''Wolf Creek 2'' is a 2013 Australian
horror film co-written and directed by
Greg McLean. The film is a sequel to the 2005 film ''
Wolf Creek'' and stars
John Jarratt
John Jarratt is an Australian television film actor, producer and director and TV presenter who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He has appeared in a number of film roles including '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ' ...
, reprising his role as Mick Taylor. It was released on 30 August 2013 at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
, then released in Australia on 20 February 2014.
The film follows a young German couple, and a British tourist, who fall victim to the kidnapping and torture of Mick Taylor, a deranged
xenophobic
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
killer, while travelling in the Australian outback. Similar to the 2005 film, the plot is based upon the real-life murders of backpackers by
Ivan Milat
Ivan Robert Marko Milat (27 December 1944 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian serial killer who was convicted in the backpacker murders in 1996. Commonly known as the Backpacker Murderer, Milat captured, assaulted, robbed and murdered two me ...
in the 1990s and
Bradley Murdoch in 2001. The film received mixed reviews from critics, praising the acting from Jarratt and Corr, but criticism for the violence and gore. The film grossed over $4.7 million at the Australian box office.
A third film, ''Wolf Creek 3'', is currently in development.
Plot
In
North Western Australia, highway patrol officers Gary Bulmer and Brian O'Connor are parked by an outback highway, desperate to meet a quota for speeding tickets. Mick Taylor (
John Jarratt
John Jarratt is an Australian television film actor, producer and director and TV presenter who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He has appeared in a number of film roles including '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ' ...
) drives past going under the speed limit and they pull him over, claiming he was speeding. After belittling and insulting Mick, the two officers give him a speeding ticket and an order to get rid of his truck. Soon after in retaliation, Mick shoots O'Connor in the head as the officers drive away, causing the car to crash in a gully. Despite Bulmer's desperate pleas, Mick breaks his leg, stabs him in the back with a
bowie knife and places the mortally wounded officer back in the car before dousing it with petrol and setting it alight. Mick departs, leaving Bulmer to burn alive in the resulting explosion.
Meanwhile, a young German couple, Rutger and Katarina, hitchhike from
Sydney to
Wolf Creek Crater and camp nearby. In the middle of the night, Mick arrives at the campsite and offers them a lift to a caravan site so they do not get charged for camping in a national park. When Rutger declines his offer, Mick loses his temper and stabs Rutger in the back. He then ties Katarina up and prepares to rape her, but a wounded Rutger battles Mick; Rutger is eventually overpowered and decapitated. Mick then tells Katarina they'll be spending "a fun couple of months together" before choking her until she falls unconscious.
Katarina wakes up later in the night to see Mick cutting up Rutger's body to feed to his dogs. She flees into the bush and Mick pursues her in his truck, referring to this as playing a game of hide and seek. At the same time, English tourist Paul Hammersmith (
Ryan Corr) is driving along the highway, and stops when he sees Katarina standing in the road. He picks her up, but Mick relentlessly pursues them. Mick shoots at Paul, but accidentally kills Katarina instead. Paul then drives off, remorsefully leaving Katarina's body in the sand and covering it with just a sleeping bag at daybreak. Mick must now track and kill Paul as a witness to his killing of Katarina. He also blames Paul for taking his 'plaything' (Katarina) away from him, even though he, Mick, fired the shot that killed her.
Paul reaches a highway. Realising he is off course and has low fuel, he tries to flag down a truck in the distance. He soon realises that Mick is driving the truck, having killed the original driver. After a long chase, during which Mick runs over numerous kangaroos which are crossing the highway, Mick nudges Paul's vehicle at a steep hillside, sending it rolling down into a valley. Paul survives the crash and taunts Mick, who sends the truck hurtling down into Paul's vehicle, which explodes as Paul barely escapes the area. Paul treks across the outback for hours looking for help. Exhausted and dehydrated, he passes out near an outback homestead and is given food and shelter by an elderly couple. They plan to take Paul to the nearest town after he has eaten, but Mick finds the house, and shoots the couple dead. Paul flees again; Mick catches Paul hiding in the grassland and knocks him out.
Paul wakes up in Mick's dungeon, zip-tied to a chair. Mick is furious at Paul for his role in Katarina's death and prepares to torture him, but Paul pacifies him with his "English wit" by narrating limericks and leading Mick in drinking songs that he claims he learned at boarding school. He also gets Mick to join him in singing Rolf Harris's
Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
"Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" is a song written by Australian singer Rolf Harris in 1957 which became a hit around the world in the 1960s in two recordings (1960 in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom for the original, and 1963 in the ...
