The Wolf of Snow Hollow who is the killer

The Wolf of Snow Hollow
The Wolf of Snow Hollow who is the killer

Official promotional poster

Directed byJim Cummings
Written byJim Cummings
Produced by

  • Kathleen Grace
  • Matt Hoklotubbe
  • Michael J. McGarry
  • Natalie Metzger
  • Matt Miller
  • Benjamin Wiessner

Starring

  • Jim Cummings
  • Riki Lindhome
  • Chloe East
  • Jimmy Tatro
  • Robert Forster

CinematographyNatalie Kingston
Edited by

  • Patrick Nelson Barnes
  • R. Brett Thomas

Music byBen Lovett

Production
companies

  • Orion Classics
  • New Form
  • Vanishing Angle
  • XYZ Films

Distributed byUnited Artists Releasing

Release date

  • October 9, 2020 (United States)

Running time

84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [1]
Box office$266,963 [2][3]

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a 2020 American comedy horror film about a small Utah town that is seemingly terrorized by a werewolf. It was written and directed by Jim Cummings who also stars along with Riki Lindhome, Chloe East, Jimmy Tatro, and Robert Forster. The film is dedicated to Forster, as it was the last of his career, completed shortly before his death.[4]

It was released in limited theaters and on VOD in the United States on October 9, 2020 by United Artists Releasing.[5]

Plot[edit]

PJ Palfrey and his girlfriend Brianne vacation in Snow Hollow, Utah, where PJ gets into a verbal altercation with two local hunters who used a homophobic slur. At their rental house that night, Brianne hears a growl and is attacked by something while PJ is in the shower. He discovers her mangled body, with a paw print in the snow.

John Marshall, a Snow Hollow deputy sheriff struggling with anger management issues and alcoholism, is called away from a tense meeting with his ex-wife Brittany and their daughter Jenna to the murder scene. His father, Sheriff Hadley, and fellow officer Julia Robson have discovered Brianne's corpse, with her genitalia and other body parts missing. Sheriff Hadley worries about having another heart attack. News begins to circulate around the town about a possible "wolfman" among them, thoough John is adamant that the killing was done by a man not a wolf.

A snowboarding instructor is killed next, in a violent struggle in which one of her arms is torn off, followed by her head. When wolf fur is discovered on her body, rumors about a killer werewolf spread, much to John's annoyance. He gets into a physical altercation with a fellow officer who leaks to the press that the killer could be a wolf. Under stress, John begins drinking again.

While John and Julia drive to work the next morning, someone throws a beer bottle at Robson's car. Paranoid tips from all over the community roll in. Townie Liz Fairchild has a strange encounter with a tall man at a diner, which she reports to the police. Hadley is diagnosed with a heart murmur, and Johnurges him to seek medical treatment. They argue, with John declaring that Hadley should work from home. Hadley refuses to go for treatment. Later that night, Liz and her three-year-old-daughter are killed by the wolfman.

John, growing increasingly agitated and angry, combs through the town's records in order to determine whether or not the killer has had any personal relationships with the victims, and looks up some werewolf lore. After investigating Liz's workplace, they discover that the man Liz had previously encountered at the restaurant called her workplace asking for her. A curfew is imposed and an active watch for the creature is begun. After another cardiac event, Hadley agrees to retire and seek treatment at John's urging.

Jenna sneaks away in the middle of the night to see her boyfriend, and are attacked by the wolfman. John answers a neighbor's 911 call and shoots at the creature, but it escapes, killing an officer and wounding Jenna. When John yells at Jenna for breaking curfew, Jenna shouts that his lack of care is the reason why she is going away to college. After visiting Jenna and Hadley in the hospital, John breaks into Jenna's boyfriend's house and attacks him. Meanwhile, Hadley passes away from heart complications at the hospital.

Grieving for his father and frustrated with the case, John is banned from his support group meetings. The body of a man living in a camper outside town is found dead of a heroin overdose and the responding police believe he is the killer due to multiple factors including his height, his odd knife collection, the presence of a pet wolf-dog, and the discovery of a dead body in a woodpile in his backyard which turns out to be that of a missing woman. When the coroner insults John's intelligence and threatens to tell the press about his difficulties in finding the murderer, John deduces that the coroner was responsible for the vandalism of Robson's car, and fires him.

