"WOLVES AGAINST THE WORLD" (2024) Is A Mysterious Trip Into The Psyche Of Neo-Nazis (REVIEW)
One of the unfortunate truths about fandom is that within each subgroup there are often small pockets of undesirable characters. Take the film industry at large as an example. In a broad, and general sense, it is a place for all types of people, voices, experiences, and perspectives. At the same time, it is an industry rife will harassment that has and still occurs to this day. While one cannot disregard the industry as a whole for the actions of a few, it also highlights how prejudice, harassment, and racism become systemic problems that hinder opportunities for some and cause harm to the same groups and more. In our current day, we are seeing a rise in fascism across the globe with countless groups of people standing up to fight back against any form of hatred across industry, politics, and culture. These aren’t new problems, but they have adapted and grown just like we as a society have. That growth can bring positive and negative change, which is the heart of Writer/Director Quinn Armstrong’s second of three anthology films, “Fresh Hell Presents: Wolves Against The World” from Cranked Up Films. Is this tale of growth as terrifying as it is enlightening?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Wolves Against The World finds two members of a defunct neo-nazi metal band rekindling their friendship as one tries to atone for his past mistakes while the other tries to pull him back to his insidious roots as the conflict awakens the vicious animals lying dormant inside of them.
HOW IS IT?
One of the unfortunate byproducts of affiliation with the punk rock and metal scene is the uncomfortable adjacency to bigots and racists. Why most punkers and metalheads are some of the nicest people you’re likely to meet (much like many horror fans), there is still a small, and loud minority of folks who infuse their brand of hatred into some of the genres we love and cherish. This isn’t unique to music, and yet it feels like the music industry is a great hiding place for this kind of thinking that harbors neo-nazis and racists. In the second of three movies from Writer/Director Quinn Armstrong, under the “Fresh Hell Presents” banner, “Wolves Against The World” (“Wolves” for short)highlights how this special kind of hatred breeds in the underground and disenfranchised music scene while aligning it metaphorically with Nordic mythology and a glimmer of lycanthropy. As a drama, “Wolves” works well as a meditation on change and growth, but as a horror movie, it struggles to find something to sink its teeth into.
Louis (Micahel Kunicki) is in recovery, but not the kind you’re likely thinking of. Instead of drugs or alcohol, Louis is a recovering neo-nazi who separated from his former bandmates after deciding that a life of hatred and bigotry wasn’t what he wanted. Despite a shift in his moral compass, Louis is struggling to survive financially and as a last resort reaches out to Anders (Quinn Armstrong) for financial assistance. This cautious meetup jumpstarts a trip down memory lane that will force Louis to confront his past, not run away from it. There is a running theme of growth and change permeating every aspect of “Wolves”, from the characters to the situations they find themselves in. On one hand, Louis is desperate and knowingly asks this favor expecting it to rehash things he is working on moving on from, but at the same time he has nowhere or no one else to go to and reluctantly is left only with Anders as a possible olive branch. Figuratively speaking, so much of what is going on in “Wolves” is about the challenges of growing up and changing as a person. Regardless of the neo-nazi elements, it is clear that Louis represents a way forward of progress while Anders is firmly planted in the past and happy that way. So much of the tension in “Wolves” is just watching the two characters banter back and forth, waiting to see which of them will set the other one off by calling them out or harking back to the “good ole days” that weren’t all that good. The most effective aspects of “Wolves” are these conversations. They help us understand who these people were, who they are now, and to some extent, why things changed for Louis. This kind of deeply personal characterization and intimacy is refreshing to see in genre film, and as Armstrong stated in our interview with him, the horror is secondary to the human narratives at the core of his 3-part anthology.
That said, as a horror movie “Wolves” seems to be content only dipping its toes in the waters of terror. Unlike the previous film, “The Exorcism of Saint Patrick”, “Wolves” feels much less focused on the supernatural sometimes to a fault. The transformation of Anders and Louis can be seen as an analogy for the metamorphosis into a new person/creature, but it doesn’t deliver against that as much as one might like. This isn’t to say that “Wolves” isn’t a horror movie, but rather that it is a much more subdued one. As the tension between Louis and Anders builds, what becomes clear is that Anders has become a “monster” of sorts. He has cultivated a following of like-minded neo-nazis partaking in a ritual that seems tied to Nordic mythology, and the reference to wolves has more to do with that mythos rather than something more supernatural. The funny thing is, the analog works quite well so one could understand the decision to not make it more apparent and lean into the horror. At the same time, by leaning into these horror elements it could’ve made a stronger case for how lack of growth and change can ultimately lead to “monstrous” results. This lack of horror is felt most in the third act where despite some intense fight scenes, things just kind of end, and viewers are left with a resolution that doesn’t do much justice to the central themes throughout. Ultimately, these gripes are more preference-based than anything and don’t stand in the way of the overall film's thesis or impact. It is just a missed opportunity for what is otherwise a sober and sad story about being trapped by the past and fighting hard to progress forward.
LAST RITES
“Wolves Against The World” is a deep and dark cautionary tale about finding community with the wrong people and making poor decisions, only to take on the challenging work of growing and changing for the better. Despite some lackluster horror bits, the overall narrative is impactful as it grapples with modern problems placed in a more intimate and relationship-baed context.
THE GORY DETAILS
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Where can you watch it?
Wolves Against The World is out NOW in select theaters and on VOD!
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