Australia is famous for things that can kill you: spiders, snakes, and the especially deadly drop bears.
However, there are other things to fear if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time…
While we have seen some great new Australian horror movies, like the 2022 films Talk to Me and Sissy, there are some modern classics from the 2000s that you should know about as well.
The turn of the millennium was a fruitful and exciting time in Australia; however, nobody knew the horrors in store over the next decade.
From 2000 to 2010, we saw the release of some fantastic Australian horror cinema that explored a range of popular horror subgenres.
Today, we will look at 5 of my favourite horror movies from Down Under. Hopefully, you will discover something new to watch (and maybe something to rewatch).
Some of these Australian horror movies are on your favourite streaming services like Netflix and Shudder, so take notes!
Here are my top five Australian horror movies from the 2000’s!
Wolf Creek (2005)
Three backpackers find themselves stranded in the Australian outback when they’re plunged into a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic stranger.
Many horror movie icons have a signature laugh.
Freddy’s laugh starts as a low growl that grows into a maniacal roar of laughter. Chucky has an evil, high-pitched cackle that sends a chill down your spine.
But neither of these has the terrifying realism of Mick Taylor’s evil laugh.
Wolf Creek is a 2005 backpacker horror movie about an Australian traveller (Nathan Phillips) and two British backpackers (Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi) as they drive across Australia.
While driving from Broome to Cairns, they make a stop at the Wolf Creek Crater (the ‘Wolfe’ Creek Crater in real life) and run into car trouble. It seems they are stuck in the middle of the outback, but their worries aren’t over when a helpful stranger offers to help them get back on the road.
Australian actor John Jarratt plays the helpful stranger: infamous outback psycho Mick Taylor.
Greg McLean, the writer and director, brilliantly crafts a new horror villain for the ages in this film.
Mick Taylor has gone on to worldwide fame since 2005, becoming a popular symbol of Australian horror movies. The film even spawned a TV series, sharing the same title as the film and a blood-soaked sequel, Wolf Creek 2.
The main set piece is a corrugated iron compound tucked away into a hillside, and McLean uses this eerie landscape to his advantage. Filmed in South Australia with some scenes shot at the iconic Wolfe Creek Crater in Western Australia, it showcases many beautiful Aussie landscapes.
His use of the desert throughout the film creates a taut atmosphere, showing us some of the vast outback through the lens of the panicked victims.
Even before we meet Mick Taylor, the film teases us with spooky stories about the Australian outback to keep the tension high until the scares really begin.
Greg McLean, the writer/director of Wolf Creek, has another film on this list – and it isn’t Wolf Creek 2!
People tend to have mixed opinions about this film.
Due to its claim of being based on actual events, some people view it as exploiting a brutal real-world tragedy. The film is said to take inspiration from the backpacker murders that shook Australia in the late-80’s and early-90’s.
Others find the movie to be outright cruel, as the characters are subject to torture-like conditions during their fight for survival.
This film is one of my favourites and a true Australian horror classic.
Wolf Creek is gritty and realistic but still treads the line of being entertainment.
The film created a whole new fear of the outback for people, a fear that goes beyond creepy crawlies and exposure to the elements.
Fans have eagerly awaited news on Wolf Creek 3 since its announcement in 2020, which also stated a third season was being planned. It was reported that the film would be going ahead in 2021, with a view to film that same year.
Interestingly, Greg McLean was not attached as a writer or director this time. The third film in the Wolf Creek franchise was instead going to be written by Duncan Samarasinghe and be Rachele Wiggins‘s directorial debut.
Looking for Australian horror movie franchises like Wolf Creek? Talk 2 Me: A24 Announces Sequel To Australian Horror Movie
The Loved Ones (2009)
When Brent turns down his classmate Lola’s invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.
No chainsaws are involved, but the Stone family in The Loved Ones could be mistaken for the Sawyers from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy) became an instant horror icon when she slashed her way into the horror prom movie subgenre in 2009.
After kidnapping Brent (Xavier Samuel), the Stones put their plan into motion to ensure that Lola has the best prom ever.
Director Sean Byrne also created The Devil’s Candy (2015), a heavy-metal haunted house film set in Texas.
During a 2020 interview Byrne claimed to be working on several horror projects, but none have been released yet.
