‘Out Come The Wolves’ Review – Thrillers Gets Itself Lost In A Forest Of Confusion

Out Come The Wolves. They are hungry but rarely seen. This survivalist thriller sets up three people in the woods on a hunting trip. It is a story that is less about a confrontation with wild animals and more about soap opera drama. While intense by its sometimes graphic nature, Out Come The Wolves still feels anti-climactic. The film offers few heart-racing moments and keeps the wolves more on the periphery while the middling story plays itself out.

There is a line early in the film where one of the characters, Sophie (Missy Peregrym), says, “Nature has a way of showing who you really are.” The line proves prescient in more ways than one. Her childhood best friend Kyle (Joris Jarsky) teaches her fiancé Nolan (Damon Runyan) how to hunt to help for an article he is writing. In the woods, on their hunt, a pack of wolves ambushes them. Violently attacked, this hunting expedition becomes a race for survival.

Returning to the prescient line, the true natures of the character appear after the attack but do not expect a deep dive into human psychology. The film runs from any development or conflict and reveals itself like a tree stripped of its bark: stunted. The script is thinner than a dried leaf. There is an effort to make the wolves monsters, but instead, they come off as mere wild animals instead of roaming killers. The lack of character development or even relatable characters is unforgivable, leaving the audience disappointed.

This may be the challenge with animal horror in general. The monsters must be almost supernatural or a seemingly unstoppable leviathan to be threatening. On the one hand, Out Come the Wolves is an accidental encounter where the trio unwittingly crosses paths with the animals. This account has an inherent realism and gives off the feeling that it could happen to anyone. While the lack of dramatic stakes vis-a-vis the wolves is acceptable, the lack of character development is unforgivable.

Natures reveal themselves in the wake of the attack. If survival is not enough, melodrama is added to the mix of friendship and romantic relationships. This crinkle comes in the form of latent romantic tension on Kyle’s part, further adding turmoil to the ordeal. The film presents Nolan at first as a stereotypical hothead and city slicker, while Kyle and Sophie hail from an outdoor-infused background. The script offers little outside of brief anecdotes and almost lackadaisical development, again leaving the audience wanting more.

The characters exist solely to be put in danger, which is fine, but if the audience does not care about these three beforehand, there will be even less interest once the wolves start hunting them. The decision to keep the wolves so far on the periphery is a disservice. There is no true menace, leaving the audience unimpressed. Much of the actual confrontations with the beasts are like beats from a dramatized re-telling of an event in a nature documentary.

Out Come The Wolves builds its aim to be The Shallows meets The Grey. Both films put their protagonist against a wild animal—a shark in the former and, coincidentally, a wolf in the latter. The difference between those two films is the stirring characters. Here, the audience cannot root for their survival, partly thanks to the lack of development and the frantic structure of the story. The story forks into almost three separate narratives. The attack. The search. The fight. Multiple narratives are not uncommon, but here, no such narratives exist. These are merely situations drawn out for the longest possible effect.

And finally, the ending itself. The prospects could be strong, given the sparse story and mediocre character development. The film unsteadily crescendos in a man vs animal showdown, but the result is pathetic. There is a film somewhere in this venture, but it gets lost in the forest of its ambitions and forgets to see the trees right in front of it. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but Out Come The Wolves promises to make the trek unmemorable and dull.

Out Come The Wolves will debut in select theaters and on Digital platforms on August 30, 2024.