one flaw that I find irritating.
Despite this, I enjoyed Wolf Creek the series almost until the final shot..
I did enjoy watching it and the story line was interesting and kept me engaged but the acting wasn't great.
I TAKE THIS TV SERIES AS PART X FILES (A CLUELESS OUTBACK OFFICER THAT PIECES THINGS TOGETHER AS HE GOES) , À BIT OF KILL BILL.