. Mick's torture for Paul consists of a ten question quiz about Australian culture and history, with a promise to free him if he answers five of them correctly. However, for each question Paul answers incorrectly, he loses a finger. Paul answers the first two questions correctly and reveals that he is a history major. After he gets the next question 'wrong', Mick (irritated by Paul's knowledge) grinds off one of his fingers with a
sander
A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodw ...
.
When Paul intentionally gets the next answer wrong, Mick cuts his other hand free (at Paul's request) from the zip tie and grinds off a finger. Paul then grabs a nearby hammer and clubs Mick with it before fleeing through the tunnels of the dungeon. Paul finds numerous decayed corpses and a severely emaciated woman begging to be freed. While being pursued by an injured Mick, Paul eventually stumbles across an exit, but notices a sheet on the ground directly in front of it. Lifting it up, he finds a
Punji stick
The punji stick or punji stake is a type of booby trapped stake. It is a simple spike, made out of wood or bamboo, which is sharpened, heated, and usually set in a hole. Punji sticks are usually deployed in substantial numbers. The ''Oxford English ...
trap underneath. As he considers trying to jump over it, he hears someone coming and hides, assuming it's Mick. When the figure approaches, he knocks them into the trap and kills them; it was the woman he encountered earlier. Immediately afterwards, Mick finds and subdues Paul, and headbutts him unconscious.
When he wakes up, Paul finds himself, dressed only in his underpants, on a footpath in a small town, with multiple wounds across his body. He finds a handwritten note near him which reads "LOSER" before being discovered by two police officers. A series of title cards before the credits reveal that despite reporting Mick to the police, Paul was held as a suspect in various unsolved murders in the Wolf Creek area. During the investigation, he suffered a complete mental breakdown and was deported back to the UK and placed in full-time care at
Ashworth Hospital
Ashworth Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Maghull, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Liverpool. It is a part of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, catering to patients with psychiatric health needs that require treatment in c ...
, Merseyside. The film ends like the
first film with Mick walking off into the outback with his rifle.
Cast
*
John Jarratt
John Jarratt is an Australian television film actor, producer and director and TV presenter who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He has appeared in a number of film roles including '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ' ...
as Mick Taylor, a sadistic and xenophobic serial killer.
*
Ryan Corr as Paul Hammersmith, a tourist visiting from England who unexpectedly interferes with Mick's plans and becomes his new victim.
*
Shannon Ashlyn
Shannon Ashlyn (born 20 February 1986) is a film and television actress, writer and director, known for her roles in the Australian horror film '' Wolf Creek 2'', the Australian television series '' Love Child'' and the film ''Zelos''. In 2018, ...
as Katarina Schmidt, a German tourist and Rutger's girlfriend.
* Philippe Klaus as Rutger Enqvist, a tourist visiting from Germany and Katarina's boyfriend.
*
Shane Connor
Shane Connor (born 3 April 1959) also billed/credited as Shane Feeney-Connor, is an Australian actor, who has had extensive experience in stage, television and film productions, both locally and internationally in the United Kingdom and United St ...
as Senior Sergeant Gary Bulmer Jr
*
Ben Gerrard as Constable Brian O'Connor
*
Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...
as Jack, an elderly man who lives in a remote outback cottage.
*
Annie Byron
Annie Byron is an AFI Award-winning Australian film, stage, and television actress best known for '' Wolf Creek 2'', ''Fran'', ''Muriel's Wedding'', and '' Doing Time for Patsy Cline''.
Early life
Byron was born in Inverell, Australia. S ...
as Lil, Jack's wife.
* Jordan Cowan as Young Woman, one of Mick's victims who has become emaciated and completely deranged after years of captivity.
Production
Despite the first film's success, McLean chose to begin work on the film ''
Rogue'' rather than develop a sequel. Later he said he regretted that decision: 'If I'd known then what I know now about how long it would take to get this up, I'd probably have said yes to a sequel earlier.'
In 2010, McLean announced that he was developing a sequel and confirmed that Jarratt would be returning to portray Mick Taylor.
Geoffrey Edelsten
Geoffrey Walter Edelsten (2 May 1943 – 11 June 2021) was an Australian businessman and former physician known for founding the health care company Allied Medical Group.
