WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW is a difficult film to describe in a meaningful way. Yes, on the surface, it's a werewolf movie. A small town, with an understaffed and undertrained police force, is forced to contend with a supernatural killer. Can the committed but anger-management challenged sheriff (Jim Cummings) coral his team long enough to track down the creature?
It's a horror movie, yes. But really, it's not that terribly scary. It isn't horrifically gory (but it's a little gory), so you don't have that guilty pleasure. It's also a comedy (surprise!), but not quite a knee-slapper. It isn't a parody movie in the vein of SCARY MOVIE; it mines most of its humor in the bumbling antics of the police and other townspeople.
None of this sounds like a recipe for a very successful movie, and yet there is something about WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW. Writer/director/star Jim Cummings is a singular filmmaker. He's created a cop-hero who is far from ordinary. He wants to do a good job, but is nearly crippled by either self-doubt/self-loathing or by his own incredibly loose cannon temper. His father, also in law enforcement (and well played by Robert Forster in one of his final roles), counsels him repeatedly, but Cummings is a mess. It's a very interesting and unusual characterization; one that actually feels fresh and surprising. His fellow cops are loyal to him (even the ones smart enough to see his flaws and worry), but he even struggles to see that his peers are on his side and not working against him. The werewolf is almost an externalization of the lycanthrope within him. (Although, to be sure, the movie is not as psychologically heavy as what I just described!). So we watch the movie rooting more for this flawed guy to get his act together rather than to see the werewolf tracked down.
Cummings is ably supported by Forster and by Riki Lindhome, a promising and smart detective who also very much has Cumming's back.
The movie moves at a brisk pace, which is good, since what it doesn't have is a lot of tension. Even though the cops are bungling, we always assume they'll "get their werewolf." Most characters are not terribly well developed and we don't invest much emotionally into what the creature is doing to the town.
Really, in the end, it's just an odd, quirky, singular little film that I enjoyed probably more than I should have. Tough to describe, and difficult to recommend to just anybody, I'm still very glad I saw it. I'll certainly be checking out Cumming's previous effort THUNDER ROAD, and probably anything new he comes up with.
