The Silver Screen: 
The Wolf on Film
The werewolf as we know it today is a popular member of the “monster mash” group of classic cinematic icons of horror alongside Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, and more. To talk about the werewolf without its bite-marks left on film history would be a glaring omission. So, I decided to make this page a hub for little reviews on various werewolf related films! Rather than a comprehensive guide to the cinematic history of the werewolf, as it’s been relatively consistent, it’s more of a place for me to share my thoughts on the various films that star werewolves, and I may update it further as I watch more.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Score: 
While not the first ever werewolf film (the first being a lost film, 1913’s “The Werewolf” that concerned shapeshifting Navajo werewolves taking vengeance on colonizers. Interestingly, both werewolves in the film are female), The Wolf Man is perhaps the most famous and influential, and the one that created the modern werewolf as we know it. I hadn’t actually seen it yet when I began work on this shrine, so I gave it a quick watch, and greatly enjoyed the film. It is by far my favorite of the classic Universal horror films I have watched.
By far the strongest element is its tragedy. This is a film greatly concerned with tragedy, saneism, predestined violence, and predation. Larry is an interesting and sympathetic character, though he also shows signs of his eventual predatory nature through how he pursues the engaged woman Gwen by spying on her through a telescope and propositioning her at work. The element of being able to see the sign of the pentagram on his next victim is a genius addition, making the inevitability of the killings all the more tragic. I’ve gathered that the film was originally conceived as a tale about medical lycanthropy, with Larry becoming convinced that he is becoming a werewolf due to his guilt over the death of Bela. While the film was retooled into a more straightforward monster flick, many elements of this version of the script remained, with the doctors and townspeople refusing to believe Larry or listen to his cries for help, an aspect of the film I found by far the most compelling. There’s something very sad about Larry, having asked about lycanthropy, having to listen to his family talk about how people as delusional as him should be locked up in asylums. He only gains any assistance from the local Romani community, particularly the old woman Maleva. While the representation of the Romani people is dated in some regards, their roles as sympathetic and heroic characters in the film is pretty refreshing, especially given the time period- this was the forties, after all. A lesser film would have Maleva be the one to curse Larry, rather than comfort and assist him in the conflict between his goodness and evil.
This movie is absolutely gorgeously shot. All the sets are beautiful, particularly the misty forests, the chapel where Larry weeps over Bela’s coffin, and the scenes in the carnival. The transformation scenes are fairly simple but rather effective, with a simple dissolve effect; I particularly liked, though, the detail that after he had transformed, he walked on the balls of his feet, adopting a digitigrade stance. I do that! Pretty regularly, actually. It did a lot to sell the wolfishness of an otherwise more human-looking design.
Though his father beats Larry to death, putting a stop to the terror, we are given a small silver lining at the end: the townspeople believe Larry died protecting Gwen from the wolfman, and so his name is cleared, after being suspected as a murderer and lunatic throughout the entire film. Overall, I was impressed with this early outing and find it to be exactly as worthy as its reputation suggests.
The Howling (1981)
Score: 
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Howling, one of the films that sparked the brief 80s werewolf boom (and the source of countless sequels of middling quality). From what I had read previously, it didn’t really have the aspects I find most interesting about lycanthropy- the conflict of being both human and beast, of being forced by circumstance to inflict violence when you really, really don’t want to. (Well, kind of- there are shades of this in the ending, when main character Karen gets infected). What I find most captivating about the werewolf is its pathos, and so I usually don’t have much interest in straight monster flicks where the werewolves are unambiguous villains with no moral amiguity or anguish. Despite that uphill battle, though, I thought The Howling was pretty good! Maybe it’s the strength of the setting or the special effects, but I had a good time with it.