Edelsten was a general practitioner whose unconventional clinics a ...
signed on to invest in the production of ''Wolf Creek 2'', but later withdrew his support of the film and alleged that McLean had misled him into believing that he would not be the largest single private investor.
When the funding deadline had passed, Emu Creek Pictures sent Edelsten's Millennium Management a statutory demand for
A$4.923 million. Edelsten asked the
Supreme Court of Victoria to set aside the demand so he could seek further legal recourse. McLean and Emu Creek Pictures denied they had misled Edelsten, and said they had shown Edelsten documents that clearly set out his A$5 million share of the A$5.2 million support expected from private investors. The funding plan specified that any shortfall from that level would be made up by
Screen Australia
Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...
and the
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC).
Filming
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...
was set to begin in 2011, but the loss of Edelsten's backing delayed the production. McLean risked losing the funds from the government bodies if he could not find another private investor.
Early in 2012 the SAFC withdrew its commitment but recommitted in September to the tune of A$400,000, enabling production to resume. Filming began in 2012 and continued into early 2013.
While developing the script, McLean chose to focus on Mick Taylor as the character was "the most interesting thing about the first movie."
McLean says that the second story, like the first, is based on true events, a point he said would be "pretty obvious when
iewerssee the film".
Release
''Wolf Creek 2'' was released theatrically in Australia on 20 February 2014. The film also opened in the United States on 17 April 2014.
Home media
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, digital and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
Disc in Australia on 25 June 2014 through
Roadshow Entertainment
Roadshow Entertainment (formerly known as Roadshow Home Video from 1982–1993) is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow (formerly Roadshow Home Video and Roadshow Entertainment) t ...
. Two cuts of the film were released, a theatrical and director's cut. Special features include an Audio commentary by writer/director/producer Greg McLean, a fifty-minute documentary titled Creating a Monster: The Making of Wolf Creek 2 and nine
deleted scenes
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed over $1,510,578 at the box office, making it the number one film in its opening weekend. The movie's total collection in Australia stood at $4,732,168.
Critical response
Initial response at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
was mostly positive. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' summarized the story thus: 'A psychopathic serial killer and his knife carve out an edge-of-seat gorefest that follows safely in the tracks of its predecessor.' ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''s review commented that the film was "neither as striking nor as fundamentally scary as its predecessor" but was "still quite a ride, and one that genre-inclined distribs should have no qualms about hitching." Likewise, Norman Gator of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "Perhaps the greatest Aussie flick ever made. I hope to hell there'll be a third one."
The film has a rating of 50% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's critical consensus states "After a strong start, ''Wolf Creek 2'' devolves into an unnecessary – and disappointingly predictable – sequel." The film has a score of 44 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
based on 13 critics indicating "Mixed or average reviews."
Accolades
TV series and Sequel
In 2016, the ''
Wolf Creek''
web television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air ae ...
series debuted on
Stan. The series saw Jarratt return to his role as Mick Taylor. A second series aired in 2017.
As of April 2022, after a series of delays, some linked to the
Covid pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
, another film, Wolf Creek 3, was in the development phase, specifically, location scouting. It will be directed by Rachele Wiggins and written by Duncan Samarasinghe with Greg McLean as Producer.
Altitude Film Distribution
Altitude Film Distribution is a British film distribution company, part of the Altitude Film Entertainment group. The parent company was launched in 2012 by Optimum Releasing founder Will Clarke. Altitude Film Entertainment is vertically int ...
will distribute in the U.K. John Jarratt will reprise his role as the psychopathic Mick Taylor. ''"An American family takes a dream trip to the Australian outback and soon draws the attention of notorious serial killer Mick Taylor. A hellish nightmare ensues as the couple’s two children escape only to be hunted by Australia’s most infamous killer."'' Wolf Creek 3 is planned for release later in 2023, with the tagline ''There Will be Blood''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf Creek 2
2013 films
2013 horror films
2013 horror thriller films
2013 independent films
2010s road movies
2010s serial killer films
2010s slasher films
Australian independent films
Australian sequel films
Australian horror films
Australian slasher films
Australian thriller films
2010s German-language films
Films set in Western Australia
Films shot in Adelaide
Horror films based on actual events
Crime films based on actual events
Films directed by Greg McLean
Films scored by Johnny Klimek
Australian action adventure films
Films set in deserts
Films set in the Outback
Screen Australia films
Roadshow Entertainment films
2010s English-language films