Survival horror comes in all shapes and sizes. The recipe is simple: take a few ill-equipped people, put them in an uncontrollable situation and have them stalked by a relentless killer. Now that killer could be a homicidal maniac, or could be a supernatural force or something as basic as man versus nature. Give me realism. The more plausible it tends to be the better. Give me something that could realistically happen out on the trail and I’m sold.
Back in 2014, director Adam MacDonald brought us Backcountry, his first feature-length foray into this subgenre. The big bad being a black bear in that one. A decade later he returns to survival horror with Out Come the Wolves and I bet you can’t guess what’s stalking our unsuspecting victims this time around…
Kyle (Joris Jarsky) meets up with childhood friend Sophi (Missy Peregrym) and her fiance Nolan (Damon Runyan) in a secluded cabin in the woods for a weekend of hunting. Nolan is a journalist writing an article about the hunt, thing is he’s not so sure he could kill a living thing. That’s where Kyle comes in. Although he and Sophie grew up in the woods hunting wild game, she is now a vegan shunning the act of killing for sport and is using Kyle to fill in. The morning before they leave for the woods, the tension is already growing between the guys. You see, there was an incident when they were younger where Kyle and Sophie shared a night of passion in a drunken mistake and Nolan isn’t very comfortable with how close the two are. After a morning of half-hearted apologies, they guys head out in search of their prize. Little do they know, they will soon become the prey.
This film starts out with a bunch of beautiful cinematic tracking shots over, around and through the dense woods. Finally landing on the picturesque cabin in the middle of nowhere. From there it’s about 45 minutes of trying to build tension between the two male leads that comes off kind of forced a bit of a slog to watch. The first half of the movie Peregrym is my only bright spot. She gives a great performance as Sophie, the female hunter that has long since hung up her bow—purposely missing the target in the bow training scene, proving to the audience that she is the badass that’s going to save the day. I found myself completely bored with the two male leads though. I was fighting not to reach for my phone while waiting for them to finally get to the action. Runyan as the douchey journalist and current love interest made me cringe as he tries to play the alpha to Kyle. Then Jarsky as the sad sack friend that is totally and completely in love with Sophie but afraid to do anything about it was just painful to watch.
If you can make it through the first and second act then you’re treated to a pretty action-packed final 30 mins. The eventual introduction of the wolves into the action was the only thing keeping me watching and boy was it was worth it. As the wolves circle, the guys, armed with only a bow, a single-shot rifle and a knife have to fend off the vicious predators. The attack was visceral and although their screen time was short-lived, the wolves made an impact. The practical effects in this segment are done pretty damn well and I found myself rewinding a few times just to see the detail the makeup department put into the effects. Kudos to them on a job well done.
In all honesty, this really could have been a 30-minute short, cutting all unnecessary lead up to the action and I would have enjoyed it the same. With a film like this, I can come into it knowing absolutely nothing about the characters involved and still enjoy the hell out of the final act. I’m not a huge fan of this type of survival horror because the majority of the time anything prior to the action is just not needed. All the tension can be built in the actual situation itself cutting all other exposition. Hell, give me all the action of the final act and be done with it. Unfortunately, this film falls into the trap of too much backstory weighing down what essentially is man versus nature and nature winning.
I will give my respect to the director for getting this made though. That in itself is a feat worth applauding for anyone in this industry. I just can’t actively recommend this film. I’m not saying I would turn it off if I happened to stumble across the final showdown but that’s about where it ends.
If you want to judge for yourself, Out Come the Wolves is in select theaters and on VOD now via IFC Films and Shudder.