There’s a distinct 70s vibe to this 80s movie- cults, hippie communes, serial killers, sexual panics and the world of television and the new age. It follows Karen, a newswoman, who, following an encounter with a notorious serial killer named Eddie, is sent to a mountain retreat called the Colony to recover from her trauma. Trouble is, the serial killer was a werewolf and so are all the people at the retreat. Things only get worse for poor Karen as she’s tormented by the titular howling every night, her husband is cheating on her and is promptly turned, and of course, Eddie comes back into the picture despite being assumed dead- these werewolves can regenerate. His transformation scene is particularly impressive, clearly utilizing prosthetics and animatronics in a pretty great sequence. No wonder they stop the plot for a good three minutes to luxuriate in it, I imagine a huge chunk of the budget went into it, haha. I do prefer American Werewolf in London’s transformation, though, if only because the face pulsating in The Howling is a little too gross and bulbous looking, and not really in a cool way... Though Karen manages to escape, she is infected with lycanthropy, and rather than live with the curse, she opts to transform on live television and be mercifully killed by a silver bullet, sacrificing herself to ensure the general public knows about the werewolf threat... Though it doesn’t seem like many of the viewers believed her, and the surviving werewolves are already walking among the humans. The TV execs even callously cut to an advertisement- for dog food, of course.
Like I mentioned before, I loved the setting... I would’ve accepted the gift, to be honest. I would gladly be a werewolf in the scary mountain retreat werewolf commune, honestly, it looks like fun (provided we can get rid of Eddie, he’s a real creep). Then again, I’d also willingly go live in Summerisle, the pagan society from the Wicker Man, so maybe I’m just not immune to cults (is anyone?). The soundtrack was also quite nice, with lots of (oddly vampiric?) organ tocattas. I thought Karen was a wonderfully likeable protagonist, though I wish she had been allowed to survive past the end of the movie- maybe this franchise would have more interesting sequels, following Karen trying to recover from her trauma and deal with her new nightly transformations, rather than ones about Australian werewolves with kangaroo pouches (yes, really). While not my favorite as a werewolf movie (I feel like the plot would have been about the same if it were about a colony of vampires), The Howling is definitely a barn-burner action horror flick and an enjoyable watch, but I’m just not howling about it either.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Score:
As I prepared for this review, I realized that I was now at my third rewatch of this film, which far more than anything I could write here should speak to its quality. I own not one, but two different DVD copies of this movie. American Werewolf is a unique blend of psychological horror, black comedy and body horror, and is one of the finest werewolf films put to screen.
It follows David Kessler, a hiker on a trip through England with his friend Jack. They’re attacked on the moors by a werewolf one night, leaving Jack dead and David infected with the werewolf’s curse. He’s tormented by nightmares and visions, and the ghosts of all who had been slain by the werewolf’s bloodline, as the only way they can be free is if the bloodline dies out. Naturally, this includes Jack. Throughout the film, he has to reckon with his new transformations, his guilt over not being able to save Jack, and a cohort of ghosts trying to goad him into suicide to rescue their souls- and his story ends with him being shot to death during his lycanthropic rampage- just after he had briefly stopped, recognizing Alex despite his bestial madness. While this is definitely a tragic film, it’s given some levity with the dry, British-style humor of the characters and dialogue- while the director was American, there's definitely some Hammer influence on the tone... Or maybe I’m off base. I don't know. This film also has the best werewolf transformation sequence ever put to film, and I feel confident in saying that. Never has the agony of the transformation been so effectively communicated before or since. I also think the main romance with the nurse Alex is pretty cute, as far as movie romances go. I think the pacing of this film really shines, the ramping horror leading up to the first transformation is just as slow as it needs to be.
It’s also nice how steeped the film is in its setting. Having visited London before, it's so fun pointing out shots like “That looks like the building I stayed in!” or “I’ve been there! I walked down that street!” or “Whoa, I was literally in the tube station that he killed that guy in and I didn’t even realize”. It always makes me want to go visit England again... Anyway, it’s really a film you should watch for yourself, as it’s hard to sell the creeping dread and methodical buildup in a written review. It’s a very atmospheric, character driven piece. It’s a film you just really ought to watch if you have any interest in the genre at all. You owe it to yourself to watch An American Werewolf in London!
