FOXSYLVANIA

Many will talk about love this Valentine’s Day. Here, we will talk about werewolves! Kissing don’t last, bitemarks do…

I’ll have to admit that I was initially put off this film by its title of Viking Wolf, as well as by its premise that the werewolf in question was a 17-year-old girl. I didn’t want to see some dreadful teenage first date movie, or see my beloved werewolf horror subgenre messed with. Happily, I got around my reservations to find that Viking Wolf was worthy werewolf horror, and bites in a good way…

Now as for the Vikings, it seems Iike in 1050 they raided a monastery, cutting down the hapless monks who implored them not to break into a sealed room wherein resided the hound of hell, embodied as a wolf pup. Vikings like wolves, so they took junior on their ship back with them, which was a big mistake as he slaughtered them all on route, and established the werewolf bloodline in Norway.

Then almost a thousand years later, big city girl Thale transplanted to a small town with her police officer mother goes to a teen party in the woods where the werewolf bloodline member active selects dinner from the partygoers, and Thale gets a shoulder wound in the fracas…uh oh! She becomes increasingly wolfy and out of control, leading to memorable moments like the slaughter of a bus load of passengers when the moon triggers the transformation of Thale riding on the bus. Bless her heart, she wolfs out while still wearing her hoodie!

Well, it takes a grizzled old werewolf hunter missing an arm to get Mom to realize that her daughter is hopelessly a werewolf, and that a silver bullet is the only remedy for the “infection.”- – Talk about tough love!

Some people have called this “the best werewolf movie that they’ve ever seen,” but I wouldn’t go that far although the film is worthy of the traditions it invokes, tweaking them in an innovative way. The film does drag a bit in its earlier parts, and the werewolf design is less humanoid than what I like to see. This is basically a big, mangy wolf. There are missed cinematic opportunities, possibly due to time and budget restraints. We don’t get to see the actual blitz on the bus, for example, but only its aftermath. Still, this is a serious, well-acted and suspenseful film that shows us that the female can be the deadlier of the species…ARROO! RAWRR! 🐺

(…and Happy Valentine’s Day to all you young suckers in love from the resident fox anthro!)