The Real Story Behind 10 "Based On A True Story" Horror Films

6. Wolf Creek

The pitch: Greg McLean's violent 2005 outback slasher (condemned and dismissed by US critics like Roger Ebert, but acclaimed by critics in Britain) features Brit backpackers down under, lost in the eponymous remote crater and menaced by a murderous Crocodile Dundee type (John Jarratt). Marketed with a "based on true events" tagline, it capitalised on the idea that it might show what really happened to real life missing backpackers. The real story: When Wolf Creek was due for release in Australia's Northern Territory, a court injunction delayed its appearance for fear that it would influence the then ongoing trial of Bradley John Murdoch. Murdoch was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and abduction of Joanne Lees (the inspiration for the duo of female British backpackers and their Australian friend in the film). Falconio's story was a source of major news coverage in both Australia and Britain and certainly informed McLean when writing the film. Survivor Lees recorded how she had been held up at gunpoint, tied up with a sack put over her head and forced into Murdoch's pick-up. She had escaped while he was distracted dealing with Falconio and hid before eventually being rescued by a passing truck. Falconio's body has never been found, nor his death completely confirmed. Obviously, therefore, Wolf Creek is more based on the broad strokes of an outback abduction, murder and survival narrative than any of the details of the real story. Jarratt's outdoorsman killer Mick Taylor, who returns in this year's sequel, is not really based on Murdoch so much as Ivan Milat, the serial killer responsible for the "Backpacker Murders" in 1992-1993 (the Navitalim Mining Company - look at the first word backwards - where Taylor hides out is a reference to this). Milat, who had previously served time for abduction and rape, killed at least seven young tourists and backpackers in New South Wales. The film's "making of" feature has Jarratt describe his attempt to emulate Milat's style by living in the outback and not showering for weeks. For all that there are these parallels and influences, Wolf Creek's actual story, however, is complete fiction.