Savages Crossing is a 2011 film directed by Kevin Dobson, starring Wolf Creek actor John Jarratt as a killer psychopath stalking his estranged wife. When a group of travellers are stranded at a roadhouse during a flood, Phil (Jarratt) goes on the rampage, with the intent of killing Sue (Angela MacGregor) and claiming her money.
This film contains the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: Phil puts on a friendly facade when he arrives at the bar, but it is clear that he is mentally unstable.
- Awesome Aussie: Mory (Craig McLachlan) drives a Big Badass Rig and saves Phil from drowning in the river.
- Bald of Evil: Dirty Cop Chris (Chris Heywood), as befitting an amoral mercenary.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: To stop her killer husband, Sue hires a detective who moonlights as a Bounty Hunter.
- Damsel in Distress: Sue appears terrified of her abusive husband, but she is not as innocent as she appears.
- Evil Wears Black: As a Call-Back to classic Westerns, Phil wears a black suit and tie.
- Chris wears a black leather jacket, and bears more than a passing resemblence to Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven and Westworld.
- The Gambling Addict: Phil squandered his family's money, and wants ownership of Sue's house to clear his debts.
- Land Down Under: A typical Savage South movie about the Aussie outback, in the spirit of Road Games, Dying Breed, and Van Diemen's Land.
- Old-School Chivalry: The Gunslinger Mory embodies the old cowboy way.
- Rabid Cop: Chris's methods of apprehending Phil are brutal even by horror movie standards
- Too Dumb to Live: Despite being warned to stay indoors while Phil is on the loose, one of the female travellers has an argument with her friend and storms off to her van. Unsurprisingly, Phil is waiting for her inside.
- The Western: The film culminates in a gunfight between Mory and Phil.
- Wife-Basher Basher: Seeing a man mistreat a woman is Mory's Berserk Button. He gives Phil a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with his fists, an empty rifle, and a tractor to protect Sue.