While John is out distributing evidence from the closed case back to its original owners, PJ contacts Robson at the station and tells her that his belongings contained a seam ripper that was not his. Realizing that the ripper is for taxidermy, Robson realizes that Paul Carnury, the town's only taxidermist, must be investigated, just as John stops by Paul's house. Paul seems eager for details of the case, and asks John about his daughter, something he couldn't have known unless he was present when Jenna was attacked. Deducing this as he walks out the door, John returns and asks Paul to stand up to his actual height, revealing himself to be well over 6 feet tall. He and slams the door on John and runs. John breaks into the house, discovering a workstation containing Hannah's head. John is stabbed in the stomach by Paul, who runs when he hears sirens after changing into a taxidermied wolf costume. John pursued Paul into the woods, who attacks him, but is shot and incapacitated by Robson. John gets up and shoots Paul repeatedly in the head before collapsing.

Later, John is helping Jenna move into her college dorm along with Robson, who is Snow Hollow's new sheriff. John leaves Jenna condoms for protection. As he walks out of the dorm he passes two men making sexist comments about the gymnasts in the dorm. John stops for a moment before walking away.

Cast[edit]

  • Jim Cummings as John Marshall
  • Riki Lindhome as Detective Julia Robson
  • Chloe East as Jenna Marshall
  • Jimmy Tatro as PJ Palfrey
  • Robert Forster as Sheriff Hadley
  • Will Madden as Paul Carnury

Production[edit]

Filming took place in Kamas, Utah in March 2019. Producer Matt Miller had known Robert Forster from a previous project, and sent the script to his agent. Director Jim Cummings said they "expected a polite 'no'" but Forster chose to take the role because he viewed it as "a dramatic movie about a father-son relationship, and complications of aging and health."[6]

Release[edit]

In September 2020, Orion Classics acquired distribution rights to the film.[4][7][8]

During the escalation of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the film had a limited theatrical release on October 9, 2020 by United Artists Releasing[9][10][11] and on video-on-demand the same day.[12][13][14][15]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

In its opening weekend the film grossed $91,943 from 112 theaters.[16]

Critical response[edit]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "The Wolf of Snow Hollow treads somewhat unsteadily between horror and comedy, but writer-director-star Jim Cummings' unique sensibilities make for an oddly haunting hybrid."[17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18]

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Satisfying enough as a horror/slasher flick with a black-comedy aftertaste, it has some commercial appeal but doesn't represent a step forward artistically."[19] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com awarded the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and wrote: "The snow-covered setting and bumbling cops, along with Cummings' deadpan sense of humor, have led to comparisons to the Coen brothers and there is a sense of 'Fargo meets Silver Bullet' in some of The Wolf of Snow Hollow, but it’s not like Cummings wears his influences as obviously as some genre filmmakers."[20]

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Wolf actually does that thing we all hope second features won't: It reveals that idiosyncrasies of an unproven director's debut weren't quirks so much as weaknesses — a disappointment for those of us hoping lightning might strike twice for the Thunder Road helmer."[21]

