Mick Taylor

""Now this little procedure is called making a head on a stick. You see, once your spine's severed, right ... that's what you are, eh? Head on a stick!""

- Mick Taylor

Michael "Mick" Taylor is the main antagonist of the Wolf Creek film series.

Mick Taylor is a psychotic, sadistic man who kidnaps tourists after gaining their trust in the vast, empty Australian Outback and brutally tortures, sexually assaults and mutilates them. He is a vicious and clever man who seems nice but ultimately is an extremely dangerous and uncaring individual.

He was played by John Jarratt.

Wolf Creek
Set in Australia in 1999, two British tourists, Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi) are backpacking across the country with Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), an Australian friend and contrarian from Sydney. Ben buys a dilapidated Ford XD Falcon to facilitate their road journey from Broome to Cairns, Queensland via the Great Northern Highway. They stop at Wolf Creek to enjoy the scenery.

Hours later, upon returning to their car, the group discovers their watches have all suddenly broken and the car won't start. Unable to discover the problem, they prepare themselves to sit out the night. After dark, a Crocodile Dundee-styled nomadic man named Mick Taylor comes upon them and offers to tow them to his camp to repair the car. After initial hesitation, the group allows Mick to take them to his place, an abandoned mining site several hours south of Wolf Creek. Mick regales them with tall stories of his past while making a show of fixing the car. His manner unsettles Liz and Kristy, although Ben is less concerned. While they sit around a fire, Mick gives the tourists drugged water which he describes as "rainwater from the top end". The water causes the tourists to eventually fall into unconsciousness.

Liz awakens late the next afternoon to find herself tied up in a shed. She manages to break free as night falls, but before she can escape the mining site, she hears Mick torturing Kristy in a garage, and witnesses him sexually assaulting her. Liz sets the now-dismantled Falcon on fire to cause a distraction and goes to help Kristy while Mick is busy trying to extinguish the blaze. She then manages to shoot Mick with one of his own rifles, blasting him in the neck and apparently killing him. The women attempt to flee the camp in Mick's truck, but a wounded Mick stumbles out of the garage and blasts at them with a double-barreled shotgun, before giving chase in another truck. The girls evade Mick in the bush by rolling his truck off a cliff and hiding, before returning to the mining site to get another car. Liz leaves the hysterical Kristy outside the gates, telling her to escape on foot if she does not return in five minutes.

Liz enters another garage and discovers Mick's large stock of cars as well as an organised array of travellers’ possessions, including video cameras. She watches the playback on one of them and is horrified to see Mick "rescuing" other travellers stranded at Wolf Creek in almost identical circumstances to her own. She then picks up another camera which turns out to be Ben's, through viewing some of Ben's footage, the recording ends focusing on a scene with Mick's truck in the background, indicating he'd been following them long before they got to Wolf Creek. She gets into a car and attempts to start it, but Mick shows up in the back seat and stabs her through the driver's seat with a huge knife. After more bragging, he hacks three of Liz's fingers off in one swipe, then picks her up and headbutts her into near unconsciousness. He then severs her spinal cord with a knife, paralysing her and rendering her a "head on a stick." As Liz lies motionless on the garage floor, the camera dwells on her appalled gaze and laboured breathing. Mick then interrogates her as to Kristy's whereabouts until he would kill her offscreen.

By dawn, a barefoot Kristy has reached a surface highway and is discovered by a passing motorist. He attempts to help Kristy, but is suddenly shot dead from far away by Mick, who has a sniper rifle. Mick then gives chase in a fast Holden HQ Statesman, prompting Kristy to take off in the dead man's car. She succeeds in ramming Mick off the road, but he coolly gets out of the car and shoots out Kristy's back tire, causing the car to flip over into the bush. A disoriented, dazed Kristy climbs out of the wreckage and attempts to crawl away, but is coldly shot dead by Mick. He bundles Kristy's body into the back of the wrecked car with the body of the dead motorist. Mick then torches the car before calmly driving off.

The action then cuts to Ben, whose fate until now has not been revealed. He awakens to find himself nailed to a mock crucifix in a mine shaft, with an aggressive, caged Rottweiler in front of him. He manages to painfully extract himself from the crucifix and enters the camp in early daylight. Ben escapes into the outback, but becomes hysterical and dehydrated, eventually passing out beside a dirt road. He is discovered by two shocked Swedish travellers who take him to Kalbarri, where he is airlifted to hospital.

