Movie Thoughts: Out Come the Wolves (2024)

• Released: August 30th, 2024
• Directed by: Adam MacDonald
• Running time: 1h 26m
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

Two men go out deer hunting and end up straying into the territory of a vicious pack of wolves. One of them, Nolan, is attacked and badly injured. Now it's up to the other, Kyle, as well as Nolan's partner Sophie to rescue Nolan before he perishes from his injuries.

My Thoughts

Apparently this movie is labeled as horror? Werewolf horror on IMDb even? I don't know, I didn't find this movie scary at all and there's no werewolves in it, just normal wolves. Feels like false advertising to me.

As for the movie itself. It's not terrible. But I also wouldn't call it good. The acting is fine, there are some interesting shots, and I really liked the wolf actors (they got actual wolves, no CGI or lazy wolfdogs). The story also kept me engaged pretty well and I liked the nice setting of the forest.

But man, I kinda couldn't stand these characters. Like, do they really expect me to root for these two asshole guys who not only set out to kill innocent animals, but are also constantly taking low jabs at one another because they're both in love with Sophie? The love triangle really did this movie no favors.

Sophie is pretty much the only likable character in this (aside from the wolves). She's vegan and purposefully doesn't set out to hunt, and when she does attack the wolves it's in self-defense and not because she's actually hunting them like Nolan and Kyle were doing at the start of the movie.

Honestly I kind of am rooting more so for the deer and the wolves than the human characters this movie. Nolan and Kyle are just petty jerks who are invading the animals' territory to kill them for no good reason, the wolves are just defending their territory and prey against human trespassers. So honestly when the wolves attacked the unlikable hunter characters I was at times rooting more so for the bloodthirsty animals than the bloodthirsty humans.

But eh, even with the unlikable characters the movie isn't terrible. It definitely kept me engaged, the actors do a fine job, there's some pretty nature shots, the wolves do a good job at looking menacing. If I do have another criticism I guess it's that the settings aren't very varied. Pretty much the entire movie takes place in only two locations: Sophie and Nolan's home, and the forest. Even if the forest is a pretty setting for the film to take place in, it does feel a bit same-y after a while.

Not a terrible movie but I feel that if it had actually likable main characters it could've worked so much better. Nolan and Kyle are both selfish jerks (to varying degrees) and if the movie had gone out of its way to show that they are likable characters instead, I probably would've rooted for them way more.