Review: The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Director: Jim Cummings

Screenplay: Jim Cummings

Year: 2020

A small and quiet town is shaken after some murders start taking place every full moon. John Marshall takes the lead in the investigation to get to the author of these crimes, as he struggles with his alcoholism, a teenage daughter, his ex-wife, and his sick father. As if he didn’t have enough problems, he must also remain rational as the whole town believes the murders were the act of a werewolf.

Horror comedies hold much potential for failing, as balancing both genres is more complicated than it seems. This leads them to fail in one of the two genres, or even in both, and they commonly end up going deep towards the campy side but are often not funny. “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” makes a distinction from this tendency because of the subtlety with which it works in both genres. 

In essence, it is a horror-comedy, but it doesn’t abuse the one-liners but instead adds the funny parts as part of the plot’s organic development, to the extent that in some parts, it feels inappropriate to laugh at something funny in the middle of a serious scene. The subtlety in which the comedy is blended in is extremely effective in achieving its goal of being funny, as well as maintaining the viewer interested in the plot.

“The Wolf of Snow Hollow” is written, directed, and starred by Jim Cummings (“Thunder Road”), which means that his style is plastered in the whole movie. What’s more important is that his style, particularly his acting, is one of those you either love or hate without intermediate terms. If you are one of those that can enjoy his style (this was my case), “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” is a highly enjoyable movie. If you are on the opposite side, this can be a miserable experience, and even more when Cummings is on screen for most of its approximately 83 minutes of runtime. 

If the subtlety with which the comedy is developed is one of its strengths, the opposite is true for the horror. Being a werewolf movie, it is expected that violence and gore reign, but “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” feels tamed in this aspect. What manages to get into the screen shows some well done special and makeup effects that make us miss those violent scenes that have become a standard in werewolves movies and are lacking in this movie.

More than a horror-comedy, “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” is a drama where a series of strange murders are investigated, and it explores how stress and addictions can affect a person. The comedy is introduced in a much more subtle and effective way than the horror, and it lacks the explicit gore that has characterized werewolf movies for some time. The director’s presence in the writer and protagonist roles gives it a particular but polarizing style and is one of those movies that you end up either hating or loving.