It’s worth noting that Australia doesn’t have “prom”. Instead, Australians have a similar celebration known as a “school formal”.
Unfortunately we never got to see more of Lola’s story through a sequel or TV series, as she reveals in the movie that there are more secrets in her dark past.
Although the character is mainly recognised for appearing in this movie, Lola Stone is one of the most iconic killers in Australian cinema but has not managed to become a household name.
The film channels prom night themes from Jennifer’s Body, torturous ideas that seem inspired by Saw and a twist reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs.
In a 2010 interview Byrne stated about his inspirations for the film, saying,
“Structurally the film is closest to Misery but tonally there are shades of Carrie, Dazed and Confused…The Terminator, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original), Evil Dead, [and] Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer”
This film was partially filmed on location in Victoria, Australia. The production visited locales such as Hobson’s Bay, Boroondara, and the state capital, Melbourne.
Victoria has been home to many popular horror movie productions, including Late Night With The Devil (2024), Queen of the Damned (2002) and Mad Max (1979).
Like many Australian horror movies, this one offers a hefty dose of realism, and the emotional backstory at its heart helps to support that.
Although you may have to suspend your disbelief occasionally, this film gives us a glittery and gory experience.
Undead (2003)
A quaint Australian fishing village is overcome by meteorites that turn its residents into the ravenous undead, leaving a small group of those unharmed to find a way out.
Australia has produced some unique horror movies, but few match the pure passion that the filmmakers poured into the 2003 movie Undead.
This zombie horror comedy takes place in a small rural Australian town and is a fantastic low-budget effort by German-born filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig.
Filmed in the Queensland town of Woodford, the movie follows several survivors of an extraterrestrial event that has turned the friendly outback townspeople into killer zombies.
Michael and Peter Spierig, also known as the Spierig brothers, directed the eighth film in the Saw franchise, Jigsaw (2018).
They also created horror movies such as Winchester (2018) and Daybreakers (2009).
Although it never achieved major global fame (but lives on in infamy among horror fans), this horror comedy was a favourite in Australian DVD stores during the early 2000s. The movie’s distinctive cover art featured a mysterious figure wielding a triple shotgun.
Filmed on a shoestring budget, the Spierig brothers did everything they could to bring this movie to the silver screen.
In addition to paying for the film out of their own pockets (and with some help from friends and family), they could only complete one or two takes for every shot due to budgetary constraints.
Peter was quoted during a 2003 interview when the film was released, saying,
“…it’s not made by a studio trying to make a quick buck. It’s guys who love the genre and want to make a [type of] film that they feel is not being made at the moment.”
This Ozploitation film boasts a large cast of quirky characters that you might find in outback Australia.
Echoing other zombie movies that came before it, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Undead offers a similar perspective of small-town life during a zombie apocalypse as Shaun of the Dead (2004), which came out a year later.
The cast includes Australian actors such as:
- Felicity Mason
- Mungo McKay
- Lisa Cunningham
- Rob Jenkins
- Dirk Hunter
- Emma Randall
Watching this cast navigate the terrifying events around them is exciting. With many likable characters to root for and plenty of bloody FX happening on screen, this action-packed movie is one for your regular rewatch rotation.
Did you know? 🤓
Steve Boyle, an effects artist that worked on Undead (2003), has directed his own “body horror” movie titled The Demon Disorder.
Read all about it here: The Demon Disorder: New Australian Body Horror From FX Master
Unfortunately for fans of the iconic weapon the protagonist uses in this film, the prop was broken in 2021 when it was loaned out to a film festival and was returned in pieces.
While most props would be insured in this situation, repairing them through the insurer can still be costly.
We hope the Spierig brothers restore the iconic horror movie prop to its former glory. In the meantime, it must be time for a rewatch.
Cut (2000)
A killer begins to stalk the actors of a low-budget horror film, killing them off one by one.
Supernatural slashers in Australia are few and far between, but the 2000 Australian film Cut is one of the best.
The film focuses on a crew trying to complete production on a legendary unfinished horror movie titled Hot Blooded.
The movie halted production 12 years earlier when the movie’s director (played briefly by the iconic Kylie Minogue) was murdered by a killer wearing the same mask as the antagonist in the film.
