Wolf Creek - Greg McLean

I had really anticipated this movie, especially considering the output coming out of Australia lately had been so great, Undead was a brilliant take on the Zombie genre, yet Wolf Creek left me cold and wishing that things had been done differently. All in all, the plot is generic and I knew that coming in, yet the pace of the film is so arduous and slow that the tension that is supposedly being established tends to wither quickly, leaving the viewer with a false sense of development. The relationship and tension that is developed between the two British girls and the Australian male lead works very well, which is partly due to the fact that there is never really any confrontation between them, their lives, however, tend to unravel in other ways instead. The use of darkness, a generic form in itself, is adapted brilliantly as a contrast to the bright light of day, and one can only question where McLean went wrong. Having both written and directed the film, his obvious talent is there, but I wonder whether or not he felt confident enough to adapt his own script. An Australian version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre this is not, and I am very thankful for that; comparisons can be made and probably have been made, yet I tend to think that McLean is paying homage instead of ripping off this aforementioned masterpiece.