90s legend Ethan Embry (Can’t Hardly Wait, Empire Records) and Drop Dead Gorgeous director Michael Patrick Jann team up for what appears, on paper at least, to be a new werewolf movie. This could not be further from the truth. Instead, their genre-bending feature is a strange psychological horror that cannot seem to decide on a tone. So-bad-it’s-good at times while at others deathly serious, Alma & The Wolf almost works for Embry’s committed performance and Jann’s occasionally mesmerizing visuals.
Welcome to Spiral Creek, a place where no one leaves unscathed. Deputy Ren Accord (Embry), a struggling father, stumbles upon a shaken former high school classmate, Alma (Li Jun Li, Sinners, Babylon) on the side of the road. Bloodied, barefoot, and clutching a bloody bundle, Alma emotionally claims that a wolf killed her dog, and demands justice. She calls for Ren to repay the deed by murdering the wolf. From this point, Ren begins experiencing vivid hallucinations: strange spectres, flaming heads, goat-like creatures surrounding a throne of fire. As his mental state declines, the line between fiction and reality collapses. In these strange visions, director Michael Patrick Jann goes full-tilt crazy.
Is Spiral Creek cursed by some malevolent entity, or could the truth be far more disturbing? The plot fills out with characters that barely matter, including Ren’s son (Lukas Jann, Oregon Trail) and a fellow deputy (Jeremie Harris, Vampires vs. The Bronx, A Walk Among the Tombstones), neither of which have any arc to speak of; only Ren gets the proper development worthy of a main character. As great as she was in Sinners, Li Jun Li does not receive nearly enough screentime as the titular Alma. Her blossoming relationship with Ren lacks an expected payoff, instead veering wildly off into a different direction.
While taking risks should always be rewarded, the tonal whiplash of surreal creature horror and cultish folklore doesn’t quite land. The effects are mostly practical, which is normally worthy of high praise. However, they are notably of poor quality falling prey to the lower budget trappings. There’s certainly some blood, and at least one pretty gnarly transformation sequence. Goat-headed figures and wolves that just look like men dressed in suits fail to convince of any transformation having actually taken place. Due to the erratic editing and structure, the film also feels quite jumbled and disjointed.
Visually compelling but narratively confounding, Alma and the Wolf is an ambitious but uneven dive into grief, guilt, and possible lycanthropy. The performances and aesthetics hint at something deeper, but the script gets lost in the woods whilst searching for a tone. The stylistic choices are fun to watch even amongst the escalating mayhem. Worth it for horror completists and Ethan Embry fans, this will probably not be a film anyone remembers by years end. Still, it’s ultimately a hell of a showcase for Embry’s acting chops—and some hilariously ridiculous plot machinations.
Howl at the moon for Alma & The Wolf, on Digital and in limited release theatres now.
