Nature shows us who we really are. That’s a notion filmmaker Adam MacDonald understands well. His debut feature, BACKCOUNTRY—which features the most ferocious bear attack on film, sorry, THE REVENANT—expressed the primal viciousness of the wilderness. The brutality of it. The cruelty. His latest, OUT COME THE WOLVES, cements MacDonald as one of the premiere storytellers in the realm of man vs. nature horror. As bloody and savage as his bear attack film, it delivers what you expect from the director on the backs of a pack of fierce wolves. At the same time, it feels like the filmmaker retracing footsteps with a story all too familiar to BACKCOUNTRY, one that ultimately lacks the same bite.
Kyle (Joris Jarsky) arrives at the cabin of his childhood friend, Sophie (Missy Peregrym). Her journalist fiancé, Nolan (Damon Runyan), has asked him to be his guide on a weekend hunting trip so that he can learn and write about what it takes to survive in the wilderness for an article in his magazine. Tensions flare early as Nolan suspects his fiancé’s friend may be in love with her, bringing true feelings to light once they are attacked by a pack of hungry wolves.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because MacDonald’s BACKCOUNTRY follows similar beats. A newly engaged (or about to be) couple in the woods. A pissing contest over a woman between her lover and a third wheel. An animal attack and fight for survival. Granted, there are just enough differences to set the filmmaker’s previous film and OUT COME THE WOLVES apart, but the shared plot points are difficult to ignore. In this case, Kyle drives up to Sophie’s cabin on his four-wheeler, roaring with clever sound design that mixes in the growls of wolves. Friends since they were kids, they share a deep bond, one that includes playful physicality and an ability to read each other’s tics. Nolan doesn’t take too kindly to their relationship, expressing jealousy and assuring Kyle that he’s the top dog in this awkward triangle, with Runyan oozing a predatorial aura that sets the audience on edge. Jarsky draws us into this sad individual who is clearly devastated by the news that Sophie is getting married, while Peregrym grabs the camera’s attention as a woman who won’t stand for either man’s childishness. MacDonald lets the viewer soak in the bubbling tension between these characters, giving us ample time to get to know them before tragedy strikes.
And strike tragedy does, as the characters encounter a pack of wolves while tracking deer, resulting in merciless choices and setting off a fight for survival. MacDonald and writer Enuka Okuma manage to toy with expectations, offering up a few surprises and hammering home the theme of nature revealing who we really are. The filmmaker also once again serves up shocking gore with some of the grisliest wolf attacks ever committed to film, tearing chunks of flesh and gristle right down to the bone. When on screen, these wolves are as vicious and intimidating as they come, inspiring a good squirm or two as they bite and rip and snarl like hounds from hell. Like BACKCOUNTRY, OUT COME THE WOLVES doesn’t shy away from the brutal violence of nature, but leans all the way into it, delivering quite a few nauseating moments. Unlike MacDonald’s BACKCOUNTRY bear, however, these wolves don’t have much presence when not in frame. While that bear felt like a character itself, always lurking underneath the surface of the scene, the wolves all but disappear, coming and going when needed for a quick adrenaline rush. They aren’t the true adversaries here, but rather reflections of the primal instincts resting inside of the characters. That might have worked, if not for the fact that the protagonists rarely if ever seem trapped by the wolves, always knowing exactly where they are and with the means to get away, cutting the suspense down by half.
As you can probably guess, OUT COME THE WOLVES is a bleak watch. It isn’t on the same soul-wrenching level of another man vs. wolf film, THE GREY, but that’s not without trying. All three characters—one more so than the others—are forced to face the person that the wilderness reflects back at them. Selfishness. Cowardice. Resilience. The forest reaches down their throats to see what’s inside deep down, and it beats the hell out of them while doing so. Aside from the bite of the wolves, characters suffer broken bones and broken hearts. One of them even tumbles and has their head meet a rock (another moment lifted directly from BACKCOUNTRY). Juicy sound design and frantic editing puts us right in the trio’s shoes for all of it. OUT COME THE WOLVES is a film you can sense clawing at you inside your gut.
On its own, OUT COME THE WOLVES is a solid survival horror film that packs a few punches while exposing the bloody mercilessness of nature. MacDonald proves himself as one of the premiere names in the subgenre. But it feels too much like a retread of what has worked for him in the past rather than a fresh step forward. Fans of BACKCOUNTRY craving more of the same but with wolves will be rewarded with exactly that (albeit a less effective version). Just don’t expect the filmmaker to take you down any trail you haven’t walked before.
OUT COME THE WOLVES arrives in theaters and on VOD August 30th from IFC Films and Shudder.
3/5
Preferred pronouns: He/him
Tags: Adam MacDonald, Backcountry, Damon Runyan, Enuka Okuma, IFC Films, Joris Jarsky, Missy Peregrym, Out Come the Wolves, Shudder, The Grey, The Revenant
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