WOLF CREEK 2 - I wasn't a fan of the original at all - I found it boring, despite the attempted build up, the supposedly brutal pay-off and the wannabe nihilistic tone. I wouldn't have bothered with this either, but since some quarters seemed to sell it as a wall-to-wall gore fest, I thought I'd give it a go. It was worth it, but I didn't feel 'Wolf Creek 2' was all THAT much of a splatterfest - though opinions and sensibilities may vary. Where it surpasses the original is, first of all, in ramping up the action and the tension - and I'm all for simmering moodiness, but not here. It unfolds in accordance with a road chase dynamic, although it can't pitch anywhere near 'The Hitcher', a comparison which has been mentioned in some reviews. Secondly, the vein of black humour running throughout actually works - witness the kangaroo battalion and the various throwaway one liners wreathing the overall carnage etc. A third reason to like it, one related to the above, is its weird take on national stereotypes - sometimes it's really unclear whether we're meant to think this is being played for laughs between slightly ironic quotation marks, or whether some broader political point is being fumbled for - certainly, the semi-hysterical historical Q&A at the end, between Oz-Killer and Brit-tourist, feels like it's about to pronounce on colonialism and attendant alienation, but it's a bit tacked on and doesn't really work out. The tragic 'real life' back story is intriguing, a mish mash of outback murder cases from the eighties and nineties (Brits and Aussies alike may remember Peter Falconio et al), which lends an additional exploitative undertow for bad or slimy good. Overall, 'Wolf Creek 2' is quite entertaining, and worth a stab (or two).
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