Wolf Creek (film)

Wolf Creek is a 2005 Australian horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Greg McLean, and starring John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, and Kestie Morassi. Its plot revolves around three backpackers who find themselves taken captive and subsequently hunted by Mick Taylor, a deranged psychopathic xenophobic killer, in the Australian outback. The film was ambiguously marketed as being "based on true events," while its plot bore elements reminiscent of the real-life murders of tourists by Ivan Milat in the 1990s and Bradley Murdoch in 2001, both of which McLean used as inspiration for the screenplay.

Produced on a $1.1 million budget, filming of Wolf Creek took place in South Australia; the film was shot almost exclusively on high-definition video. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. It was given a theatrical release in Ireland and the United Kingdom in September 2005, followed by a general Australian release in November, apart from the Northern Territory, out of respect for the pending trial surrounding the murder of Peter Falconio.[8] In the United States and Canada, it was released on Christmas Day 2005, distributed by Dimension Films.

Wolf Creek received varied reviews from film critics, with several, such as Roger Ebert and Manohla Dargis, criticizing it for its realistic and unrelenting depictions of violence.[i] Other publications, such as Variety and Time Out, praised the film's grindhouse aesthetics, with the latter calling its straightforward depiction of crime and violence "taboo-breaking."[11] The film was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Director (for McLean). In 2010, it was included in Slant Magazine's list of the 100 best films of the decade.[12]

Woodburn, Oregon

Woodburn is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Incorporated in 1889, the community had been platted in 1871 after the arrival of the railroad. The city is located in the northern end of the Willamette Valley between Portland and Salem. Interstate 5 connects it to major cities to the north and south. Oregon routes 211, 214, 219, and 99E also serve the city, as do Union Pacific and Willamette Valley Railway freight rail lines.

Woodburn is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. With a population of 24,080 at the 2010 census, it is the third-most populous in that metropolitan area after Salem and Keizer.[7] Those who identify as Hispanic or Latino make up a majority of the population in the city. The Woodburn area also has a significant historic population of Russian Orthodox Old Believers, whose ancestors settled here after the October Revolution of 1917.

Originally, the area around Woodburn was inhabited by the Kalapuya Native Americans. After the Provisional Government of Oregon set-up land claims in the Oregon Country, the United States annexed much of the Pacific Northwest and established the Oregon Territory in 1848. Congress passed the Donation Land Claim Act in 1850 and many earlier land claims became donation land claims.

Yachats, Oregon

Yachats (/ˈjɑːhɑːts/ YAH-hahts) is a small coastal city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, the name comes from the Siletz language and means "dark water at the foot of the mountain". There is a range of differing etymologies, however.[8]William Bright says the name comes from the Alsea placename yáx̣ayky (IPA: /ˈjaχajkʲ/).[9] At the 2010 census, the city's population was 690. In 2007, Budget Travel magazine named Yachats one of the "Ten Coolest Small Towns of the U.S.A.",[10] and Yachats was chosen among the top 10 U.S. up-and-coming vacation destinations by Virtualtourist.[11] In 2011, Arthur Frommer, founder of Frommer's Travel Guides, listed Yachats number seven among his ten favorite vacation destinations in the world.

Archeological studies have shown that the Yachats area has been inhabited for at least 1,500 years. Remains of a pit-house in Yachats have been radiocarbon dated at approximately 570 AD.[12] Yachats is built on seashell middens and numerous graves left by its past inhabitants. Excavations for construction of buildings and U.S. Route 101 uncovered a great many skeletons and artifacts. Most of these became part of the fill dirt forming the base of the current highway and city.[13]

For many centuries the Native Americans in this area were hunter-gatherers who migrated between summer camps and winter residences. The Alsea Tribe had as many as 20 permanent villages (used on an annually rotating basis) on the Alsea River and the central Oregon coast. Archeological and linguistic evidence support the existence of a southern Alsea village known as the Yahuch band, located on the coast at the Yachats River. By 1860, the Yahuch band was extinct, many having succumbed to European diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis.[14]

Yamhill County, Oregon

Yamhill County is a county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 99,193.[1] The county seat is McMinnville.[2] The name's origin is probably an explorer's name for a local Native American tribe, the Yamhill, who are part of the North Kalapuyan family.[3]

The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the Yamhill (Yamhelas Indian Tribe, part of the Kalapooian family[4]) Indians, who have inhabited the area for over 8000 years. They are one of the tribes incorporated into the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. In 1857 they were forced to migrate to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation created in Oregon's Coastal Range two years earlier.

