The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Great theme. Loved the setting for this genre. Great effects and super werewolf, what we saw of him.

Hard to get through all the yelling. And at times the only thing louder was the soundtrack. Tough to listen to Auld Lang Syne at ~100 decibels. Was hoping the main character would calm down at some point but he kept losing his temper, yelling, and blaming everybody for anything and everything. Every lead character's got history and problems; but bringing down the tone a bit along with a slightly less offensive main character would've made something decent here. The angst and anxiety were overly overdone. Felt the stress rolling out from the movie into the viewing and I can imagine to the cast as well as they were filming. Julia and the saged town sheriff played by Robert Forster brought some sanity to the mayhem. The new sheriff position rightly belongs to Julia.

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.

I hadn't heard of Jim Cummings before, actually the prolific Robert Forster was the only person I recognized, so I was pretty sure this movie would be crap. I also don't really like mindless and gory horror, or dark "comedy" that misses its mark, the former making me queasy, and the latter making me uneasy. Well I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. After writing a pretty tight script, with simple plot-points, character driven, decent banter in everyman speak, that gives even minor characters their own identity. Jim then hops up to the director's chair and pulls it all together, whilst also turning in a solid main performance. Again I must point out... He is playing an unlikeable character... It is not BAD acting... He is portraying an ex-jock, ex-military, alcoholic, divorced deputy in a small town, with an estranged daughter and a stubborn aging father/ boss. He feels his life is passing him by, he's surrounded by incompetent coworkers, overbearing constituents, and is making promises he seemingly can't deliver on... I thought he brought that right to the table steaming hot. The rest of the cast, particularly Riki and Chloe really assisted in fleshing-out his downward spiral. Is it a comedy? is it a horror? is it a... Who cares... it's a great story with chills, thrills, heartache, scares, shouting, laughing, crying, lying, and dying... You know... People stuff... Plus the wolf was great too.

Yes its slow, yes its quirky yes its a fantastic yarn. If you want Lycan action watch Underworld dont poo poo it because a trailer mislead you and then cry wolf in your review. Watch for over the top characters reacting to ott horror, perfect little Halloween treat.

Horror comedies are a tricky business - humour is so subjective, it could make or break a production. I warmed to this - ironic given the snowbound location - immediately when a diner, interrupted by two louts, asks one of them, "Do you have the internet in this town?" "Yeah, we have the internet." "Then why not use it? You could teach your mom how to read."

There's a caustic wit on display that runs all the way through, and balances out the genuinely nasty moments of gore, as well as softening the characters. Also, I love snowbound, isolated towns as locations for scary stories.

Jim Cummings writes, directs and plays the lead role in this. This is also the final film to star veteran actor Robert Forster. This is well acted across the board, by a cast who really seem to 'get' the quick-fire nuances and can balance them out with a growing sense of unease.

However - not all the jokes land, and sometimes scenes are over-filled with yelled expletives above anything else. Also, the balance isn't always there - scenes that could be really horrific are undermined by swift cut-jumps to jokey reactions and comedy music. 5 out of 10.