Discovered this little Canadian indie gem by accident - and there's a lot to like here!
Some of the negative review comments talk to how this film doesn't have enough typical horror film stuff in it. To me, that was a definite plus.
Amelia Moses is clearly a very talented new director, and she delivers a well-paced beautifully shot film here. It is so nice to see such great use of locations made - always a challenge for budget-constrained, small films. But this movie doesn't look low-budget. For a story about a songwriter, it also has some excellent music by Lowel, daughter of screenwriter/producer Wendy Hill-Tout. They wisely use the werewolf effects sparingly, and make good editing choices around these.
The cast is strong across the board, everyone giving fine perfromances. The character elements are all fine here, which is important because this is, in my mind, a character drama with horror elements. And I found this very refreshing. Bare of many of the standard horror tropes, Moses doesn't resort to throwing in superfluous jump-scares and other nonsense. The horror here is understated in favour of focusing on the lead's struggle with both her creative life and her transformation.
It would have been nice to see more of Michael Ironside's character in this, and maybe give a chance for the lead to delve deeper into that struggle. One criticism I have of the script is that it is a little too "functional," and giving the characters room to breath would have helped. The script is a little too tidy in terms of explaining everything, which has a negative impact on some of the dialogue as characters explain things. Leaving some of this open to the audience's interpretation wouldn't have been a bad thing.
Script issues aside, this is well worth a watch as a refreshing variation on Werewolf horror films.
Some of the negative review comments talk to how this film doesn't have enough typical horror film stuff in it. To me, that was a definite plus.
Amelia Moses is clearly a very talented new director, and she delivers a well-paced beautifully shot film here. It is so nice to see such great use of locations made - always a challenge for budget-constrained, small films. But this movie doesn't look low-budget. For a story about a songwriter, it also has some excellent music by Lowel, daughter of screenwriter/producer Wendy Hill-Tout. They wisely use the werewolf effects sparingly, and make good editing choices around these.
The cast is strong across the board, everyone giving fine perfromances. The character elements are all fine here, which is important because this is, in my mind, a character drama with horror elements. And I found this very refreshing. Bare of many of the standard horror tropes, Moses doesn't resort to throwing in superfluous jump-scares and other nonsense. The horror here is understated in favour of focusing on the lead's struggle with both her creative life and her transformation.
It would have been nice to see more of Michael Ironside's character in this, and maybe give a chance for the lead to delve deeper into that struggle. One criticism I have of the script is that it is a little too "functional," and giving the characters room to breath would have helped. The script is a little too tidy in terms of explaining everything, which has a negative impact on some of the dialogue as characters explain things. Leaving some of this open to the audience's interpretation wouldn't have been a bad thing.
Script issues aside, this is well worth a watch as a refreshing variation on Werewolf horror films.