Movie Info
Movie Name: Wolf Creek 2
Studio: Emu Creek Pictures
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): August 30, 2013 (Venice Film Festival)/February 20, 2014 (Australia)
MPAA Rating: R
I’m putting this one on my wall!
Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) continues to patrol the outback surrounding Wolf Creek for prey. When he finds a German couple, Katarina (Shannon Ashlyn) escapes and fends help from an English traveler named Paul Hammersmith (Ryan Corr). Now, Mick is after Paul and will stop at nothing to kill him. The prey is on the run, and it is hunting season!
Directed by Greg McLean, Wolf Creek 2 is the follow-up to the hit Australian film from 2005 after long production delays. The film was released at the Venice Film Festival and received mostly positive reviews but far less positive than the previous film.
I enjoyed the first Wolf Creek and thought it was a rather decent horror thriller. The movie “real life” tie was pretty weak and this movie holds on to it. Unfortunately, this movie is a case of too much of a good thing in my opinion.
Officer, your first problem was pulling over. Your second problem was letting the guy with no head drive…
The first movie’s story and style was almost along the line of found footage and had a Blair Witch feel where the characters just find themselves falling into trouble. Wolf Creek 2, however, almost follows Mick more so than his victims. There is much less character development for the victims and as a result, you don’t care as much if they survive. The movie does make some “killing surprises”, by offing characters you thought would survive…but the story isn’t great.
The second problem is Mick Taylor. The first film made him out to be a weird anomaly that the characters stumbled upon. His weird rambling and stereotypical Australia persona was almost charming, but he could turn deadly at a moment’s notice. There is just too much of the Mick character in this film and I start to find him rather annoying…especially if you watch both films back-to-back.
Do you really need all your fingers?
The movie still looks good, but I like the rawness of the original film a bit more. Both movies still have that dirty grindhouse style of filming and this movie contains a number of car chase scenes that harkens back to both Vanishing Point and the Mad Max films. Those visuals really do help the tepid plot.
Wolf Creek 2 is just a so-so film. There are plenty of bad horror movies that are worse, but this movie feels a bit limp in comparison to the previous entry. With the popularity of the character and a world of sequels exploding, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Wolf Creek 3 sometime (or a prequel), but I don’t know that it would be the worst thing.
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