Wolf Garden

Wolf Garden (2023) is a British movie that I recently watched on Shudder and is also available on Tubi. The storyline follows a man who has decided to live by himself in the woods after something bad has happened. He is haunted by visions of a woman and starts feeling like there's something in the woods watching him. As the man's story unfolds we uncover why the man lives alone, who the woman is/was and how it relates to the feeling of being watched.

This movie is written, directed by and stars Wayne David, in his directorial debut, and also stars Sian Altman (The House of Van Helsing), Grant Masters (Dark Encounter) and Jake Wood (The Illusionist).

This movie had the potential to be a solid character piece based on the circumstances, settings and subtle horror elements. The background growling for the beast was well done, but we needed way more scenes of the creature instead of just noises. The acting was average and fit the storyline. The ending "big reveal" was a let down, as was the transformation scene.

Overall, there's really nothing going on in this rare slow burn werewolf picture. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Some think they are writers, directors, actors, but they are ... Some movies are bad, some offer a minimum of entertainment, some make you drowsy and sleep, some are just total waste of money and resources, well, this one is total waste of everything and an insult to entertainment. It is not even a slow-burn, it's nothing.

So sad for the beautiful and talented Chantelle.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 2
• Development: 3
• Realism: 4
• Entertainment: 1
• Acting: 4.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 5.5
• VFX: 7.5
• Music/score/sound: 4
• Depth: 1.5
• Logic: 1
• Flow: 0.5
• Horror/thriller: 2
• Ending: 1.5.

There's something about a movie that does things a bit differently from what you expect. This film isn't really a werewolf movie, more the story of a man losing his mind whilst the theme of werewolves is ever present and lurking in the shadows.

It's a slow burn and there's not a lot going on at times but its got so much atmosphere and tension that you are kept intrigued by what has happened or is going to happen.

The performances are pretty solid (the ghostly man was great) and the music and sound design are on point.

Aside from what felt like a quick ending to the film, I'd say this is well worth a look if you want something closer to The Shining than Dog Soldiers.

This movie was a great watch. Full of suspense, great visual and sound effects

It teases you just enough to think you know what's happening, but cleverly leads you up to that final big reveal. A slow burn, but intriguing and captivating at every moment and will make you jump a few times.

Intertwined in the Werewolf theme is a love story full of inner turmoil and mystery.

Performances from all the cast were spot on. I particularly enjoyed the Character development of William, which sees him holding onto the past, whilst struggling with his internal conflict around the present.

I would absolutely recommend this movie and hope to see more from Writer, Directer and Actor, Wayne David.

Living on a remote British farm, a man and his wife try to make their idyllic life worthwhile as he harbors a monstrous secret living in a secret shed on his property, but as he continues to come to terms with the ramifications of his secret the truth could have more bearing than he imagined.

Overall, this was a watchable if somewhat problematic genre effort. Among the better elements here is the slow-burn approach that takes more of a mystery angle to everything despite being way too easy to guess. The first half here is littered with clues about this strange circumstance as dreams, hallucinatory visions and interactions with others paint a picture of something happening that is gradually set up for the later parts of the film. Handled with enough unnerving tension as to what's going on and the potential for a grisly resolution based on the bloody bodies he keeps witnessing, it all sets the stage for a genuinely enjoyable confrontation at the finale where a nice reveal brings the monstrous outcome to light with several thrilling encounters in the woods and surrounding farmhouse. These are enough to make for a lot to like even though there are still plenty of issues within this one that hold it down. Most of those come from the films' incredibly sluggish and unlikable pacing that will put the most venturesome of viewers to sleep long before any of those positives emerge. A lyrical structure that never makes it clear what's going on is a flashback, a dream, the present day, or some dark form of wishful thinking, the whole idea of what's going on is so haphazardly handled and makes no sense that it becomes nearly impossible to follow along even before anything happens. Starting with the idea of a dark secret and then forcing this type of structure upon us while in the process of explaining what it is doesn't make for a very immersive time as far too much of this is designed to make a reveal happen at the latest possible opportunity through this which gives the film a rather troubling feature. That's not helped at all by the inherent inability to really deliver on the creature feature action so wanted and desired by fans of the genre. Relying on incredibly brief snippets that are frustratingly unclear on anything and on the series of timeline jumps that leave so much of what's going on ambiguous due to the various unexplained scenarios, the end result is that the aforementioned creature attacks are so late in the running time that we're not that invested in anything. When it does decide to get to the creature action as well, this is all so predictable and already sussed out that there's no surprise from anything despite being treated as a grand surprise despite being incredibly obvious. Overall, these factors are what end up bringing this one down the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.