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Score:
Is this it? Is this the best werewolf movie? I knew I would probably enjoy this one as it loosely adapts the works of Angela Carter, whom I absolutely love (The Bloody Chamber anthology collection is one of my favorite books I own) and I had heard very good things about it. But I didn’t expect it to blow everything else on this list out of the water so completely that I considered giving it an extra sixth pawprint (yes, really)!
The framing device- with the whole thing being a dream of the young, modern-era girl Rosaleen- kind of reminded me of Labyrinth which is also a huge favorite of mine (the thematic similarity of young female sexuality and coming of age is also reminiscent, though this film came first) with a healthy dollop of Suspiria. Her dream, of being a Red Riding Hood-type figure, is also sort of a framing device for little tableaus and stories told by Rosaleen and her grandmother. I’d hesitate to call it entirely an anthology film, but the structure is there. These little fables are most frequently told by Granny, trying to guide and warn young Rosaleen about the dangers of men and sexuality. I think it's pretty cool how the differences in their storytelling clearly delineate Granny and Rosaleen’s diverging worldviews. Granny tells stories that warn about danger- stay on the path, don't trust strange men, that sort of thing. Rosaleen’s are a little weirder and feature strong female characters as opposed to the terrified victims of Granny’s tales- a spurned witch turning a wedding party into a pack of wolves; a harmless she-wolf venturing into human society and opting to return to the underworld she came from. It's neat.
I like how every time we see a werewolf, the transformation is a little different, in part because each tale is surely told a little differently, too. The first story has one of the scariest werewolf transformations I’ve ever seen, I literally winced. Several times! And god, where to start with the Huntsman... The climax of the film is the part that most closely follows Red Riding Hood, with Rosaleen travelling across the woods to her grandmother's house and being stopped by her “big bad wolf”, the Huntsman, who she is smitten with and the two make a wager based on who arrives at Granny’s house first. And, like, I get it entirely. He's got a very Lestat-esque appeal and can go toe to toe with the Goblin King... Turning into a wolf is a definite advantage, too. He beats her to Granny’s cottage and of course ends up murdering her. At first, Rosaleen is horrified, and shoots him. But due to his wounds, his lycanthropic transformation takes place and he becomes an animal, she gains sympathy for him (girl, me too...), remarking that she didn't know a wolf could cry, and begins petting him and telling him a story. By the time the rest of the villagers arrive, she too has been turned into a wolf, recognizable by the silver cross necklace she received earlier in the film. She runs off with the Huntsman and his pack, and the real Rosaleen promptly wakes up screaming as a wolf bursts through her window in the real world.
The romantic subtext between Rosaleen and the Huntsman could have easily veered into uncomfortable or exploitative territory given the lead actress was a teenager at the time, but the film wisely keeps their interactions largely chaste, and Rosaleen is never sexualized by the film; if anything, the Huntsman is the “sexual object” given the camera’s focus on his shirtless body and the framing of his transformation. It walks the line pretty carefully, at least in my opinion.
This movie really checks all my boxes. There's a lot of cute doggies and a ton of practical effects. It's a period piece that wears its folkloric influences on its sleeve. It gets weird and surreal and artsy, and has a distinctly feminine perspective. If you had to host a movie night party for a weird goth, a renaissance faire enthusiast, a David Lynch fan, a horror buff who’s just here to see some cool practical effects, and a wolf girl, this is probably the movie that would satisfy everyone. (Or that one person. That one person is me.)
