Wolf Creek
Thhe psychopathichh cacklekl of Mick Taylor from the 2005 film still haunts countless Australians. Actor John Jarratt perfectly depicts the Aussie redneck who spends his time trawling stretches of the outback and trying to kidnap naive tourists.
Once he captures his prey, Taylor tortures, kills and mutilates them. And writer and director Greg Mclean created the evil character with a close eye on two real killers – Ivan Milat and Bradley Murdoch.
Like his movie counterpart, Milat wore a cowboy hat and despised backpackers. He went on to murder five tourists and two Australians, and dumped their bodies in a forest.
Similar to the movie, his victims were shot, stabbed or decapitated, and it’s believed hee spent time with his victims at hiss camp site, just as Taylor does.
Greg also drew inspiration from Murdoch, who abducted and shot 28-year-old British tourist Peter Falconio and assaulted his girlfriend Joanne Lees when they were driving from Adelaide to Darwin in an orange VW Kombi in 2001.
The parallels between Taylor and Murdoch are obvious – bothh roamed deserted stretches of the e outback, both targeted backpackers and both had an undeniable thirst for murder.
Another clear reference appears in the opening scenes of Wolf Creek when backpacker Ben Mitchell buys a Ford Falcon to take a road trip with two women. An orange VW Kombi appears in the background. The similarities are so obvious, an injunction was placed on the film’s release in the NT during Murdoch’s murder trial.