Director: Patrick Rea
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Trying to get on with her life, a bullied and tormented woman who’s continually harassed and bullied by everyone in town to the point of thinking they’ve left her for dead, but when she finds herself stricken with the abilities and powers of a wolf she sets out to exact revenge on those who wronged her.
Review:
This was a pretty enjoyable indie creature feature. Among it’s better elements is the rather impressive setup that not only provides a fantastic explanation for what’s happening to her but also showcases her sense of growth and inner experience. From the shy, introverted bookworm that always backs away from a fight to the various bullying she encounters at the hands of the girl group, this comes around full-circle after being beaten and left in the woods where the change takes place. With the newfound change into a different person outwardly and mentally turning her into the type that will go out taunting her enemies and seek revenge against the girls and confronting the one who turned her, making for a powerful statement about how she’s become a more entailed woman.
As well, that leads into the expected fun to be had with the actual revenge content being put out which is handled rather nicely. Given the more human-like appearance of the design and needing to keep the budget into account, there’s a fine look employed here with the distinctive eyes, fangs and claws that provide enough to offset the action involved. Using herself simply as she is to approach the stupefied victims and then brutally kill them in graphic means, there’s a fun charm to these scenes that shows off the inability and incredulity of her appearance after what happened to her. The finale in the police station is also fun, seeing the storylines come together rather nicely and affect the outcome of the situation, all of which give this some rather enjoyable elements to hold it up.
There are some issues to be had with this one. Among the most egregious issues is the whole setup towards getting her revenge on the people who wronged her as this goes on to such a degree of unrealism it’s hard to imagine this ever playing out as it does. The type of torment and brutality inflicted upon her at the station which sets everything in motion is so over-the-top and far-fetched, especially with no setup as it doesn’t really mention anything about past encounters to set up their hatred towards her. It escalates far too rapidly without previous context and just stands out as somewhat unnatural, especially being the instigating incident for everything to happen.
The other slight factor, which isn’t truly detrimental but might be somewhat problematic for some people, is the lack of overt creature action for large portions of the film. As there’s plenty of stuff going on for the most part involving the setup to get her turned into the creature, the various authorities looking into the situation in order to play off what’s happened and then coming to terms with how to proceed, it takes a while before anything happens in terms of creature action. While all these scenes are useful at setting up what’s going on and how she’s being changed by the affliction upon her, those expecting an all-out series of lupine-fueled confrontations might be slightly put off by this. The downtime might be noticeable
Overview: ***.5/5
A far and enjoyable low-key werewolf entry that tends to stumble slightly in only a few minor areas, this is quite fun and definitely worthwhile as long as the lower budget is taken into account. Those who are and appreciate this type of humanistic werewolf revenge effort will find a lot to like here, while only those viewers who aren’t into that approach or format will not be entertained here.
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