Aahana Swrup
Directed by Greg McLean, ‘Wolf Creek’ is an Australian horror thriller film that quickly rose to cult classic status among fans of the serial killer genre since its release in 2005. The film features Cassandra Magrath, Nathan Phillips, and Kestie Morassi alongside John Jarratt, who takes on the antagonistic central role. Tourists Liz and Kristy are backpacking across Australia on a road trip with their friend, Ben. When a trip to a giant meteorite crater in Wolfe Creek leaves them stranded in the outbacks, they accept help from a local named Mick Taylor. Soon, the trio’s night descends into a hellish nightmare. If you’re curious to see how this night unfolds and what lies in the characters’ fates, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Wolf Creek.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!
Wolf Creek Plot Synopsis
In Broome, Australia 1999, Ben Mitchell buys a car from a bargained dealer for a road trip with his friends, Liz Hunter and Kristy Earl. The trio party wildly on their last night in the town and leave for Wolfe Creek National Park the next day. On the journey, Ben tells the girls about a local alien story where a guy saw huge orange lights floating above the ground on a highway nearby. Neither of the girls believes Ben’s paranormal stories and brushes them off after cracking a few jokes.
Eventually, they stop at an establishment in Emu Creek to refuel their car, and Kristy tells Ben about Liz’s crush on him. Afterward, the trio leaves the establishment when some local men make unsavory comments about Liz and Kristy. A few hours later, the trio arrives at the Wolf Creek Crater, one of the largest meteorite craters on the planet. As they hike up the three-hour-long walking trail, the weather becomes cloudy. Liz and Ben finally act on their feelings and kiss each other, and the trio continues to hang out in the vast open for a few hours. When they hike back to their cars, Liz realizes Kritsy and Ben’s watches stopped working at 6:30 pm.
When they try to drive away from the site, their car breaks down, forcing them to stay the night in the empty clearing. Late in the night, from inside the vehicle, Kristy notices a bright light approaching them from a distance. As the light nears, they realize it’s a truck. After exiting their car, Ben, Liz, and Kritsy meet Mick Taylor, who takes a look at their car. Mick tells the friend group their car’s coil is rooted and offers to tow them back to his camp to fix the issue.
The trio agrees, and Mick drives hours and hours to the south until they reach the Navithalim Mining Co. At the abandoned campsite, the group collects around the campfire, where Mick tells them about abandoned cities across Australia. As the conversation shifts toward Mick, he gets more vague and eerie while telling them about his job as a head hunter, killing animals. Eventually, Mick begins work on Ben’s car, and the trio piles up in their sleeping bags and turns in for the night. The next morning, Liz wakes tied and gagged inside a locked shed without a sign of Ben or Kristy.
Wolf Creek Ending: Does Liz Die?
After Liz wakes up and realizes she’s tied up with zip ties, she spends an entire day inside the shed crying and trying to escape. After nightfall, Liz finds a broken glass shard on the floor and uses it to cut open her ties to free herself. Afterward, she jumps out of the shed window, intending to run away from the campsite. However, soon she hears Kristy’s screams and cries. Unable to leave her friend alone in such a situation, Liz follows Kristy’s voice and witnesses Mick torturing a beaten and bloody Kristy as she’s tied to a post.
Distraught at her friend’s state, Liz blows up her car to distract Mick and returns to the garage to help Kristy after he leaves. Liz tries to ask her about Ben’s location, but Kristy is deeply traumatized and frenzied. When Mick returns to the garage, Liz has to hide while Mick assaults Kristy. Liz equips herself with Mick’s rifle and shoots Mick in the neck. Liz quickly gathers Kristy helping her into her clothes and gets Mick’s keys from his passed-out body. After piling into Mick’s truck, Liz and Kristy drive away from the campsite. As they drive out into the dark outback, Liz drives the car to the edge of a cliff.
