In one final role from the late Robert Forster, a series of full moon murders consumes a small mountain town in Utah where authorities are beginning to suspect a werewolf is the culprit.
Image Courtesy of Orion Pictures
Written, directed by and starring Jim Cummings as Sheriff John Marshall of the scenic mountain town of Snow Hollow, Utah, who is tasked with solving a series of brutal murders occurring on the full moon. Sheriff Marshall is dealing with more than just a string of unsolved murders. "The Wolf of Snow Hollow" also sees the recovering alcoholic struggle with a failed marriage, rebellious daughter and lackluster department as he's forced to remind himself, there's no such thing as werewolves.
Image Courtesy of Orion Pictures
Cummings first got the idea for "The Wolf of Snow Hollow" in 2016: "I really wanted to make a serial killer movie, and at the same time, I was thinking about monsters — werewolves specifically — and had the idea of pairing that with a character who’s a recovering alcoholic. I was intrigued by the idea of someone who did something and then felt terrible about it afterwards." His prior feature, "Thunder Road" (2018), made a big splash at SXSW and Cannes and amassed a small cult following thereafter.
Image Courtesy of SXSW
Cummings also drew inspiration from werewolf folklore and its Middle Aged origins "If there was a serial killer in a town, there was perhaps no other way of excusing it. And as a monster, a werewolf is interesting to me because the villain might be your neighbor." If this is sounding a bit all over the place, it felt that way on screen, too. While I haven't seen his last feature, I wasn't quite sure what to make of "The Wolf of Snow Hollow." It begins like a distant parody, yet by the second half, it loses the little comedic value it had to begin with.
Image Courtesy of SXSW
At one point, after reading a couple of positive reviews that referenced dry humor, I thought I would give the film one final watch. I usually love dry, sarcastic humor. Perhaps I was not in the right mood last time. I cracked open a beer and sat down ready to see "The Wolf of Snow Hollow" and laugh this time, except my 3-day press link had expired. At the very least, the film generates a glimpse of awareness about some very serious issues facing our society: homophobia, violence towards women, substance abuse and aggressive cops - but it never quite lingers on any of these topics long enough to feel they are adequately addressed. On the plus side, it's only 84 minutes long.
"The Wolf of Snow" had its Texas premiere 10/8 at Fantastic Fest 2020 in Austin and comes out October 9, 2020 on all major Video-On-Demand platforms.
