The Weinstein Company via AP Kestie Morassi portrays Kristy, who encounters danger on a road trip in remote Australia in "Wolf Creek." Click photo for larger image. 'Wolf Creek' Rated: R for strong gruesome violence and language Starring: Mick Taylor, Liz Hunter, Kristy Earl Director: Greg McLean

The caveat "inspired by actual events" is vague enough to include just about anything that's ever happened to this planet's bipedal minority. Witness "Wolf Creek," a blood-soaked thriller written and directed by Greg McLean in his first feature film project, which opens today in theaters.

At least part of it is loosely based on the Australian disappearance of two women (their bodies were never found) and the account of their traveling partner, who claimed they were attacked by an Outback lunatic before he escaped. Most of McLean's film speculates about what occurred when the survivor wasn't there.

What do you suppose might have happened to young, vulnerable women, bound and gagged, miles from nowhere, alone with a horny psychopath? Your most perverse thoughts of rape, humiliation and slash-and-gash torture are pretty much what McLean imagined, too. It's disturbing, gross and gratuitous, stretching about an hour of story into 99 minutes with scenes of torture, horror, short-lived escape and more torture and horror.

Rated R for strong, gruesome violence and language, "Wolf Creek" is a poorly written story that includes some beautiful shots of the Australian landscape and credible acting by two players, despite the weak script they had to work with. And did I mention torture and horror?