Most of all, I love how this film understands how versatile the werewolf is as a symbol, which is in keeping with Angela Carter’s work. I feel like a lot of these films go for just one metaphor- were anyone else at the helm, this could have been another “werewolves are predatory men” allegory, but there's more nuance to The Company of Wolves’ takes on sexuality, while also keeping the focus firmly on Rosaleen's agency and self-actualization. Some girls prefer the company of wolves, after all. I know I do.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Score:
Ginger Snaps is really rare for me in that it's a movie that I had my opinion completely flip on, and I’m still not sure why exactly I disliked it so much on first brush. My first watch of Ginger Snaps was as research for the original, 2023 edition of the Wolf Den, and I think at the time I was just generally less media literate. You have to understand that this was when I was still using Tumblr. I think I also had some kind of false impression going in that it was more of a female empowerment story than it was in reality, and I think I just had less of an idea of what I really wanted out of a werewolf story back then, and simply watched it out of writer’s obligation for the original shrine because it was “the female werewolf movie”. “Ginger Snaps disappointed me because turning into a wolf is framed as a bad thing, so it basically demonizes Ginger for her girlhood,” I said (paraphrased). This was a stupid take, and when I watched the film a second time not super long after that... I got it. Amazing what getting off of Tumblr can do for your brain.
I already have a little synopsis of the film in my main Wolf Den essay, so I won't be too redundant here, but, god, this film does everything right. Lycanthropy as a metaphor for the passage into adulthood- emotional, physical, traumatic- is so perfect and is probably the werewolf metaphor I resonate the most with. I won't get too much into the bloody details but these same hallmarks of adolescence- menstruation, sexuality, the horror of a changing self- were traumatic, violent things for me. Some of it still feels like a curse even now. The parallel between menstruation and lycanthropy is also a symbol I have latched onto due to this same “curse”, haha.
Another strength of this film that I find achingly relatable is how it recognizes how cruel women can be to other women. While there are some asshole guys, the film has an acute focus on the way girls can be nasty, cruel or abusive to each other. Popular girl Trina is a good example, being more traditionally normative and fem, and slutshaming and otherwise bullying sisters Ginger and Bridgitte. The sisters’ codependence also struck a chord with me, having also been in adolescent and mutually-destructive friendships with other girls in such a way. I feel like, even in spaces made specifically for speaking about abuse and the experience of being abused, there's little room made for women who are victims of other women, despite how common this specific kind of cruelty is. I would know, as I’d been subjected to it. Perhaps that's what caused my initial discomfort with the film back in ‘23- I hadn't processed much of those feelings at the time.
These were the thoughts in my head surrounding my fourth rewatch of Ginger Snaps. The final werewolf design is also one I did a complete flip on. I found it kind of nasty looking at first and wasn't a fan; subsequent rewatches make me love its gross physicality, the most visceral and animal rendition of a feminine form. I’m big on werewolves with freaky nipples lately and I blame Ginger Snaps.
It's the perfect film to kind of wallow in, to sink back into the violence of adolescence and growing up and clean yourself off after. Not quite a comfort film for me, but something like it. I think the sequel is just as great and I may rewatch and review it here. I haven't watched the prequel yet, as I'm saving it for a special occasion. Ginger Snaps is simply one of the best to ever do it. It's complex and dark and makes you feel a little gross and sad; a perfect example of the pathos and agony of the werewolf through a gendered lens, with some excellent horror as well. It's the whole package, and well earned its full rating. It is an effective work of art and an excellent film.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Score:
Dog Soldiers is one of those movies I see recommended everywhere as an absolute essential of the werewolf subgenre, so it was a necessary inclusion here despite being a bit of a departure from my loose focus on more feminine werewolf films. My first impressions were that I absolutely loved the werewolf designs I had seen endlessly screenshotted and shared by werewolf enthusiasts, but that I was kind of put off by the whole “gritty military men VS. werewolves” premise. So I really wasn't sure what I was going to think of it.
The score marks kind of give it away, but I wasn't really into this one. That isn't to say that the movie was badly made or incompetent, as I think it's a pretty decent action flick with some really suspenseful bits and gore (the bit with the dog tugging on the bandages keeping that one guy’s innards inside his body really stood out, as did the impaled werewolf trying to shove the sword into the one guy's mouth), but, like... It felt like a “boy's toy”, you know? Like, an action figure that has packaging that makes it clear that it's NOT FOR GIRLS. Most of this film’s nearly two hour runtime is guys yelling and shooting, and, like, that's just not my scene. It's drenched in machismo.
