Traditions of the New: Greg McLean's "Wolf Creek" as a Cinematic Lynchpin

Greg McLean’s 2005 horror film, Wolf Creek, was a catalyst film for the resurgence of horror film production in Australia. Made on a production budget of $1.2 Million (AUD), Wolf Creek was innovative in pioneering the digital high-definition shooting format and revived cinematic realism in Australian horror films through its handheld cinematographic approach. This study positions Wolf Creek as a landmark horror film at the “intersection” of two distinctive film making movements in the history of Australian cinema: the cinematic traditions of Australian film making established during its film revival of the 1970s and 1980s, and a new generation of Australian horror film makers in the 2000s, led by McLean, who reconceptualise these traditions and make them accessible to their post-MTV youth demographic.