An Unexpected Turn...

 One of the problems I run into is that sometimes its actually hard to find new films. that are interesting. And this is especially true in horror films. So, when I saw a Polish film named Werewolf (2018) I thought I knew what I'd be getting into. 

I was wrong.

The setting begins in a Nazi Concentration Camp in 1945. We see Nazi's executing prisoners and using vicious dogs to control them. Meanwhile, some child prisoners watch this, and when the Nazi's some in to check on them, they manage to distract them long enough until the Nazi's laugh and leave them. However, this is the end of the war, and so the children are liberated by the oncoming Russian Army... but largely left to their own devices. 

The children are brought to an abandoned mansion where they are to be cared for by a weary nurse until they can be returned to their homes from wherever they had been taken from. They are clearly all traumatized, and the war has devastated the entire area they are in. They have little by way of food or water. When they venture out into the grounds, they occasionally find bodies of soldiers... including one which appears to have been mauled by an animal.

The nurse soon becomes a victim herself, leaving only the oldest children in charge trying to keep them alive, they discover that the dogs from the prison camp they had been in have now formed a wild pack and they are laying siege to the children in the mansion.

It is a tense and bleak story, but not a supernatural one. The title recalls more the imaginations of children encountering something fearsome in the woods which is picking off the adults. It also calls to mind the plans of the Nazi's from after there war, with their Operation: Werewolf, which involved hiding loyalist partisans to terrorize and harass from secrecy. We also see that these children are almost feral themselves, only reclaiming their humanity again toward the end of the film. And finally, we see that one of the children is quite traumatized to the pain and horrific to the point where he secretly works against his peers out of jealousy... and learns the secret to command the formerly well trained guard dogs, thus implying that he is something of a werewolf in personality as well. There are many layers to the title.

Its a painful movie to watch, not out of gore, but because it is a chilling reminder of how horrible war is in its impact on innocents. It may not be about actual werewolves, but it is nevertheless, definitely a Horror film. 

The best scene in the film for me, is the very final one. The children finally emerge from their hiding place and move themselves out in search of food and water and safety again, complete with a new group of protectors

This film should NOT be mistaken for the 1996 film called Werewolf, which included such luminaries as Richard Lynch and Joe Estevez doing profoundly stupid things in the American Southwest. THAT particular Werewolf I recommend only watching the version riffed by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Its a personal favorite.