The ending 'reveals' that no trace of Kristy and Liz were found despite several major police searches. Early investigations were disorganised and hampered by confusion, lack of physical evidence and the alleged credibility of Ben. After four months in police custody, Ben was cleared of all suspicion. The film then ends with the silhouette of Mick Taylor walking into the sunset, rifle in hand.

Wolf Creek 2
"You expect to come to my fuckin' country, waltz around like you own the bloody place, come between a man and his meal and just walk away? Just like that?""

- Mick Taylor

In the opening scene, Mick is pulled over by two highway patrol officers who falsely claim him to be breaking the speed limit and, after belittling and insulting him, give him a speeding ticket. As the cops drive away, Mick uses his sniper rifle to shoot the officer driving in the head, causing the car to crash. The surviving cop, having broken his leg in the crash, tries to crawl away only to be caught and stabbed by Mick, who then burns him alive in the police car.

Mick is later seen when backpackers Katarina (Shannon Ashlyn) and her boyfriend Rutger (Phillipe Klaus) are hitch-hiking and try to flag his truck down. Mick intially stops, but when he sees an approaching truck, he speeds away. Mick later on appears to them again as they camp in a wooded area for the night. Mick claims that they are violating rules of the "national park" that they're camping in and offers them a lift to town so that they won't be fined, but Rutger insists that they are not. Mick then loses his temper and stabs Rutger in the back. He then plans to rape Katarina, but Rutger puts up a fight before Mick finally decapitates him. Horrified at her boyfriend's death and at the notion of spending "a few long, fun months" with Mick, Katarina passes out. She wakes up to see Mick carving up Rutger's corpse and flees, pursued by Mick in his truck.

British surfer Paul (Ryan Corr) is driving along the highway when he sees Katarina standing on the road. He lets her into the car, but Mick gives chase in his truck and taunts them. Eventually, one of Mick's rifle shots unintentionally hits Katarina, killing her instantly - much to Paul's horror and Mick's dismay. Paul then escapes in his Jeep and after disposing of Katarina's body, reaches a deserted highway. In that period of time, Mick hijacks a semi-trailer, killing its driver, and uses it to bait Paul when he reaches the highway. Mick gives chase in the semi-trailer, ramming Paul many times and sadistically ploughing through a mob of kangaroos at one point. Eventually, he rams Paul off the road and down a steep hillside. Paul survives the crash and taunts Mick, causing Mick to launch the semi-trailer down the hill (without him in it). Paul then flees for his life as Mick watches curiously atop the hill.

After some time, Paul comes upon an outback homestead and is given hospitality by eccentric elderly couple Jack and Lil (Gerard Kennedy and Annie Byron). They plan to take Paul to town, but Mick shows up at the property (apparently having been following Paul for some time). Jack threatens Mick with a shotgun and tells him to leave. Mick pretends to leave but when he has the chance, sneaks in through the back door. Jack tells Paul that they're leaving for town and goes to grab another gun in case Mick is still out there. However, Jack's second gun is missing. Then, Mick uses Jack's rifle to shoot him in the head and then to kill his wife. Paul flees once again while Mick gives chase on Jack's horse, later succeeding in capturing Paul.

Paul wakes up in Mick's dungeon, tied up to a chair. Before Mick can torture him, Paul decides to tell some jokes that manage to win Mick over. Impressed, Mick says he will let Paul go if they have an Australian pop quiz. The torturous "game" ensues, in which Paul loses two fingers after failing to give correct answers. When faced with the final question in regards to a famous Australian cricketer, Paul hits Mick with a claw hammer, before giving the correct answer: Donald Bradman.

Paul flees the dungeon and an injured Mick gives chase through the lair. Paul comes across several dead bodies of tourists and finds a severely-malnourished woman, who is still alive. He says he will get help, but reaches a dead end. Mick releases his dogs, ordering them to find Paul. As they run towards him, Paul unknowingly activates a trap door, sealing himself from the dogs, who run away. Paul finds a blanket which is covering a Punji stick trap. Paul considers trying to jump over the deadly trap, but hears someone coming and hides behind a corner. When the person walks past him, Paul hits them with the claw hammer and they fall into the trap. Paul realises it isn't Mick, but the woman from before. Mick finds Paul and, after declaring himself "the winner", head-butts Paul unconscious.

Later, Paul wakes up on a footpath in a small town, wearing only his underpants and with wounds all over his body. He finds a piece of paper near him which reads "Loser". A series of title cards reveal that despite reporting a crazed gunman, Paul was named as a 'probable' suspect in the murder of several tourists, and during the investigation he suffered a complete mental breakdown. He was subsequently deported back to England and committed to an asylum.