The film follows a squad of army guys on a training mission that goes south when they realize they're in the territory of a big family of werewolves. They encounter a woman named Megan who lives in the area, who convinces them to hole up in the cottage where the werewolves live in their human form. Meanwhile, the werewolves keep trying to bust into the house and maul everyone and their supplies dwindle. Megan, however, betrays them, and lets the monsters into the house: she had been a werewolf the whole time. While she thought that the army dudes were her best shot of escaping from the fucked up werewolf family after she had gotten infected, she lost hope as their numbers dwindled and ended up selling them out to her packmates. (Yes, this one had a werewolf girl after all! Unfortunately her betrayal scene is mired in some absolutely dreadful dialogue... “This is what being nice to women gets you! You may think we're all bitches, but this one really is! Now... It's that time of the month!” OH MY GOD I WAS ROLLING MY EYES SO HARD. Did the director hate women or something?) After the resulting violence the only survivors are main guy Cooper and the border collie dog that was living in the house.
There are some sparks of brilliance in this. I like the remote setting, the werewolf design and costumes are legitimately great, I think the twists were cool, it succeeds at being pretty tense and scary, and I love Megan, she's probably the best thing about this movie. She's the closest the film gets to actually having a compelling werewolf character- the other ones are just kind of monsters with intelligence and strategy. We don't really get much of an idea of who they are as people (so very little were) and they don't act like animals, either, as they're human-level intelligent (so not much wolf, either). Megan actually seems to be conflicted over her condition, though the film is pretty uninterested in mining that for angst and drama.
I also noticed some pretty funny mistakes in the film- there are a few shots from the view of the werewolves, represented through a black and white color filter. Of course, any lycanthrope worth their salt knows that wolves see in blue and yellow tones. (Now I really want a film that takes advantage of the blue/yellow...) Also, they panned up to a “full moon” that was clearly a waning gibbous, which got a snicker out of me. I don't usually get so pedantic about this kind of thing but I know too much about wolves to not notice this sort of thing. There's even mentions of alphas and betas- THE HORROR.
I dunno, I just wasn't wild about it. It did what it was trying to do but it's just not my type of movie, I prefer something more character-driven and cerebral. If you just want to see some wolf monsters rip some guts out you'll probably dig it but I like a bit more meat. It gained an extra pawprint because the border collie lived to the end of the film.
When Animals Dream (2014)
Score:
This oddity from Denmark was on my radar mostly because I had heard it followed a female werewolf, but the actual content within remained a bit of a mystery for me going in, so I watched this nearly completely blind. The Wikipedia synopsis is very lacking, so I really had no expectations one way or the other. I was rewarded with a pretty good film with a firm sense of atmosphere and a worthy addition to the canon of female werewolves.
The film follows Marie, who lives with her father and her catatonic mother, who is kept drugged due to some condition that her father never speaks of. In addition to being her mother's caretaker, Marie has also begun work at a fish-packing facility, and is being relentlessly harassed and bullied by her coworkers. Everything just sucks for her. Shit home life, shit home town, shit job. Her only reprieve is her burgeoning friendship with a man named Daniel, who seems to like her eccentricities. However, Marie has begun to exhibit symptoms of her mother's mysterious condition, and her father is having serious talks about drugging and sedating her in just the same way. After her mother drowns in the bathtub and the hazing at work escalates and leads to a murder, Marie and Daniel make plans to leave on a boat together and leave town, though not before Marie tears all the fish-packing assholes to shreds after they tried to kidnap her, of course.
