WOLF CREEK

In 1999, two British tourists, Liz Hunter and Kristy Earl, are backpacking across Australia with Ben Mitchell, an Australian friend. Ben buys a dilapidated car for their journey from Broome, Western Australia to Cairns, Queensland via the Great Northern Highway.

The trio makes a stop at Wolf Creek National Park. Hours later, they discover that their watches have stopped and the car will not start. After dark, a man named Mick Taylor comes across them and offers to tow them to his camp to repair the car. The group goes with him to an abandoned mining site several hours south of Wolf Creek. Mick regales them with tall stories of his past while making a show of fixing their car. He then gives the group water which causes them to fall unconscious.

Liz awakens gagged and tied in a shed. She breaks free and hears Mick torturing Kristy in a garage; it is implied that Mick has sexually assaulted her. Liz sets the now-dismantled car on fire to distract him, and goes to help Kristy. When Mick returns, she shoots him with his rifle, the bullet hitting him in the neck. The women attempt to flee in Mick's ute. Mick stumbles out of the garage and shoots at them before giving chase. The women evade him by pushing his ute off a cliff before returning to the site to get another car. Liz leaves a sobbing Kristy outside, telling her to escape on foot if Liz does not return in five minutes.

Liz enters another garage and discovers Mick's large stock of cars and travellers' possessions, including video cameras. She watches the playback on one of them and is horrified to see Mick "helping" other travellers stranded at Wolf Creek. She picks up Ben's camera and notices Mick's ute in the footage; he was following them long before they got to Wolf Creek. She gets into a car but Mick appears in the backseat and stabs her with a bowie knife. Liz crawls out and Mick slices three of her fingers off, then severs her spinal cord, paralyzing her. He interrogates her as to Kristy's whereabouts.

By dawn, Kristy has reached a highway and is discovered by a passing motorist. He attempts to help her but is shot dead by Mick with a hunting rifle. Mick gives chase, prompting Kristy to take off in the dead man's car. Kristy sideswipes Mick's car into a ditch when he pulls up alongside and begins to get away, but Mick emerges and shoots out her back tyre, causing her in turn to crash into a ditch. She attempts to crawl away, but is shot dead. Mick bundles the bodies into the back of the dead motorist's car and torches it.

Ben, whose fate has been unknown until now, awakens nailed to a mock crucifix in a mine shaft. He extracts himself and enters the camp in early daylight. He escapes into the outback, but becomes dehydrated and passes out beside a dirt road. He is discovered by a Swedish couple who take him to Kalbarri, where he is airlifted to a hospital.

A series of title cards states that despite several police searches, no trace of Liz or Kristy has ever been found. Early investigations into the case were disorganised, hampered by confusion over the location of the crimes, a lack of physical evidence, and the alleged unreliability of the only witness. After four months in police custody, Ben was cleared of suspicion. The film ends with Mick walking into the sunset with his rifle.

Mick Taylor tortures and kills Liz and Kristy, while Ben narrowly escapes and is rescued. No trace of the two women is ever found.

The film's bleak ending reinforces the sense of hopelessness and isolation that pervades the outback setting. By denying closure for Liz and Kristy, Wolf Creek amplifies its horror with a chilling realism, suggesting that evil can thrive unchecked in remote places. The unresolved fate of the victims and the survival of the antagonist leave a lingering sense of dread, refusing the audience the comfort of justice or resolution.