Molly Ringwald plays an essential part in this film as the star of Hot Blooded, returning to reprise her role when eight Australian film students revive the project.
In addition to the two major stars, pop sensation Kylie Minogue and American sweetheart Molly Ringwald, the film features a slew of Australian faces playing the film students, including:
- Jessica Napier
- Sarah Kants
- Sam Lewis
- Cathy Ademek
- Stephen Curry
- Steve Greig
- Erika Walters
- Matt Russell
Stephen Curry is also in the final entry on this list, the Australian backwater crocodile horror film Rogue.
As the crew tries to finish the film, it seems the killer is back and wants to stop production again… and nobody will get in his way.
Cut builds its own in-movie urban legend about Hot Blooded, the unfinished film.
It does this by retelling the stories of various filmmakers over the years who died under mysterious circumstances while trying to finish the film.
By establishing an urban legend for the audience to fear, the film feels like an Australian homage to Urband Legend (1998). The film even references Scream (1996) within the first 15 minutes.
Despite paying homage to some great slashers, Cut has plenty of originality and makes great use of its remote manor setting and terrifying backstory.
Playing into the trends of the slasher genre at the time, the film takes a meta approach to tell its story that brims on horror-comedy.
Adding to the terrors on-screen, this horror movie was filmed on-location at the infamous Arbury Park manor, also known as Raywood House, in Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
In 2001, only two years after this film was shot there, the mansion became home to an Australian cult; Ideal Human Environment (IHE). The group of about 30 members lived in the house until 2008, when they moved to the Pilbara region in Western Australia.
IHE cult leader James “Taipan” Salerno was jailed in 2019 after it was revealed that he had been found guilty of grooming and repeatedly assaulting his young followers.
Like many other Australian horror films on this list, Cut was filmed on a shoestring budget but managed to make the most of its resources.
With some impressive stylistic choices and a terrifying killer propelled by supernatural forces, it is no wonder this film has achieved cult status among horror fans.
Rogue (2007)
An American journalist on assignment in the Australian outback encounters a man-eating crocodile while trapped on a rapidly flooding mud island.
With films like Razorback (1989), Boar (2017), and Howling III: The Marsupials (1987), there is no shortage of horror movies about giant killer Australian animals.
Greg McLean, creator of the Wolf Creek franchise, wrote and directed this terrifying entry to the monster movie subgenre.
The film follows a group of tourists going on a river tour in the crocodile-infested waters of the Northern Territory in Australia.
Filming on-location in the stunning outback setting of the Kakadu National Park, one of the largest national parks in Australia, the film takes us deep into the crocodile-infested canyons.
After the success of Wolf Creek, McLean was able to secure an impressive cast of stars, including:
- John Jarratt
- Radha Mitchell
- Sam Worthington
- Mia Wasikowska
- Stephen Curry
- Michel Vartan
The many stars in the cast of Rogue have appeared in popular horror movies such as Silent Hill (2006), Crimson Peak (2015), Stoker (2013), Hounds of Love (2016), and Bates Motel (2013-2017).
⭐️ Star studded cast ⭐️
Rogue cast members Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington, and Mia Wasikowska have collectively starred in films with box office returns of approximately $9,957,581,021.
That’s just shy of ten billion dollars!
The film also features John Jarrett in a different type of role than audiences might be used to.
Known for portraying outback serial killer Mick Taylor in the Wolf Creek franchise, Jarratt portrays a more soft-spoken figure in this film. His character is on a holiday that he was supposed to take with his now-deceased wife, and he is there to spread her ashes.
Emotion-driven stories, such as the backstory of the character John Jarratt plays, make Rogue a diverse storytelling journey.
While many on the boat tour are holidaying families, others are travel writers and photographers just there to work.
This provides a range of perspectives for the story to explore as we watch these people come face-to-face with a giant, bloodthirsty crocodile.
Killer cowboys and giant crocodiles aren’t enough to scare Aussie audiences.
Throw in a deadly prom night, some outback zombies and a supernatural serial killer and you’re all set for a terrifying Australian horror movie marathon!
And that’s five of the best Australian horror movies that were released between 2000 and 2010.
Did you find something new to watch on this list? Let us know your favourite Australian horror movies in the comments below!
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