This is a very “grey”, subdued movie, but that's not a knock against it. I’m usually more one for maximalist, colorful cinema, but I think the stylistic choice here was strong, as it conveys the bleakness of the setting and circumstances. I like the tension between the danger of the wolf and the evil of suppressing it, and the character growth Marie’s father experienced after his wife’s death- telling Marie to take no shit from anyone and letting her go run away with Daniel. I loved it. For a character with no dialogue, Marie's mother has a surprisingly memorable role with some really touching scenes, also.
While I was a little disappointed in the werewolf transformation (she just gets kinda hairy) I do think it suited this film just fine. It's a sort of grounded take on what it would really be like as a physical medical condition... lots of mundane little kinda-medically-concerning symptoms leading up to her rampage, like bloody fingernails, rashes, and excessive hair. One might find this kind of cowardly but it honestly wraps around into being a pretty brave choice. Like, by the end of the movie, we're treated to some really beautiful, touching scenes of romance featuring a bearded, hairy woman, and it's not really played as scary or worthy of mockery. That's pretty refreshing!
If you're in it for horror or for anything wolf-y you might be disappointed but overall, I thought When Animals Dream was a very good drama film with some werewolf set-dressing. It's absolutely worth a watch if you're intrigued!
Good Manners (2017)
Score:
I’m realizing I really like these horror-dramas, much like When Animals Dream. Good Manners is a Brazilian production and combines that particular genre fusion with some light musical elements, coming-of-age and sapphic romance for one truly unique whole. I’ve never seen a movie quite like it! Please don’t let the slow-burn, two hour runtime intimidate you, and let this one take you on a ride. Trust me.
The film is split into two distinct halves, beginning with protagonist Clara starting a job as a caretaker for a lonely pregnant woman named Ana to make ends meet. The two become very close (very, very close... ;)), though something is clearly off about the pregnancy. Ana sleepwalks once a month, during the full moon, craving meat and blood, and Clara eventually learns that she’s pregnant with an infant werewolf. Unfortunately, due to the birth complications, Ana dies after the child crawls out of her womb. Clara attempts to abandon the werewolf baby, but can’t bring herself to, resolving to raise him herself.
From here, the second half of the movie starts, after a time skip to several years later. Clara’s adopted son Joel is now school-aged, and she controls his monthly transformations by chaining him up in the “little bedroom”. He’s starting to resent being told what to do all the time, and, acting out to try and glean independence and discover the mystery of who his father is, he sneaks out to the mall with his school friend and the two are locked inside after-hours (naturally, on the full moon), and it’s heavily implied Joel ate him. Amidst the panic over the missing child and bloody scene at the mall, the tension between Clara and Joel escalates until he locks her in the little bedroom (that scene was such a cool parallel) and sneaks out to his school’s St. John’s dance and transforms again as the moon rises. Clara arrives and shoots him to keep him from mauling his other friend Amanda and rushes him back home to take the bullet out of his leg and care for him. There’s a proper torches-and-pitchforks mob after them, now, but rather than keep him locked up, she takes the chains off of his wrists, holds his paw, and the two turn to face the oncoming furious crowd... And then the movie ends.
The ending really got to me! Seeing her soothe and sing to her child and finally reach understanding between them had me tearing up. It helps that the werewolf design is absolutely adorable, just perfectly puppyish while still a little nasty... He’s kind of giving Eddie Munster. I like the thin white-tipped tail especially, it’s a cute touch. The relationship between Clara and Ana was also really interesting, there was a definite undercurrent of race and class commentary at play there. I’m also noticing a lot of these female werewolf movies have themes of medical abuse and not being believed or respected in medical settings, being told you’re hysterical and everything’s normal even as your body is changing out of your control- I’m kind of down for this as a trope, I think it fits the conflict of the werewolf well and is an aspect of misogyny not talked about enough. I also liked that it wasn’t just another evil baby movie, but rather one about the trials and tribulations of being a caregiver and raising a troubled child and how it’s all worth it, how that child will always be deserving of love. This movie has a lot to say and a lot of heart!
