SLASHER FILM RULES: Wolf Creek

An Australian Film.

Around 2005 there was a number of films released labels as "Torture porn" or "gorno" taking the Slasher film genre back into its Exploitation Cinema/Splatter Film roots.  One of those was Wolf Creek but does it fit the Slasher Film Rules...?

The following my include spoilers for

WOLF CREEK (2005)

Rule #1 - A Warning Will Come From...

Unlike other potential Slasher film victims the people in this film received no warning.

Rule #2 - There Will Be T&A

Liz goes topless swimming.

No T&A, the closest is Liz's naked back early in the film when she goes swimming in the sea.  There was a corpse torso with exposed breasts, but that's not really T&A.

Rule #3 - Death Will Be A Punishment For...

The killer sees it as his duty to cull tourists.  Although almost every male character in the film sees young female as merely a sexual object and the killer rapes his female victims, the videos suggest he kills male tourists and children.  However, these rules are more about the subtext, not the text, so:

A:  Sex - No actual sex in the film.
B:  Nudity - Liz swims topless and is later killed (unrelated textually, but does tie into the casual sexuality that it's said by some characters that young female tourists have.)  [1/1]
C:  Drinking - All three main characters drink heavily the night before they head off, and it is implied the night before that.  They are seen binge drinking with a very large group, but obviously only the main three are endangered.  Two of the three are killed.  [2/3] or [2/lots]
D:  Drugs - No drug use shown.
E:  Hitchhiking - Kristy is already escaping when she tries to get a lift.  The man who attempts to give her a lift is killed specifically for stopping for her.  Later a couple give Ben a lift and all three survive.  [2/5]
G:  Being Sleazy - Most of the males seen in the film do this and survive.  [0/lots]
H:  Innocent Bystander - See guy who tried to give Kristy a lift (3E).

Rule #4 - Never Go...

Kristy has nowhere to run to.

G:  Anywhere Isolated - Listing this first because it is the premise of the film, and the premise of a lot of Australian cinema.  The Australian Bush... it's bad.  [2/3] or [all-but-one/lots]

A & B:  Upstairs or Basements - Does not apply because it's all...

D:  Old Sheds or Out Buildings - All three of the main characters wake up in them, so it's not really their fault.  An important difference between Ben's survival and Liz's death is that Liz went back for Kristy and Ben just ran.  So I'm only counting Liz.  [1/1]

E:  The Forest - OK, not the forest, but the outback.  Kristy was stuck in it, but was killed when she got back to the blacktop, Ben deliberately ran into it to escape and survived.  [0/1]

F:  Anywhere Alone - Liz and Kristy pretty much prove this rule, Ben disproves it.  In fact, Liz may have been killed because she didn't run off alone.  [2/3]

Rule #5 - Order of Death...

First two characters to appear onscreen.

A:  The First Person on Screen - Ben and the car salesman are the first two characters to appear on screen.  Both survive.  [0/2]
B:   The Black Man dies First - there are no minority characters in the film.

The deaths are hard to fit into the categories, so I'll skip to the final order.

0.  Multiple murder tourists prior to the beginning of the film.
1.  The Driver who finds Kirsty [I-ish, not a child but a friendly innocent character]
2.  Kristy* [D-ish, not a bimbo.  She does want to hook up with a "freakishly hot man" but really that's not too bimboistic.]
3.  Liz* [J-ish.  She does have many characteristics of the Final Girl.  She is however killed and Ben is the survivor.]

* Although Liz is incapacitated and last seen before Kristy is killed, I'm assuming he kept her alive for some time.

Survivor Ben is E - the Sensitive Guy, but doesn't heroically throw his life away as they often do.

Rule #6 - Especially When They Are Most Needed, Do Not Rely On…

Car troubles.

C:  Vehicles - The whole film hung on this one.  They were caught because the killer incapacitates his victims cars.  Liz has to go back to the killer's body for keys, is unable to find any for his second car and is caught looking for a set for a third vehicle.  The killer also shoot's the tyre out on the car Liz is escaping in, allowing him to kill her.
E:  The Authorities - Do not feature in the film, but the post-script says that they found Ben an unreliable witness, were unable to find Liz and Kristy and thought Ben was guilty.

Rule #7 - The Final Girl

There is no Final Girl in this film.  While Liz does seem to fill the role, Ben (a final boy) ends up surviving.

LIZ HUNTER:

Liz and Kristy.

A:  Final - Not final, not survivor.

B:  Girl - Yes.

C:  Boyish - Female name, dresses slightly more masculine, slightly less busty and shorter, slightly more boyish hair than Kristy.

D:  Well Drawn - Most intelligent, curious and vigilant character and also displays the most inner strength.  Kristy is a weak mess (having recently been tortured) until after Liz is captured.

E:  Virginal & Innocent - She rejects advances while drinking.  She has a romantic, but non-sexual encounter with Ben.  We don't know what happened on the beach the first night - maybe nothing - but she did go topless swimming afterwards.

F:  Reborn - Seems to have strength from the moment she hears Kristy screaming.

BEN MITCHELL:

A:  Final - Final, survivor.

B:  Girl - No.

C:  Boyish - Plenty masculine.  Sensitive, but still very male.

D:  Well Drawn - not as well as Liz.

E:  Virginal & Innocent - Who knows?  Kirsty seems obsessed with the idea that he doesn't really have a girlfriend in Sydney.  His kiss with Liz was romantic, not sexual.

F:  Reborn - Finds strength when he removes himself from the spikes, but does not try to help the others.

Rule #8 - The Killer has a connection to...

Mick Taylor.

Mick Taylor is the killer.

A:  Location - He is a resident of the Bush.

F:  Specific Look - Has a look typical of the Bushie characters in the film.

G:  Specific Weapons - Uses a variety of hunting weapons.

Rule #9 - Evil Never Dies...

Shot in the neck.

A:  Kill the Bad Guy Twice - The killer was shot in the neck, and is assumed dead.  He doesn't complain about it.

B:  Even then the Bad Guy lives on - The killer is not "killed" a second time, and is still alive and free at the end of the film.

Rule #10 - The Sequel Will Be Bigger/More Formulaic

This is the first film in a series (the second to be released next month), however, for future reference the following should be noted:

A:  They will follow the rules more - The film seemed to by trying to break away from Slasher Rules, creating a false Final Girl and making Ben's escape and fate unheroic.

B:   They will be more formulaic - As the first film in a series, no real series formula exists to follow or break.

C:  There will be more T&A - As noted above, a naked back is all this film showed.

D:  More and bigger deaths - There were two deaths in the film (more implied to have happened before it, one implied later).  The were a couple of older mutilated corpses shown, a bloody implied torture victim, a person with their head blown open, a person attacked with a knife - fingers removed and rendered unable to walk, and someone with spikes through their wrists.

Results

The following rules were followed in this film:  3b; 4d; 4g; 6b; 6e; 8a; 8f; 8g; 9b.

The following rules were partially  followed in this film:  3a; 3c; 3e; 3h; 4e; 4f; 5i; 5h; 9a.

The following rules were not followed in this film:  1; 2; 5a.

The following rules were usurped in this film:  5d; 5j; 7.

The following rules did not apply to this film:  3d; 3f, 4a; 4b; 4c; 5b; 5c; 5e; 5f; 5g; 6a; 6b; 6d; 6f; 6g; 8b, 8c; 8d; 8e; 9c; 10.

~ DUG.
Australia Day
26th January

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