Once in a while a movie comes along that is so good you don’t want to leave the cinema. Sometimes you’re scared of breaking the spell, other times you’re terrified of what could be lurking outside. Wolf Creek is the second kind, after which my audience waited nervously until all the lights came up. As they should after a gory story in which a rural stranger preys on unsuspecting tourists and carves them up. Loonies, as we know, are everywhere.

If it sounds faintly familiar, two English backpackers touring the top end with an Aussie friend, it should. Inspired by the Ivan Milat murders, there is an unsettling ring of truth to events long before they turn grisly. Faced with no alternative once their car breaks down, three tourists prepare to camp in the desert. So far, Wolf Creek is all youthful energy and brochure vistas; youngsters making their way without a care - romance and beer optional. Then, sometime after dark, headlights appear and the kind of guy who calls Coober Pedy home, tows them to the safety. The girls have seen Deliverance and are uneasy about their saviour’s charm and fondness for lines like “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you”. The mood turns.

Director Greg McLean has ignited imaginations and cheque books with a trippy amalgam of Mad Max, Walkabout and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre that retains his unique vision. With exemplary production values and Jarratt’s iconic villain, here is the kind of film you can’t take your eyes off no matter how hard you try (and you will want try very hard). Aside from an underwhelming coda, in all respects Wolf Creek is a chilling, paranoid vision that will turn your mind.

// COLIN FRASER