While I was sold on this movie as a “lesbian werewolf movie”, I wasn’t disappointed that it was actually a “lesbian raising a werewolf movie” (unless you count Ana as a werewolf?) and I thought this movie was a total delight. It’s just gorgeous in every way and I’m surprised more people don’t talk about it. Definitely recommended, this is a hidden gem.
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Score:
Wolfwalkers is the movie that I most wish I could show to my nine-year-old self. I watched it when it first came out on streaming, having been eagerly awaiting it since I found Cartoon Saloon’s concept trailer on their Youtube channel. I’ve been a huge fan of their work ever since I was a child after I found The Secret of Kells on Netflix back in the day and absolutely fell in love with it, and I of course loved Song of the Sea, too. This film, Wolfwalkers, is the third in that “Irish mythology” trilogy, set in Kilkenny in 1650, where the studio is located today. This is another one I’ve rewatched frequently.
Cartoon Saloon singlehandedly proves why 2D animation is such a unique medium, and this film is perhaps the strongest argument. Tomm Moore's signature style with exaggerated shapes and medieval influences is on full display here, and the animation communicates the film’s themes through even just the linework. Kilkenny’s walled city is defined by orderly, more defined shapes and bold, straight linework; the forest is filled with soft, blended watercolors and more rounded shapes, and the wolves are drawn with a unique, sketchy animation style that preserves faint imprints of the guidelines- they're literally wilder. You can see main protagonist Robyn’s animation get sketchier and sketchier the more she is drawn into the world of the wolfwalkers once she is turned! The command of wolf body language is on point, too
This movie is also based on an eclectic set of folkloric werewolf myths, with most influences coming from the Irish myths, of course. There's the dying female werewolf from the werewolves of Ossory, and direct mention of the pagans turned into wolves by Saint Patrick, and some similar myths about people becoming wolves when they sleep and needing to return to the human body. A more modern werewolf influence is there too, as lycanthropy is spread through bite in this movie. The tale of the pagan werewolves rebelling against Christianization is used in the film as a parallel to the wolfwalkers resisting English colonialism.
The plot follows an English girl, Robyn, whose father has moved her to Ireland while he aids in the “taming” of the land, the felling of the forest, and of course, the killing of the wolves (this is true, in real life Ireland, wolves were hunted to extinction). Robyn wants to go out and hunt like her father, like she did back in England, but her new life means new rules: children must stay within the walls of the town- Lord Protector’s orders. However, she sneaks out, and while trying to stop a wolf from snatching a sheep on the border of the woods, she accidentally shoots her pet falcon, Merlin, with an arrow, and the downed bird is snatched by a wild, red haired girl who runs off with the wolves.
That girl is Mebh, a shapeshifting wolfwalker, who heals the bird and befriends Robyn (though accidentally biting her when attempting to free her from one of her father's traps). Mebh is waiting to leave with the pack in search of a better place, as she's adamant that she cannot leave without her mother, who left to search for new territory in wolf form and never returned to her human body in the den. The two become very close, as Mebh shows Robyn how to live as a wolf. However, Robyn discovers one night that the Lord Protector is keeping Mebh’s mother caged in his castle. She urges Robyn to convince Mebh to leave without her, but Mebh refuses. Worse still, Robyn being spotted in wolf form leads the Lord to decide to kill Mebh’s mother in front of a crowd, to make a show of proving he can tame the wilds. Mebh comes to intervene, and in the resulting chaos, her mother is freed, Robyn’s father is bitten, and the Lord Protector mobilizes his plans to burn down the whole forest, while Mebh races to heal her mother, who was struck by an arrow. Robyn’s father finally stands up against the Lord, transforming into a wolf to protect Robyn, and the Lord allows himself to fall to his death to avoid becoming a werewolf himself. While they can't save the forest, the pack and its two new members leave in search of new territory, bound together by their experiences.
