31 Nights of Halloween Horror - The Wolf of Snow Hollow

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

83 mins.

Dir. Jim Cummings

2020/USA

Did you ever get excited about a movie and want to like it only to leave feeling disappointed, because it had potential and they ruined it with stupid shit?  Wolf of Snow Hollow is a brand new movie that launched in theatres and VOD on 10/9.  Critic reviews were fairly positive, IMDB reviews were fairly negative of this apparent horror/comedy.

Movie starts with a lovey-dovey couple renting a cabin in the snowy town, abruptly named Snow Hollow in Utah.  It's a full moon night, they go out to a restaurant, poorly written dialogue happens that seems kind of out of left field, but I guess makes a little sense later on, but still badly written.  They head home, hop in the hot tub, guy leaves, goes in the shower, girl is still outside.  Guy hears a noise, heads out, find the remains of his girlfriend all over with the only evidence, a wolf footprint.  

Enter the basis of the story which pretty much ruins everything.  Jim Cummings, the writer/director/actor.  He plays John, the recovering alcoholic police officer son to stubborn needs to retire Police Chief, Robert Forester in his final role.  John has anger management issues, an ex-wife that hates him, and a teenage daughter who doesn't respect him.  He is constantly over-reacting and yelling and determined to catch what he believes is the killer on the loose.  Werewolf attacks again, wolf fur is found on the scene, John still thinks it is a man.  Werewolf kills again, some dead deer evidence shows a square is cut out of the deer's hide.  John is certain it is a man.  A red herring is caught, but in an ending similar to silence of the lambs apparently the real culprit was not.

I went into this movie blindly, not knowing anything other then it is a werewolf movie, obviously from the title.  And let me tell you, the werewolf scenes, what few and brief they are, are top notch.  Reminiscent of The Howling, so you can see why one may get excited.  At the end of the movie, I had to question wether this was intentionally supposed to be funny or it was just stupid.  Turns out, it was supposed to have dark humor.  It was supposed to be quirky, but completely misses the mark.  Kind of like if someone was trying to write something like Fargo, without any of the talent to walk that fine line.  Parts of the movie are played out serious, and then parts are over the top inane so you have to wonder, should I be smirking or is the acting and writing so atrocious and not intended to be?  The movie heavily revolves around John, trying to deal with the pressures of his father, the police force, his ex-wife, his kid and now a killer in his town.  But John is so over the top, that it takes away the feelings of, I am watching a scary monster movie or a drama?  Ultimately the killer doesn't need to be a monster, it can be anything because the focus is all on John, not the monster.  They could have called Murder in Snow Hollow and nothing would be different.  This flick could have been so much better if they played it all out like a serious horror film, got rid of the main character, cut out the quirkiness, and played up the werewolf which is all we really wanted to see, because that is where all the potential lied and it was skipped over.  A rushed ending and events that hardly pertain to the story or are not expanded upon don't help matters much either.

Going to have to side with the reviewers on IMDB on this one.  The trailer plays like a serious horror film.  The movie a lot less.  What could have been a fun werewolf monster movie, turned out to be ruined by the guy who was in charge of everything.