Wolf Creek 2, 2013.
Directed by Greg Mclean.
Starring John Jarratt, Ryan Corr, Shannon Ashlyn, Philippe Klaus, Shane Connor, Ben Gerrard, Gerard Kennedy and Annie Byron.
SYNOPSIS:
The outback once more becomes a place of horror as another unwitting tourist becomes the prey for crazed, serial-killing pig-hunter Mick Taylor.
Opening with a calm, collected series of symmetrically composed shots, you’d easily be fooled into assuming Greg Mclean’s follow up to 2005’s Wolf Creek is an altogether different beast, especially when, during the opening scene, we see notorious pig butcher Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) implicated as the protagonist of the film.
It’s a bizarre notion to comprehend — especially after establishing himself as a twisted torture specialist in the first film — whereby he’s victimised by police who are having a boring, uneventful day at the office. Suffice to say that once they realise they’ve messed with the wrong crazed Outback killer, order is swiftly restored, and Mick is placed back into the category of merciless, deranged psychopath.
There was always something about Jarratt’s initial portrayal that, even when thinking back, was eerie to the extreme. Wolf Creek 2 continues to document the depraved existence of Mick, as the film offers up a further snippet into the life of the loner. Oddly, it’s a mixture of something extremely watchable, as well as grotesque and chilling.
In truth, there’s very little story to be told here in terms of a structured narrative, yet we’re privy to an insight into what Mick’s getting up to (to put it mildly) some time after the horrific events of Wolf Creek.
The almost two-hour movie plays out as a sadistic cat and mouse chase. With our antagonist firmly in place, it takes a while for us to establish a protagonist (mainly because various characters keep meeting their grisly demise just as we begin to get to know them).
But this isn’t a film about heroes, even though Paul (Ryan Corr) is the traveller who eventually lives long enough to serve as Mick’s antithesis, leaving audiences to endure the tense, frightening escape attempt across the desolate, alien wilderness he finds himself trapped in.
Like films such as Alien, where a crew are trapped aboard the Nostromo as they’re hunted by a predator, Wolf Creek 2 has a similar foreboding, claustrophobic feel. While Paul has the entire Outback to hide in, he’s essentially trapped and is simply being toyed with by a smarter, hungrier hunter. It therefore presents a rather isolating and particularly scary scenario that Paul cannot evade, and in true serial killer style, Mick seems to be everywhere and around every corner.
Most of Wolf Creek 2 is an ongoing fear of campaign brought to us courtesy of Jarratt’s excellently evil villain. It’s intense and hard to watch at times, with several scenes that boast some impressive special effects all in the name of gore. It’s just him and Paul and, as the latter discovers, in the Outback, no one can hear you scream.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Mike Williams
Originally published August 25, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
