{"id":1308,"date":"2014-02-22T16:58:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T05:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/?p=1308"},"modified":"2014-02-24T16:30:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T05:30:58","slug":"wolf-creek-2-opens-and-the-reviews-are-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/?p=1308","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Wolf Creek 2&#8217; opens and the reviews are in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/wolf-creek-2-jan-2014-poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-1313\" title=\"wolf creek 2 jan 2014 poster\" src=\"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/wolf-creek-2-jan-2014-poster-716x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"523\" height=\"745\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s been a monster week. <em>Wolf Creek 2<\/em> opened in Australia on February 20 and life has been a blur. I&#8217;ve been to screenings at Roadshow, a cast and crew screening in Adelaide that I introduced (with Producer Helen Leake and Roadshow Head of Production Seph McKenna), another fan&#8217;s screening in Adelaide that I also introduced, and then the Melbourne premiere Wednesday night at the Coburg Drive-in. (I&#8217;ve since gone to see it twice again at Doncaster and South Yarra&#8217;s Jam Factory to experience it with a big crowd.) I&#8217;d still prefer the uncut version (the Aus theatrical version is MA and takes a couple of my more choice images out &#8212; what did they expect, bringing a horror writer in?). But I&#8217;m told the DVD will be uncut. I&#8217;m holding them to that.<\/p>\n<p>As well as that I was interviewed by Channel 9 News at Adelaide Airport after I&#8217;d barely stepped off the plane, and I&#8217;ve been doing a series of radio interviews to regional stations (thanks to an old friend Paul Cook who&#8217;d put the word out). In the space of days: Star FM Mid-north coast with Nic &amp; Josh; Hot FM Central Queensland with the very funny EJ &amp; Browny; Hobart&#8217;s Heart FM 107.3 with David &amp; Kim; Radio Esperance WA with Wayne Taylor; Radiowest with Paul himself; Star FM Albury with Ben &amp; Kristie (that was a fun one); Star FM Coffs Harbour with Sami &amp; Jay; and I have ones upcoming with Stacey &amp; Elliot at Hot FM Cairns and Jase &amp; Jess at Star FM Mount Gambier. John Jarratt tells me he&#8217;d do all that in an hour. Pretty overwhelming to a reclusive writer though. EJ at Hot FM CQ was kind enough to send me their interview, and can be found here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.4shared.com\/mp3\/xfwYaKA9ba\/Wolf_Creek2_Full_edited_interv.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.4shared.com\/mp3\/xfwYaKA9ba\/Wolf_Creek2_Full_edited_interv.html<\/a> It&#8217;s a hoot.<\/p>\n<p>And now to the reviews. I&#8217;d have to say I&#8217;m a little inclined to agree with some of the comments about the overdose of humour (if you&#8217;ve read <em>Wolf Creek: Origin<\/em> you&#8217;ll see the tone I tend to convey &#8212; it&#8217;s bleak and confronting and brutal. There&#8217;s some humour, but it&#8217;s pretty black and spare). And there are way too many kangaroos \ud83d\ude42 But, hey, the film got made, I&#8217;m happy with it, and I&#8217;ll be even happier with the DVD where people get more of a taste of the original vision.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, the reviews have been great. Paul Byrnes at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/wolf-creek-2-review-australian-psycho-20140220-331mt.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Age<\/em><\/a>\/ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/wolf-creek-2-review-australian-psycho-20140220-331mt.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sydney Morning Herald<\/em><\/a> gives it four stars, and says it has &#8220;bowel-twisting tension, and a clear sense of purpose and theme&#8221;. He gets special points for mentioning me.<\/p>\n<p>Jake Wilson gets even more points for introducing me thusly in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/wolf-creek-2-review-up-the-creek-again-with-iconic-villain-mick-taylor-20140219-330va.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Age<\/em><\/a>\/ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/wolf-creek-2-review-up-the-creek-again-with-iconic-villain-mick-taylor-20140219-330va.html#ixzz2u1anndyK\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sydney Morning Herald<\/em><\/a>: &#8220;[Mick&#8217;s] back to his old tricks in <em>Wolf Creek 2<\/em>, which McLean directed  from a script he co-wrote with author and academic Aaron Sterns  (intriguingly described by his publisher as a former &#8216;researcher in  postmodern horror&#8217;).