Oliver Moore’s review published on Letterboxd:
Some people seem to really like Wolf Creek, they absolutely baffle me. I'm not someone who is easily disgusted by gore so those scenes in the film didn't cause me to get up and start shouting about how immoral the film is like some people have. No, I don't like it because I think it just... sucks.
I think gorehounds who watch this movie after being excited by the number of critics who wrote about how hard the film is to watch will be disappointed. That could be because in the ten years since this film has released the "standards" of the torture porn genre have increased. Stabbing someone in the spine and calling them a "head on a stick" isn't actually that bad in comparison to what has come out since. This is worth remembering only if you are someone who loves watching people get severed and hunt for those movies. As far as torture porn goes, Wolf Creek is pretty tranquil.
You'll realise this fairly soon though as you are forced to spend around 50 minutes with the main characters. Three 20 somethings (I imagine) who have decided to go and see a huge meteor crater in Australia called Wolf Creek. We sit with them as they begin with a party and joke about alcohol and make Star Trek references. Pretty bog standard "look how they all act like real teenagers" stuff. Some have praised how long it takes for the film to get truly horrific. Suggesting that the films first half does wonders towards building up the atmosphere which beautifully compliments the films second half. Each to their own I guess, but I was bored to tears. I love The Blair Witch Project by the way so I'm not adverse to the idea of spending a long time with people just talking and building an atmosphere before shit really hits the fan, it just wasn't done well here.
However, to the movie's credit, it does look really good. Greg McLeand clearly shows himself to have a cinematic eye and he does manage to make the Australian outback look like an impressively hostlie territory. Extremely desolate, lonely and of course menacing. There are in fact some really, really nice shots in here but they are merely that. Nice shots, and they are few and far between, Though it is fair to say that Wolf creek overall is technically well put together despite the low budget.
After the fist half the bad guy is revealed and starts getting into the meat of the main trio, which is when we get into the meat of the film. This is where the controversy stems from ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be disappointed. By this point you have seen worse than this that actually manages to fulfill that gore quota many people desire from these types of experiences. In comparison, this film isn't shocking anymore like I imagine it truly was ten years ago. Of course the film doesn't have anything going beyond the shock value so there is nothing really to say. Yes people are horrifically abused, yes they are women and yes, rape is involved.
The reason I think there was such an uproar among so many is as a result of this focus on women being tortured over men. Supposedly the film is misogynistic because of this and I definitely see why people would say this. I don't have the knowledge to comment in depth but it seems pretty clear to me that Greg McLean enjoyed showing off how good he was at showing women being tortured. I see little thematic reason why the women are picked on over the man other than the fact that the director though that women were the weaker and more vulnerable sex. The bad guy also calls girls "weak as piss" which isn't intrinsically bad, we expect the bad guy to say immoral stuff, but the film only serves to provide evidence for that statment, not against.
It becomes clear that McLean loves him some violence when the characters make mind bogglingly stupid decisions, even in the context of horror films, to artifically prolong the threat. There is a moment where a perfectly functioning truck is pushed over a cliff by the heroines. At that point I stopped trying to like it, Wolf Creek is absolute drivel. Contemporary critics -- whilst overtly squeamish -- were right.