“This is scary. It’s new. I never saw a body like that.”
Why is it so hard to find a werewolf movie these days? The entire time I’ve been doing this stupid column, I’ve only reviewed two (luckily one was Ginger Snaps, a movie that rules; the other was Dog Soldiers, which is fine). And I know what you’re saying, but I’m saving Ravenous for a special occasion. The Wolf of Snow Hollow, despite its ominous title, isn’t exactly a werewolf movie. It involves a wolf, to be sure, and a fairly high body count, but it’s more of a personal story about one man’s personal breakdown and issues with sobriety. Which is fine! The Shining is about the destructive powers of alcoholism too. The Wolf of Snow Hollow is not The Shining, but it’s still worth your time, flaws notwithstanding.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a bit of a vanity project, which can be disastrous. The film’s star, Jim Cummings, is also the writer and director. Cummings gives himself the meatiest role, but in fairness to him it’s a far from glamorous character. He’s not a bad actor – he has a wry, deadpan delivery that makes some of the film’s funniest lines sing – but he doesn’t exactly leap off the screen. The more he gets to do – meaning the more his character goes down the drain – the better he is. He’s a more than capable director, though; some of Wolf is absolutely gorgeous, and the opening credits seem to pay homage to the opening of The Shining, except here that film’s helicopter footage is replaced with beautiful drone shots of the frozen Utah mountains.
The film opens with a feint – we meet PJ and Brianne, on a weekend getaway, and in doing so we get to see the first time The Wolf of Snow Hollow pulls its favorite trick. It takes the time to humanize the victims, granting them backstory and interiority. PJ is played by Jimmy Tatro, the secret weapon of whatever he’s in. Tatro seems knowingly self-aware of his bro-like demeanor, and he uses it well to play guys nicer than you think they’d be (check him out in American Vandal; he’s brilliant). While PJ showers, Brianne is viciously attacked outside. As the camera pulls away, we see a huge pawprint with the full moon reflected in blood. It’s a cheesy shot, but the movie is fully aware of that.
The Snow Hollow police department is woefully unequipped to deal with such savagery. Sheriff Hadley – played by Robert Forster, one of the most dependably welcome screen presences ever – is old and infirm, but too stubborn to retire. His son, John (Cummings), is a hothead, barely hanging onto sobriety and doing a terrible job of reining in his subordinates. There’s also Robson, played nicely by Riki Lindholme. Lindholme is a seasoned comedian, and she does get a few funny lines, but she’s not winking at the audience, which is always welcome. Most of the performers fare just fine, with the exception of Rachel Jane Day as John’s bitter ex, Brittany. Day is a fine actress, but the role is underwritten and only exists to drive John further into a spiral.
About that spiral: The Wolf of Snow Hollow doesn’t shy away from the horrors of relapsing, and Cummings approaches this without any vanity. Make no mistake, this is the bulk of the film, and John even hints that he might be the werewolf, as he theorizes that werewolves in history have just been angry men taking their rage out on women (he asks Robson, “Do you think women have had to deal with shit like this since, like, the middle ages?”). He’s not the wolf, but he does become a monster: hostile and irritable, prone to blackout fits of rage where he crashes his car or breaks the oven. In the film’s roughest scene, John’s daughter, Jenna, breaks down in hysterics, begging John to just go to bed.
I suppose the main disappointment of The Wolf of Snow Hollow is that it’s not a horror movie. There are horror elements, for sure, but that’s not where Cummings directs his focus. There’s nothing wrong with using the patina of horror to examine something more personal and worldly, but one wishes there were more scares on display. Yesterday’s film, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, swam in similar waters, examining the horror and evil that resides in the hearts of men, but it did so in a much more gripping, discomfiting fashion. This is pretty to look at, and Cummings makes for a capable if bland leading man, so the film is never a chore to watch. Just don’t come expecting to be frightened.
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