Wolf Creek
Greg McLean’s 2005 Australian chiller features a skin-crawlingly great performance by veteran actor John Jarratt, playing a man who materializes just as a group of travelers run into car trouble in the remote outback. Packed with atmospheric malevolence, Wolf Creek adds an extra layer of terror by drawing upon the real-life boogeymen who similarly targeted backpackers in rural Australia in the 1990s and 2000s. It’s worth noting that McLean’s other films include 2007’s Rogue, another tale inspired by a real-life tourist terror—though in that particular instance, it was a giant crocodile that chomped its way into folk-legend status after a series of boat attacks in the 1970s.
