Director: Amelia Moses
Year: 2021
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Attempting to record a new album, a young singer heads to a remote recording studio in the wilderness to get started on her new material, but the more she’s there the more she begins to find herself acting unnaturally as a means of his diabolical plans coming to fruition and must figure out why.
Review:
This was a pretty solid if somewhat problematic feature. One of the better elements of this one is the rather fun setup of the experience coming together to build up the idea of her transformation. As the first half tends to focus on the early work at the studio, where each of the different forces at work here tries to bring out the best in her work with her relationship with her girlfriend and the confrontational producer trying to get her at her best self for her music, this sets a great picture of the kind of work he's expecting to put her through while they stay. The psychological toll this work causes her as she starts to succumb to his various demands and pressures inflicts some rather strong aspects throughout the rest of the setup here due to this type of work.
As well, there's a lot to like as the setup from this first half slowly morphs into a rather enjoyable type of creature feature that plays out. Since we've been given hints that she's been wrestling with trying to control something inside of her with the hallucinations, the proclamations about her diet, and the need for pills to control everything, the interactions shown here with the producer taking over her mind and body to the point that the physical changes are just as prominent as the emotional ones as these are driven by the treatment he inflicts upon her while trying to drive those instincts to the forefront. The gradual reveal of everything the more they stay there results in some rather effective moments of psychological torture as well as genuine creature feature action with the way things play out as that brings up some fine gore as well to give this a lot to like about it.
There are some issues present with this one that hold it back. One of the main issues here is the seemingly obvious nature of the producer's irritating treatment towards her that never once sets off any kind of red flags in his behavior. Far too often something happens that the characters wipe away or ignore for the sake of trying to carry on with the album recording which is immensely frustrating since it never once strikes as something worth exploring more, especially the material with the pills that should've been a huge clue something is wrong. The other real issue here is the seemingly bland and underwhelming pace that plays out here, featuring such a sluggish tempo that it's incredibly difficult to remain invested here with everything taking place more psychologically or featuring more montages of her in the studio singing than getting any kind of action which is what brings a dull or boring pace here. These are what end up holding this down.
Overview: ***/5
A really solid if somewhat sluggish psychological werewolf effort, this one has a lot to like about it even if a few big factors are present here to hold this one down. Those who are intrigued by this type of setup or don’t mind the drawbacks will have a lot to like here while others who want a more traditional genre entry might be put off here by the drawbacks and should heed caution.
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