The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Snow Hollow, Utah, a small town which makes its money as a skiing and snowboarding resort, the bars and chalets filled through the winter months; in town with his girlfriend, city boy PJ intends to propose to Brianne but instead finds her laying in the snow, steam rising into the frosty night sky from the waters of the hot tub and the blood spilled from her savaged body, pale under the full moon.

A recovering alcoholic, Officer John Marshall finds himself moving from twelve steps to animal tracks, the hair on the body matching that of a grey wolf but the length of the stride indicating that it is as big as a Kodiak bear, an animal not known for taking trophies from its victims: “There is no such thing as werewolves,” he tells his squad, but the mounting evidence suggests otherwise.

Written and directed by Jim Cummings who also stars as Officer Marshall, The Wolf of Snow Hollow pits him against hostile townsfolk, frightened for their children and their livelihoods, a leak in the department, his own insecurities as he transitions into the role soon to be vacated by Sheriff Hadley, the temptation of the bottle and the mysterious beast itself.

The final film of Twin Peaks’ Robert Forster, Sheriff Hadley is stubborn and in calm control of everything but his declining health, respected in a way which John feels he cannot match, out of his depth on a high-profile case which defies rational analysis, the pressure and scrutiny multiplying with every subsequent horrific murder.

A gory horror, a family drama and a character study, The Wolf of Snow Hollow is also a broad comedy, particularly in John’s reactions to the off-kilter investigation and his increasingly fraught relations with his fellow officers, the recalcitrant pathologist and his resentful ex-wife with whom their teenage rebellious daughter lives, his only ally Knives Out’s Riki Lindhome as Office Julia Robson.

An efficient hybrid of Snowbeast and Silver Bullet possessed of sharp teeth, the mountainous terrain of The Wolf of Snow Hollow is magnificent and daunting, beautiful at a remove but terrifying to be lost in, the inverted overlaid images of the opening titles indicating how swiftly life can turn upside down and become disorienting when tracking a monster through the snow.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is available now on Prime Video

Comments

comments

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons