‘My Animal’ Review – A Stunning Romance Through The Lens Of Horror

Jacqueline Castel’s feature-length directorial debut, My Animal, shines a spotlight on Heather (Bobbi Salvör Menuez), a social outcast that finds herself secluded with her family on the outskirts of an already minuscule Canadian town. Heather and her family remove themselves from society, at least geographically, for good reason. They’ve got a generations old secret that must stay hidden: they’re werewolves. Fortunately for the residents of this sleepy town, Heather’s family are not your typical hungry or bloodthirsty lycanthropes, but rather take measurements to ensure they do no harm to others. Heather is seen chaining herself up at night so she doesn’t escape and her parents have a strict rule for her not to be out past midnight. Thanks to their care and precautions, there haven’t been any incidents for several years.

Despite the establishing of this classic horror element in the opening moments, much of the rest of the film plays out more like the romance of Twilight than the paranoia and town-wide werewolf hunt of Silver Bullet. As Heather is spending countless hours at the local ice hockey arena either practicing herself or watching her younger brothers play she encounters a new figure skater, Jonny (Amandla Stenberg), and develops a deep longing for her. As they start hanging out together, there are hints that this desire might be mutual, but Heather is held back in pursuing this due to her underlying conditions. Without small hints about coming back before midnight, My Animal nearly completely dispatches the werewolf plot in favor of the romance until much later in the film.

A brilliant craft choice found in this film is the use of deep red colors and lighting to contrast the drab white snow that is found all over the town. These red hues are used to signal the deep emotions that Heather is feeling. In many horror and thriller films, lighting like this may be used to signal something bad is about to happen or display the evil shifts going on inside a particular character, but Castel and cinematographer Bryn McCashin use them here to represent a vast array of emotions. Whenever Heather is feeling anger, sorrow, or passion, these red notes are present. Even her bedsheets are this protruding red. This lighting is also primarily used in illuminating Heather in these moments, not the whole scene itself. There is a particular scene with Heather and Jonny standing outside the local bar where seemingly the only light is coming from the neon red sign on the front of the building. Here the light brightens Heather’s face as they talk while Jonny is just backlit with this light, leaving her facial expressions shrouded in more mystery than Heather’s. 

Taking into account Heather’s isolation from the rest of the world by her family, she appears to be a fairly well-adjusted young woman who is only an outcast due to her situation, not due to any social miscues or quirks. The film paints her in a positive light, and shows her as someone who deeply cares for others. There’s the obvious werewolf situation her family needs to keep under wraps, but there’s more trouble in her family that they try to keep from bubbling up to the surface that helps explain why they are semi-reclusive. Heather’s mom (Heidi von Palleske) is a major alcoholic, and shows up drunk to a hockey game and embarrasses Heather and her father (Stephen McHattie) in front of Jonny and several others. It’s clear that this has turned into the primary issue their family is trying to hide from the public, not the werewolf lineage they descend from. The film has a lot to say about the different ways in which families shield the world from their hurts and misdeeds and the toll that takes on the other family members. 

Inside the thin shell of a typical werewolf flick can be found the makings of a deeply moving romance and coming-of-age story. Menuez brings so much emotion and power behind the character of Heather and drives the film through its meticulous, thoughtful pacing. Castel’s rendering of Jae Matthews’ script exhibits abundant promise in the technical space and makes a statement about her willingness to be patient with a story like this and not rush any part of it. The main downside of My Animal’s pacing is that it comes back to bite it at the end. There has to be some kind of payoff with the werewolf plot device that feels hamfisted in towards the end. Even with this, the film is a visually stunning exploration into the lives of Heather and Jonny as they navigate their newfound infatuation.

My Animal is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Paramount. The film will debut on digital platforms on September 15, 2023. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBelb-efRgA]