There’s exciting news incoming for horror fans, as one of the genre’s most terrifying characters is returning.
First released in 2005, Wolf Creek stars John Jarratt, now 72, as Mick Taylor, a sadistic, psychopathic serial killer who hunts and captures three backpackers in the Australian outback.
Having masqueraded as an eccentric local, Taylor soon reveals himself to be a tourist-hating maniac in the gory flick loosely based on the backpacker murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 1990s.
Despite its controversial, gruesome contents, Wolf Creek grossed $30million (£22.8m) globally off a $1million (£761,000) budget, which proves there’s certainly an appetite for more.
It has now been confirmed that Jarratt will reprise his role as the brutal, torturous antagonist in the long-awaited Wolf Creek: Legacy.
Wolf Creek: Legacy is the third instalment in the franchise. A sequel to Wolf Creek was released in 2013 while a television spin-off ran from 2016 to 2017 before talk of a third film circulated for years until things went cold.
Now, at long last, creator Greg Mclean is back to breathe fresh life into the franchise with new producer Jeremy Bolt and Sean Lahiff as director.
Bolt previously produced on Resident Evil, while Lahiff was an editor on Wolf Creek 2, so fans needn’t fear that the upcoming third film isn’t in safe hands.
News of a reboot was first reported by Deadline, who tease the plot as: ‘This time around it’s a family of American tourists who wander innocently into Taylor’s hunting grounds.
‘When the parents sacrifice themselves to save their children, the kids find themselves alone, lost and hunted in the vast Australian wilderness.
‘Will this fresh prey – two wily, resourceful Zoomers – prove harder for the ageing predator to consume?’
Joining as a new character is Jay Ryan (It Chapter Two) while casting directors Angela and Louise Heesom, both of the first Wolf Creek movie, are currently on the hunt for young actors to flesh out the cast.
Wolf Creek: Legacy is due to start shooting in Australia at the start of 2025.
Speaking ahead of production, creator Mclean said: ‘I’ve always believed in the power of fresh perspectives, and that’s why I’m thrilled to introduce Sean Lahiff as the director of Wolf Creek Legacy.
‘Sean isn’t just stepping into this world; he’s been a part of it for years. This new chapter in the Wolf Creek saga is something I’m incredibly excited about.’
He’s declared the Legacy plot a ‘bold new story that honours the roots of the franchise while pushing it into new, uncharted territory.’
Director Lahiff added: ‘I aim to deliver the horror and suspense that fans of the Wolf Creek franchise and wider genre theatregoers expect but to add a new depth to the story.
‘We’re exploring the psychological terror of being hunted, the fear and resilience of these young characters, and the nightmarish quality of the Outback itself.
‘This is a story that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats, but it will also tap into something deeper – the primal fears that dark fairytales have always played on.’
The first Wolf Creek film received mixed reviews. Critics praised its ability to build tension and make viewers ‘feel pain’, even drawing comparisons to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
However, others deemed its unrelenting depictions of violence too graphic, with some even walking out of screenings.
Nevertheless, Wolf Creek has been cited as one of several films released in the mid-2000s that initiated a ‘substantial boom’ of Australian horror films, with the likes of Slant Magazine listing it in their 100 best films of the past decade.
Speaking previously, lead star Jarratt admitted he never expected the film to perform as well as it did.
On his character and preparing for the role, he told Sci-Fi Bulletin: ‘I read Sins of the Brother, the book about Ivan Milat [an Australian serial killer on whom Mick Taylor was partly based]. I’ll never understand a serial killer, but I tried to find the justification.
Wolf Creek, one of the scariest horror movies ever
As a lifelong frequent horror movie consumer, I consider myself tough enough to handle even the most frightful of horrors.
There are few that can really shake me to my core but Wolf Creek is one of them.
By the time the film was released in 2005, I’d certainly seen more stomach-churning films such as the original The Hills Have Eyes, Candyman and Alien. However, the true scare in Wolf Creek isn’t so much the horrific deaths and blood; it’s the realness of it all.
It came just a few years after the real-life disappearance and murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and, as someone who had been subjected to all the headlines about that case, it was very much at the forefront of my mind when watching a group of youngsters being terrorised by a serial killer in the outback.
And boy, did John Jarrett do a fantastic job in the role of the deranged Mick Taylor.
His intense stares that lasted for uncomfortably long periods, the grunts, spontaneous movements and *that* spine-tingling laugh, positioned Mick as one of the scariest horror villains of all time.
For me, he’s up there with the likes of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kreuger but, for some inexplicable reason, I’m thrilled he’ll be back on our screens for more.
‘Then I did what I always do: I built the character from when he was born to page 0 which is just before you step onto the script page 1. I had his whole life mapped up and found justification for why he was like he was.
‘But I’ll never understand how people can do what they do in that serial killer psychopath world. It’s beyond me. He doesn’t judge himself – he thinks what he does is fine and he has mild justification for it.’
Since Wolf Creek, Jarratt has also starred in Rogue (2007), Boar (2017), and The Possessed (2021).