Movie Review : The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

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Remember these movies you could only find at the video store? They had only one copy of it. Two max. It was systematically a super creative, weirdo, lo-fi genre bending movie that would later gain a cult following on Reddit or wherever else cult followings are created? I loved these fucking movies and I’ve found one of them last week almost by accident, while browsing one of my streaming platforms. It’s called The Wolf of Snow Hollow and it’s great.

Long story short:The Wolf of Snow Hollow tells the tale of a small resort town policeman named John Marshall (played by the director of the movie Jim Cummings) who struggles mightily with alcoholism and anger issues. When tourists get gruesomely fucked up on his watch, the pressure is on him rather than on his aging sheriff dad to find the killer and finally be the fucking man at the station. 

Fuck you, Philip Marlowe

This is a solid horror/crime hybrid in its own right, but what makes The Wolf of Snow Hollow both extremely funny and oddly gripping is John Marshall himself. Good fucking God is that guy weird or what? He is the proper antithesis to the film noir detective: he wears a uniform, respects hierarchy, his alcoholism is crippling rather than charming and best of all, he is the furthest thing from being composed. 

I really liked that character because although he is too loony to exist, he’s violently unromantic. He is embarrassingly flawed. At the beginning of the movie he’s three years sober and when he relapses, he drinks mouthwash. It’s both insanely pathetic and relatable. We all did shit because we were unable to emotionally cope with something or were just unable to stop ourselves. Marshall feels real in a movie that is anything but.

We’ve all known a guy who carries himself like the prom king, who thinks he should’ve been prom king but can’t handle himself while the pressure is on. John Marshall is that guy. He has these really, really funny fits of anger at the worst possible moments, shows a complete lack of leadership and yet, these self-destructive tendencies take control of him in a way that you can’t help but root for the guy to save his soul.

Indie Weirdos

Another great aspect of The Wolf of Snow Hollow is that it’s completely ambivalent about the genre of film it wants to be. Luckily, it hesitates between two cousin genres: mystery and horror. At some point, you’re absolutely convinced that you’re watching horror and then, the movie makes a 180 degree turn and becomes something completely else. I don’t know about you, but I fucking love it when it happens.

Sure, there are weird tonal clashes in the writing that feel very 90s. It took me by surprise once or twice. After an intense scene featuring a mangled corpse, last thing I felt like seeing was John having a freaking nervous breakdown and falling on the floor drunk. It’s not clumsy or out of place, but it’s quirky and it takes some getting used to. The Wolf of Snow Hollow is definitely a movie that walks to the sound of its own drum.

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This was definitely a fun throwback to the VHS era that didn’t feel gimmicky or opportunistic. It’s just a type of movie that isn’t being made anymore. An adventurous, genre-bending wildcard that doesn’t care whether or not there’s a sustainable market for the story it’s trying to tell. In other words, it doesn’t give a fuck. It’s just trying to have fun and spook you out with werewolves and murder. Mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned!

7.8/10

Disclaimer: This review was originally published in my April newsletter.