I watch and report on a lot of movies, horrors, and thrillers, but it’s not often that I come across one that truly affects me. That’s exactly what the Polish film Werewolf did.
Let’s start with the trailer and the film’s synopsis which gave away some detail but was able to keep much of the film’s events secret and I really appreciate that. I get so sick of seeing movie trailers that basically give the whole film away. Don’t you?
There are many things that I find much more terrifying than some fictitious monsters lurking about in movies, for example, films that center on real events such as wars and their atrocities. Those always seem to get under my skin. That is the case with this WWII set horror-thriller.
We are introduced to a group of children and teens liberated from a concentration camp by Soviet soldiers. The group is left in a crumbling country manner where their will to survive continues to be tested by marauding soldiers and Nazi trained dogs hungry for flesh. If that wasn’t bad enough, the children also face starvation and tremendous thirst which has a way of bringing out the worst in people.
If you are looking for shallow jump scares or otherworldly monsters that go bump in the night, you won’t find them in Werewolf. It will sink its teeth in and not let go though. This is a sophisticated film where all the true monsters are human. It is all about the human condition and the evil that potentially lives within us all.
Writer-director Adrian Panek has created a truly fantastic piece of cinema that pulls you in and leaves you on the edge of your seat. He takes the time to build real suspense, real drama, and real character development.
Kamil Polnisiak, Nicolas Przygoda, Sonia Mietielica, Danuta Stenka, and Werner Daehn star.
The child stars impressed the hell out of me. Their characters experience so many horrible things, yet the young stars pull off convincing performances in the midst of such controversial subject matter. Bravo!
The cinematography by Dominik Danilczyk is stunning. The way the muted tones and rich colors contrast from scene to scene is fantastic along with the clever angles used.
This is no average film. Werewolf is deep, it’s dark, it’s traumatic, it’s horrific, haunting, intense, and it’s beautiful. It will leave viewers experiencing a wide range of emotions. The possibility that children, women, and men could have experienced something similar during WWII should leave you with a broken heart.
I can sum up my opinion by simply saying Werewolf is brilliant. It’s out on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD in the U.S. on December 1, 2020, from Indiecan Entertainment. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
