The Wolf of Snow Hollow

“You want people to stop talking shit about the police? Do better police work.”

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is the second feature for writer/director, Jim Cummings -- produced by Orion Pictures. However, this is also known as another great actor's final role. Robert Forester passed away after this film's shoot.

Terror grips a small mountain town as bodies are discovered after each full moon. Losing sleep, raising a teenage daughter, dealing with alcoholism/anger management and caring for his ailing father who's also the Sheriff, Officer Marshall (Jim Cummings) struggles to remind himself there's no such thing as werewolves.

I had actually zero intention of seeing this film because I had a busy final week trying to cram in as many 2020 films as I could. However, there was just a gut feeling I had about this film for some reason. I'm now going to listen to my gut more often because this is in contention for being my favorite film of 2020.

What impressed me the most was how skillfully balanced the tone of this film was. It presents itself as a schlocky B-movie involving a killer wolf, but this was also one of the most riveting dramas I've seen all year as well.

This film balances thrills, chills, comedy, subtlety and twists all while having a huge heart in the center of it all. I was genuinely amazed at what this ninety minute film could accomplish.

Robert Forester isn't actually in the film that much, which is fine because he was almost eighty. However, he was wonderful in every scene he was in. Cummings actually makes the age of Forester's character a huge part of the film because he is the father to John, our protagonist.

John is put in charge of the wolf murders investigation because its a small town with a small police force. Also, his dad (the Sheriff [Forester]), is too old to deal with it. While John is dealing with that, he has others problems in his life that creep up at the same time such as his problem with alcohol, his anger issues, his daughter that he has problems connecting to is going to college soon all while he's going through a divorce trying to get custody of his daughter.

Similar to someone like Al Pacino in 'Insomnia,' John is stretched far too thin by the end of the film. So all of those issues collide at the same time for John.

And while all of that is happening, the film still delivers its B-movie goods and comedy. Most of the comedy is character-based though and mostly comes from John who, if I have any complaints, can get obnoxious at times though that's his character anyways.

I just love how John's arc is completed because even though this has a B-movie premise, there's lots of greats visual storytelling. The final shot of this film resembles John's ability to not give in to anger to solve an issue. It was all visual and it was beautiful.

Being such a tight, efficient and entertaining film, it still blows my mind how Cummings was able to juggle all of the elements of this film and pull it off at the end in a twisting and satisfying way. Definitely one of my favorites of this year.

Rating: See It