Grant Hermanns of Comingsoon.net gave the film a 9.5 out of 10.[22] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine awarded the film three stars out of four.[23] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club graded the film a B.[24] Don Kaye of Den of Geek awarded the film two and a half stars out of five.[25] Vinnie Mancuso of Collider graded the film an A−.[26] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting awarded the film three skulls out of five.[27] JimmyO of JoBlo.com gave the film a 9 out of 10.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Jim Cummings Talks 'The Wolf Of Snow Hollow' And Making Movie Magic On A Budget". Forbes. October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  2. ^ "The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  3. ^ "The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)". The Numbers. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  4. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 4, 2020). "Orion Classics Acquires 'The Wolf Of Snow Hollow' Starring Riki Lindhome And Robert Forster In His Final Film Role". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  5. ^ "The Wolf Of Snow Hollow: Release Date, Trailer, and More! by Shreya". November 8, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  6. ^ P. Means, Sean (October 9, 2020). "For director of 'Wolf of Snow Hollow,' filming a werewolf movie in Utah was like 'winter summer camp'". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Squires, John (September 4, 2020). "Orion Classics Picks Up 'The Wolf of Snow Hollow' for October Release in Theaters and At Home". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  8. ^ Hough, Q.V. (September 24, 2020). "Everything We Know About The Wolf Of Snow Hollow". Screen Rant. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  9. ^ Millican, Josh (September 17, 2020). "Trailer: Werewolf Horror THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW Arrives October 9th". Dread Central. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  10. ^ Kurp, Josh (September 17, 2020). "There's A Werewolf (Or A Serial Killer?) On The Prowl In The Chilly 'The Wolf Of Snow Hollow' Trailer". Uproxx. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  11. ^ Vorel, Jim (September 17, 2020). "There's a Beast on the Loose in the First Trailer for Jim Cummings' The Wolf of Snow Hollow". Paste. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  12. ^ Seddon, Dan (September 18, 2020). "First look at Robert Forster's final movie role in werewolf horror-thriller". Digital Spy. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  13. ^ Hamman, Cody (September 17, 2020). "TRAILER! WEREWOLF THRILLER THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW COMING IN OCTOBER". JoBlo.com. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  14. ^ Crow, David (September 17, 2020). "Werewolf Prowls in The Wolf of Snow Hollow Trailer". Den of Geek. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  15. ^ Collis, Clark (September 17, 2020). "Devour the trailer for horror-thriller The Wolf of Snow Hollow". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  16. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 11, 2020). "'War With Grandpa', 'Hocus Pocus' & 'Coco' Leaving Footprint With Families At Weekend Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  17. ^ "The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  18. ^ "The Wolf of Snow Hallow Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  19. ^ DeFore, John (October 7, 2020). "'The Wolf of Snow Hollow': Film Review; Fantastic Fest 2020". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  20. ^ Tallerico, Brian (October 9, 2020). "The Wolf of Snow Hollow". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  21. ^ Debruge, Peter (October 6, 2020). "'The Wolf of Snow Hollow' Review: Robert Forster's Last Film Awkwardly Faces the Monster Within". Variety. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  22. ^ Hermanns, Grant (October 3, 2020). "[Beyond Fest] The Wolf of Snow Hollow Review: Subversive, Offbeat & Quietly Thrilling". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  23. ^ Bowen, Chuck (October 5, 2020). "Review: The Wolf of Snow Hollow Is a Swan Song Worthy of Robert Forster". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  24. ^ Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy. "Jim Cummings' inspired werewolf movie The Wolf Of Snow Hollow has way more laughs than scares". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  25. ^ Kaye, Don (October 7, 2020). "The Wolf of Snow Hollow Review: A Quirky Werewolf Movie". Den of Geek. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  26. ^ Mancuso, Vinnie (October 7, 2020). "'The Wolf of Snow Hollow' Review: Genre-Defying Werewolf Tale Is Like a Coens Creature Feature". Collider. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  27. ^ Navarro, Meagan (October 7, 2020). "[Review] 'The Wolf of Snow Hollow' Is a Darkly Fun Werewolf Whodunit". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  28. ^ JimmyO (October 8, 2020). "JIM CUMMINGS' THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW (REVIEW)". JoBlo.com. Retrieved October 9, 2020.

  • The Wolf of Snow Hollow at IMDb
  • The Wolf of Snow Hollow at Rotten Tomatoes

Who was the wolf in the wolf of snow hollow?

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a 2020 American comedy horror film about a small Utah town that is seemingly terrorized by a werewolf. It was written and directed by Jim Cummings who also stars along with Riki Lindhome, Chloe East, Jimmy Tatro, and Robert Forster. ... .

What is plot of the Wolf of snow hollow?

A stressed-out police officer struggles not to give in to the paranoia that grips his small mountain town as bodies turn up after each full moon.The Wolf of Snow Hollow / Film synopsisnull

Is the wolf of snow hollow scary?

It isn't horrifically gory (but it's a little gory), so you don't have that guilty pleasure. It's also a comedy (surprise!), but not quite a knee-slapper. It isn't a parody movie in the vein of SCARY MOVIE; it mines most of its humor in the bumbling antics of the police and other townspeople.

Is the wolf of snow hollow worth watching?

The Wolf of Snow Hollow is delightfully off-center, a feathered fish that thrives on its singular weirdness and originality. The Wolf of Snow Hollow is manic and fast moving, a horror movie that will become more legendary as the story continues to be told. January 29, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…