AUSSIE men are all like Paul Hogan's character in the Crocodile Dundee movies, aren't they?

They all wear corkscrew hats, swig Castlemaine XXXX from the can and call their women ''Sheila''.

And sure, while they may not be in contention for modern man of the year award, the average Mick Dundee has a heart of gold and can skin a crocodile quicker than you can say ''stoke up the barbie''!

Wolf Creek shatters this illusion when seemingly helpful outback trucker Mick Taylor (Josh Jarratt) picks up three young backpackers stranded in the middle of nowhere after their clapped out motor gives up to the ghost.

But when they all arrive back at Mick's camp, it's not long before he is demonstrating a few more creative uses for his knives than just skinning crocs.

Rather disturbingly, this is a factually based film shot in the raw directorial style reminiscent of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Blair Witch Project.

However, where both of those films successfully built up tension, Wolf Creek fails and the result is a disappointingly run-of-the mill slasher movie which doesn't quite reach it's full potential.

EB