Wolf Creek

Two English women and an Australian man, while driving across the outback, fall into the clutches of a serial torture-killer. Writer-director Greg McLean claims his script is “based on true events,” but (at the risk of arousing the spoiler police) it’s obvious that he made the whole thing up. He even misspells the name of the location (Wolfe Creek Crater). Even by the low standards of slasher porn, it’s not good. There’s no suspense and no resolution to the action, but enough blood and sadism to put you off your lunch. McLean seems to think that repulsive images purveyed with ghoulish relish are the same thing as dramatic power. This was actually nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, which says something about either the institute’s judgment or the current state of movies down under.