&#8221; Now <em>that&#8217;s<\/em> how you&#8217;d like to be described in a national newspaper. He describes the film as &#8220;the most notable home-grown fiction feature to hit cinemas since P.J. Hogan&#8217;s <em>Mental&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Luke Buckmaster in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/australia-culture-blog\/2014\/feb\/20\/wolf-creek-2-film-review?CMP=twt_gu\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Guardian<\/em><\/a> says the sequel is &#8220;louder, faster and more entertaining. The body count is bigger; the death scenes more elaborate&#8221;, while Ron Cerabona also in the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/wolf-creek-2-review-horror-with-a-hitch-20140220-334nj.html\" target=\"_blank\">Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> <\/em>says &#8220;if you like horror movies, Wolf Creek 2 is  well worth seeing&#8221;, giving it three-and-a-half stars too (which seems to be the standard).<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also more nice reviews up on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.quickflix.com.au\/news\/reviews\/WolfCreek2\" target=\"_blank\">Quickflix<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/cheatedhearts.com.au\/wolf-creek-2-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cheatedhearts<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maketheswitch.com.au\/switch\/article.asp?id=633\" target=\"_blank\">Switch<\/a> (four stars too), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trulydisturbing.com\/2014\/02\/20\/theatrical-review-wolf-creek-2-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\">Truly Disturbing<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/accessreel.com\/article\/wolf-creek-2\" target=\"_blank\">Access Reel<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.residententertainment.com\/wolf-creek-2-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">Resident Entertainment<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/localtoday.com.au\/lifestyle\/film-tv\/121091-wolf-creek-2-funnier-more-action-packed.html\" target=\"_blank\">AAP<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And then there&#8217;s Leigh Paatsch at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heraldsun.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/review-wolf-creek-2-a-knuckledragging-exercise-in-torture-porn-says-leigh-paatsch\/story-fni0bv7o-1226831802463\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Herald Sun<\/em><\/a> who gave the film half-a-star, and called  it a &#8220;knuckle-dragging exercise in torture porn&#8221;. Well, it&#8217;s just as  well he didn&#8217;t get to see the R version then, isn&#8217;t it? He seems to be having a go as much at the genre &#8212; and the sick perverts who write\/watch\/read it &#8212; as the film. Maybe he could defer to someone else at the paper a little more open-minded next time he has to watch one of these nasty, nasty horror movies. At least they mightn&#8217;t come into the cinema with a pre-determined review. But, hey, each to their own. My pre-determined view is I&#8217;ve never much cared what the guy thinks, so I guess we&#8217;re even.<\/p>\n<p>Over at my facebook page (<a href=\"www.facebook.com\/aaronsternsauthor\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/aaronsternsauthor<\/a> &#8212; check it out) I&#8217;ve been running one last competition for signed copies of <em>Wolf Creek: Origin<\/em>, inviting people to photograph themselves next to the many <em>Creek 2<\/em> billboards plastering the country. The winner was a dog showing its arse to Mick. Not sure what that says about my followers &#8212; maybe just that they&#8217;re a cool irreverent bunch. Or they saw a dog and clicked LIKE after all the unrelenting horror stuff I post there. Anyway, here&#8217;s a pic I forgot to post. You have to do these things:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/billboard-aaron-jan-14-236.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1312\" title=\"billboard - aaron - jan 14 236\" src=\"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/billboard-aaron-jan-14-236.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"502\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Cnr Elgin and Drummond Sts, Carlton)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more posts: <a href=\"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/?page_id=69\">THE LATEST<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; It&#8217;s been a monster week. Wolf Creek 2 opened in Australia on February 20 and life has been a blur. I&#8217;ve been to screenings at Roadshow, a cast and crew screening in Adelaide that I introduced (with Producer Helen Leake and Roadshow Head of Production Seph McKenna), another fan&#8217;s screening in Adelaide that I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blatant-self-promotion","category-news","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1326,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aaronsterns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}