The earliest non-native settlers were employees of the various fur companies operating in Oregon Country, who started settling there around 1814. But it was the establishment of the Oregon Trail that led to significant migration to the area.

Yoncalla, Oregon

Settlers first came to the area that would become Yoncalla in a covered wagon in the fall of 1848.[6]Jesse Applegate arrived in 1849, and named the area after the Yoncalla-speaking Native Americans of the region.[7]

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,047 people, 441 households, and 292 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,562.7 inhabitants per square mile (603.4/km2). There were 476 housing units at an average density of 710.4 per square mile (274.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.3% White, 1.7% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.7% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.6% of the population.[2]

There were 441 households of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.8% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.8% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.82.[2]

Wheeler

The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (Crown Publishers, ISBN 0-609-60844-4) is a 2003 historical non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. The book is based on real characters and events. It tells the story of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago from the viewpoint of the designers, including Daniel Burnham, and also tells the story of H. H. Holmes, a criminal figure in that same time.

The book is set in Chicago in 1893, interweaving the true tales of Daniel H. Burnham, the architect behind the 1893 World's Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, a pharmacist and serial killer who lured his victims to their deaths in his elaborately constructed "Murder Castle". The Devil in the White City is divided into four parts, the first three happening in Chicago between 1890-1893. Part four of the book takes place in Philadelphia circa 1895. The story of Daniel Burnham, his building of the fair and the struggles he overcomes forms one plot line. The other, a vivid and very different plot line, is that of H.H. Holmes, a mentally unstable pharmacist/doctor who forms a plan to use an abandoned lot across the street from his pharmacy to lure and kill multiple victims.

Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights to the book in 2010. The film version, as originally planned, would have been directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Billy Ray, and produced jointly by Paramount Pictures, Double Feature Films, and DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions.[2][3][4]

Wilbur

Wilderville, Oregon

Wilderville is an unincorporated community in Josephine County, Oregon, United States. Wilderville is located along U.S. Route 199 southwest of Grants Pass. Wilderville has a post office with ZIP code 97543.[2]

Willamina, Oregon

Willamina was named after Willamina Creek, which in turn was named for early settler Willamina Williams shortly after she fell off of her horse and into a creek, which was subsequently named after her.[7][8] Williams was born Willamina Craig in 1817 in Ohio.[1][8] She married James Maley in 1837 and the couple came to Oregon in 1845 with James' daughter.[8] While looking for land to settle, the family came across a tributary of the South Yamhill River and named it for Mrs. Maley.[8] James Maley died in 1847, and Willamina married Enos Williams in 1848.[8] They settled in what is now Amity.[8]

Willamina post office was established in 1855 on the James Brown land claim, about a mile east of present-day Willamina.[8] The office moved in 1863 about two miles west to the Jeremiah Lamson land claim.[8] In 1866, the office was moved and renamed to present-day Sheridan.[8] In 1878, a new Willamina post office was established; it operated from December 1880 to March 1891 just over the county line in Polk County.[8] A gristmill and sawmill were established in 1878.[1] The townsite was platted in 1879 and Willamina incorporated in 1903.[1] At that time the city had 200 residents.[1]

The city lies near the intersection of Oregon Route 18, Oregon Route 18 Business, and Oregon Route 22 next to the South Yamhill River. The communities of Shipley and Sheridan are to the east, and Valley Junction is to the west.