Review: Wolf Creek 2 a ‘knuckle-dragging exercise in torture porn’ says Leigh Paatsch

WOLF Creek 2 is a ‘sad and soberingly sorry sequel to the 2005 Australian horror hit’. Read Leigh Paatsch’s damning review.

Blood, guts and Nullarboredom. Leigh Paatsch gives Wolf Creek 2 just one star.

Wolf Creek 2 [MA15+]

Director: Greg McLean (Wolf Creek)

Starring: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr, Shannon Ashlyn, Phillipe Klaus, Gerard Kennedy, Annie Byron

Rating: .5 star

ALREADY seriously wounded, an elderly lady drags herself to the front porch of her outback homestead in one last hopeless bid to escape.

Her pursuer casually strolls up, rolls her over, puts a shotgun directly in her face, and pulls the trigger.

The scene ends with a semi-suggestive remark about the fun the killer and his victim might have had together if only she’d stuck around.

Why anyone would bother sticking around for Wolf Creek 2, a sad and soberingly sorry sequel to the 2005 Australian horror hit, is a question well worth asking.

It certainly isn’t fun. Unless you’re the kind of filmgoer who gets their jollies from witnessing the attempted rape or successful murder of foxy foreign backpackers.

Wolf Creek 2 deserves none of the notoriety it is sure to provoke in the weeks ahead. If it wasn’t so aggressive in its single-minded intent to appal, you could almost feel a sense of pity for this movie.

Chilling ... John Jarratt As Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek 2.

Those responsible for this mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging exercise in torture porn appear to be trying to jump-start a subgenre that conked out many years ago.

Even the most ardent passengers who once rode the shock-with-no-shame bandwagon have jumped off in search of other ways to pick a fright with audiences.

On these terms alone, Wolf Creek 2 is a throwback that should be thrown back.

John Jarratt reprises his role as Mick Taylor, the deranged freelance serial killer who prefers to bleed ’em slow and carve ’em up real quick. Doesn’t mind a chase, but loves what comes after the catch a whole lot more.

After the original, the character was already a spent force of evil. Therefore, an effort has been made to not only play up the supposed comic appeal of Taylor — which, needless to say, just ain’t there — but also give him a little motivation for all that mutilation.

There will be some noodles out there who may interpret Taylor’s repeated outbursts about ridding his country of foreigners as some kind of subversive social commentary. Nope. It is just a gimmick, and a moronic one at that.

Moronic gimmick ... John Jarratt’s Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek 2.

As for Jarratt, watching him reel off his repertoire of guttural grunts and wince-worthy wisecracks is like being trapped on a crowded train next to a drunk and disturbed circus clown. Unfortunately, there is no chance here of him passing out, or getting off at the next stop.

After this cruddy display, all the bonus points Jarratt has racked up from Quentin Tarantino’s misplaced man-crush on him are gone.

A consolatory shout-out must go to promising young Australian actor Ryan Corr, who somehow finds something in his portrayal of Taylor’s most noteworthy prey (a British tourist) to finish a thankless job with his dignity intact.

There are a few bits and pieces — mainly involving motor vehicles travelling, bumping or crashing at varying speeds — that prove writer-director Greg McLean does own a nice set of skills behind the camera.

Whether they are cancelled out by a nasty lack of scruples about what happens in front of the camera will cost you the price of a movie ticket to ultimately find out.