Films That Witness Madness

review

WOLF CREEK

Most horror fans have a knee-jerk reaction to the term "torture porn". I'm not one of them. I find the term to be not only very useful but also very true. As it is popularly understood, "torture porn" means "a film where torture and murder is the sole purpose or focal point of the film at the expense of all other narrative concerns". If we go by that definition, the term absolutely applies to films like HOSTEL and it's slightly superior sequel as well as films like MARTYRS and the SAW franchise. I believe most people have a problem with it because they view it as equating horror cinema with hardcore pornography. Well, sorry to break it to them but the majority of horror films CAN be equated with hardcore pornography is terms of set-up and payoff. Both genres - and yes I'm using "pornography" as a genre - feature long periods of set-up leading to quick bursts of action and the payoff results in spraying bodily fluids, grunts, groans and screaming.

So what's the big damned deal with the term "torture porn" and are their any circumstances when I feel the term doesn't fit? Well, I don't know what the big damned deal with the term is - except that most horror fans are also apologists - but I can think of one circumstance when the term doesn't fit. Enter WOLF CREEK, an Australian horror film that was unceremoniously dumped into the "torture porn" bin. While films like HOSTEL and SAW feature characters so damned unlikeable that their inevitable torture, murder or dismemberment is welcome, WOLF CREEK has characters so innocuous and friendly that their torment during the film's final, grueling half seems unfair and awful.

The set-up is simple. Three college-aged kids - two British girls, Kristy and Liz, and an Australian bloke, Ben - are traveling across Australia together. There's a bit of romantic tension between the three. Liz and Kristy both have eyes for Ben but it's rather obvious that Ben has a bit of a thing for Kristy. They buy a car and decide to stop off at Wolf Creek, a large crater formed by a 50,000-some ton meteorite, to see the sights. After a run-in with some foul-mouthed truckers at a pit stop, they arrive at their location. When they try to leave, they find their car won't start. A polite, rather charming older man called Mick arrives in his truck and offers his assistance. He tells them that he can fix their car but he will have to tow them back to his place to do it. They agree and off they go. When they arrive, he offers them water. They slowly drift to sleep. When they wake up, they find themselves separated and bound, ready to be tortured and slaughtered by Mick. That's about it for the set-up. The last half of the movie deals primarily with Kristy and Liz and their escape from Mick and their inevitable deaths.

What separates WOLF CREEK from other films in the "torture porn" canon is it's attention to character. The first half of the film is relatively free of action. We simply follow the characters around and get to know them. They are a likeable bunch and the performances of the three actors feel genuine and real. With HOSTEL, the main characters were rejects from every other teen sex comedy you've ever seen. When they were finally tortured and killed, you didn't feel anything for them. They were faceless frat boys with no individual identities. Not so with WOLF CREEK. Our protagonists might not be fully formed characters but they have personalities, they have life in them and, most importantly, the little time we've spent with them has been light, enjoyable and amicable. They are, for the lack of a better expression, "good people".

So when John Jarratt comes along in his big truck and offers his assistance, you immediately go on high alert. But he doesn't seem like a demon - and never does; throughout the whole of the film, only once does he seem to slip into full-blown evil. He's personable, funny and charming. This is where McLean walks a fine line. Go too charismatic with the character of Mick and you run the risk of making him a kind of anti-hero - think Otis, Baby and the rest of the Firefly clan - and that would shift the focus of the film to his side. Do that and your film becomes a celebration of torture and murder. Thankfully, McLean manages to keep the film centered and, thanks in no small part to John Jarratt's amazing performance, Mick comes off more sadistic than funny. His constant jokes and upbeat personality make him even more terrifying. This is obviously someone who takes not only pleasure but delight in his work.

Greg McLean, the film's writer and director, chose for his inspiration the real life serial killer Ivan Milat, a sociopath who kidnaped and murdered at least seven people in the early 90s. Thankfully, McLean doesn't stick too close to Milat's real-life atrocities. The violence in the film is actually pretty sparce. Not too much is shown and very little blood is spilled on-screen - though the film's centerpiece, the infamous "head on a stick" scene, is plenty disturbing and nauseating - but the tension created by McLean in the film's darkest scenes places WOLF CREEK leagues above the more graphic HOSTEL and SAW films. In fact, it's the feeling of unease that makes WOLF CREEK such a chore to sit through. The Australian outback is, all by itself, a remarkably foreboding location and McLean really milks it for all it's worth. Shots of vast empty space and endless areas of wilderness provides the audience with a feeling of total isolation. It's easy to imagine getting lost out there and never finding your way back. The opening inter-title tells us that "30,000 people are reported missing in Australia every year". It's easy to see why.

Australia has provided the backdrop for some of the most terrifying and beautiful films of all time - THE LAST WAVE, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, LONG WEEKEND, WALKABOUT, DEFENCELESS, just to name a few - and WOLF CREEK is no exception. As gruesome, nerve-wracking and frightening as WOLF CREEK is, it is also remarkably beautiful. The way McLean moves us from a sun-drenched beach to the claustrophobic confines of a torture chamber is very graceful and subtle and he allows us to become completely immersed in the unfolding nightmare of the film's narrative. If WOLF CREEK were his final statement in the horror genre - it isn't, by the way - then I have to say that he would have gone out on top. WOLF CREEK really did set the standard for all those other "torture porn" films that followed. It's a testament to the power and skill of WOLF CREEK that none of them have come even remotely close to matching it or surpassing it.

Sure, some of WOLF CREEK stretches the audience's suspension of disbelief. I remember when the film was released reading countless posts on horror movie forums about Mick's sudden appearance in the car or of Kristy's inexplicable decision to return to Mick's shack to find another set of car keys but none of that really bothered me. I'd like to think that I would act a bit smarter in a situation like that but I don't really know for sure. But none of that matters. I'm willing to set aside little quibbles like that if a film genuinely works and that is something WOLF CREEK does. It works. On every level, it works.

Highly recommended.

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