Wolfwood (2020)

Directed by Harry Boast [Other horror films: The Hollow World (2018)]

This British found footage film, alas, was a bit of a mess. And to be frank, probably a lot more than a bit.

About forty minutes in, something marginally interesting happens. Up to that point, we, the viewers, are watching along as there’s a lot of awkward attempts at conversation and remaining clueless as to what’s going on.

We know one of these guys (Harry Boast) knows the quiet woman (Rhian Williams), but we don’t really know how, and she doesn’t really seem that interested in interacting with him. Throw in the guy’s friends (James Bryant and Mandy Rose), who don’t know anything about Williams’ character, apparently, and it’s just awkward and boring.

Honestly, the most interesting thing about this film, and interesting is a strong word, is the fact it’s British. And sadly, that stands true as we finally learn a little more as to what’s going on. At the same time, though, while we do learn a few things, a lot of the information is jumbled and confusing.

These werewolves pop up, and I’m not sure if they’re the same thing as the aliens, and if that point of confusion befuddles you, just watch this and see what I mean.

Being a found footage film, a lot of the movie is a shaky camera being dragged along by a guy going through the woods with his increasingly annoying friends. Like, I get why Mandy Rose’s character would be a bit peeved, but she blames Williams’ character before Boast’s, which was just irritating. Also, she apparently trained as a nurse, but has no sympathy for those who self-harm, so that’s just grand.

It’s hard to fully explain how terrible a lot of this was. It wasn’t just that it was dull for a long period of time, or awkward (though it was both of these things) – I’m not one to get nauseated or disoriented during found footage movies, but damned if I wasn’t getting a headache watching this.

Guys, it’s not just one bloke and his camera – we get some cameras that were apparently in Williams’ house, Williams’ cell-phone camera, some highway camera footage (for god knows what reason – would that really be in the scope of a Freedom of Information request that apparently garnered this footage?), and all of this mixed in with a confusing story about werewolves, OCD people who don’t strike me as OCD whatsoever, aliens, and 28-year and 11-year schedules within schedules (dude, I was honestly lost during 90% of that explanation) made for a pretty terrible time.

I don’t place any of the blame on the actors – I think they all did what they could with what they had. Sure, Mandy Rose’s character irked me, and I thought that James Bryant’s character was an idiot for lugging that camera around everywhere (I love how every found footage character that’s a film student has to record everything), but none of that is on the actors or actresses.

Wolfwood had some potential given the British countryside and performances involved, but the story was just messy and confusing. Maybe I’m alone in thinking it felt off, even – certainly if more people see this one and end up liking it, I’ll be okay with admitting I missed something. For now, though, this was a very rough watch. The movie was only 73 minutes, but boy, what a tough 73 minutes that was.

2/10

This is one of the films covered on Fight Evil’s podcast. To hear Chucky and I discuss how terrible this film is, look no further.