This is probably the modern therian wolf girl’s equivalent to yesteryear's Balto II: Wolf Quest in terms of influence, and it's well earned. It's an excellent children's film, and the filmmakers have also encouraged and celebrated sapphic readings of the main characters, which is appreciated. It's everything that I would have loved to see as a young pup, and I don't doubt that it will go down in history as a triumph of animation.
My Animal (2023)
Score:
I was really excited to get to this one, though a little scared it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. A lesbian werewolf film? With darkwave band Boy Harsher behind it? It sounded almost too good to be true. Thankfully, I’m happy to report that My Animal is pretty good.
It’s not perfect. I’d have preferred the werewolf element to get more focus, as it is it feels more like a hockey movie than a werewolf film, and I thought the ending was kind of abrupt. However, it is an engaging sapphic drama about the struggles of growing up as a lesbian in the 80s, with a cute (albeit doomed) romance and a poignant tragedy at its heart. Also, there was a fucking Nuovo Testamento needle drop in this one which absolutely delighted me. I’m surprised it was Heartbeat and not Wildlife, but perhaps that would have been too on the nose, ha. Also, it has an erotic raw egg-eating dream sequence, and who doesn’t love an erotic raw egg-eating dream sequence?
The film follows Heather, a young girl who loves hockey and watching female wrestling, who’s also a werewolf. At midnight on full moons, she transforms into a wolf, something she must keep hidden. She meets a figure skater, named Jonine (or Jonny, as Heather calls her) and the two become very close. They’re both closeted, of course, but Jonny has even more pressure to keep that side of herself hidden, as she’s in an abusive relationship with a man named Rick. It becomes harder for Heather to hide both her sexuality and her lycanthropy as their lives become more and more entangled. Unfortunately, they’re both outed after a night together at the bar, and Jonny begins avoiding Heather and insisting that they can’t hang out together, that she isn’t gay. It was clear to me that this was in part due to Rick- there’s a scene in the hockey rink where he’s yelling at Jonine, but we can’t hear what he’s saying, and this proceeds their split.
After her father’s sudden death, Heather snaps and goes to confront Jonny at the bar, who rejects her once again, and Rick begins beating her up. However, it’s a full moon, and as the clock strikes midnight, she transforms into a wolf (and we finally see it onscreen), and she mauls him to death (I CHEERED) and we’re treated to a beautiful scene of her running through the woods back home. The actual transformation is pretty simple (cut to Heather with hair prosthetics and growling, then cut to an actual dog) but it was effective, and I’m always a big fan of werewolves that look more animal than person, so it worked for me. I think this is probably the best approach for zero-budget werewolf films aside from stocking up on Halloween costumes. After the morning comes, the news is full of reports about the animal attacks, and Heather’s mother tells her they need to leave town immediately. The movie ends on a shot of them driving away, which I found a bit disappointing, as I’d’ve liked to see more of what happened to Jonny and Heather afterward, I felt like Jonny was especially kind of an unresolved character.
Despite that, though, I think this was a great movie. I have similar thoughts on this to When Animals Dream, but I liked this one a little more- Darkwave and colorful lighting are like my catnip. This film is heartbreaking, beautiful, and maybe a bit ambitious for its budget, but a good watch nonetheless. If that sounds intriguing, My Animal might be your kind of animal!
I’ve often heard the adage that most werewolf movies are bad. I even believed it myself for a long time. Lycanthropy means so much to me that I was certain that very few films would really get it, the way I understood my own wolfhood. I’m more of an open-minded viewer, now, though, and I was surprised at how many of the films I watched were hidden gems, or had such unique takes on lycanthropy and the various meanings it can convey. I certainly plan to update this page further as I watch more werewolf films (I particularly need to fill the gap in my timeline between the 40s and the 80s, haha), and I encourage you to go watch the films I’ve reviewed and appreciate them for yourself! The impact the werewolf has left on cinema is perhaps pale in comparison to the vampire’s, but significant nonetheless.