By now, Mick has recuperated and is following after the girls in another car. As such, Liz decides to exit the car with Kristy and pushes the truck down the cliff. Afterward, Liz and Kristy hide from Mick along the hillslope. When the opportunity presents itself, the girls return to the campsite. Liz leaves Kristy outside and tells her to escape on foot if she doesn’t return with a car in a few minutes.
Inside the garage, Liz comes across a room full of things left behind by previous victims of Mick’s. Nevertheless, she finds a car and tries to find its key in the bundle she stole from Mick. Just as she finds the correct key, she realizes Mick is sitting in the backseat with her. Mick stabs Liz in the stomach through the seat. When Liz escapes from the car and tries to crawl away from him, Mick cuts off her fingers and ruthlessly severs her spine. Months later, when the cops look into Mick Taylor, they fail to find any trace of Liz Hunter.
What Happens To Kristy And Ben?
After Liz doesn’t return, Kristy runs away from the campsite on foot as Liz instructed. Kristy has been raped and tortured both mentally and physically for hours. Therefore, she is severely troubled and frantic at this point. Still, she walks around the clearing and finds her way to the main road. The sun rises, and Kristy travels up the road in search of some vehicle that could help her out. Eventually, an old man stops his car for her.
He helps Kristy into the backseat of his car and looks through his car trunk for food and a blanket for the poor girl. However, Mick, who has managed to follow Kristy’s tracks, shoots the old man dead from a distance with his sniper. When Kristy realizes the man has died, she looks out and watches Mick’s car approaching. As such, she finds the keys on the man’s corpse and drives up the road in his car. Eventually, Mick shoots one of the tires off Kristy’s car, sending it crashing off the road. Mick shoots Kristy and burns her body alongside the old man’s.
Meanwhile, Ben wakes up inside a mine shaft surrounded by caged animals like the ones Mick boasts about killing. He’s tied up and nailed to a wall, reminiscent of the crucifixion. He frees himself from his painful entrapping, pulling his hand through the nails, and escapes from the enclosure. Once outside, Ben flees from the campsite and travels across the outback as Kristy had.
As Ben wanders around in the middle of nowhere, the sun eclipses mirroring Ben and his late friend’s declining fates. Although he hasn’t experienced the same torture as Kristy, he’s been nailed to a wall in a dark room for two days. As such, by the time he reaches a main road, Ben passes out due to severe injuries, trauma, hunger, and dehydration.
Nevertheless, a traveling couple finds Ben passed out in the bushes and rushes to help him. They drive him to the nearest town in their van. Afterward, paramedics fly him to a hospital, where he is treated and returned to optimum health. Ben reports Mick Taylor and the disappearance of Liz and Kristy to the authorities. He is kept in police custody for four months and released after being cleared of all suspicions. In the end, Ben continues to live in Australia.
Does Mick Taylor Get Caught?
Mick Taylor is a sadistic, psychopathic serial killer with a penchant for finding his victims among tourists. After serving in the Australian army during the Vietnam War, Mick continues to have a taste for blood and death. At times, he works as a head hunter and gleefully tells stories about hunting animals and violently killing them.
However, his bloodthirst does not stop at animals. Mick likes to put on a friendly persona and trick tourists by offering them help when they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere. Afterward, he takes his victims to the garage, torturing and raping them. While assaulting Kristy, Mick forces her to see a mutilated corpse of his former victim hanging up on the wall.
Later, when Liz comes across Mick’s room of the victims’ memorabilia, she finds Ben’s camcorder and looks through the footage. In a recording of Ben outside the bar in Emu Creek, Liz notices Mick’s truck in the background. As such, she realizes Mick has been following them for days.
After Ben escapes from Mick’s torture camp and reports him to the police, an investigation is launched against Mick Taylor. The police investigation doesn’t go smoothly due to extreme confusion about the case details and Mick’s campsite’s location. The police search for Liz Hunter and Kristy Earl but find no trace of them. The film ends with a shot of Mick Taylor walking across the Outback, unchained and unfettered. In the end, Mick Taylor does not get caught and goes on to commit several other atrocities in the sequel stories of the franchise.
Read More: Is Wolf Creek Based on a True Story?
