A fraught fever dream of a fairy tale from Chile inspired in part by the nightmarish goings-on at the Pinochet regime’s “Colonia Dignidad” torture colony, The Wolf House is something like a Little Red Riding Hood narrated by the wolf, an unpredictable, malevolent shape-shifter of a movie shot over five years of painstaking labor, much of it on the extraordinary stop-motion effects that make up its bulk. A film of constant disorienting transformations and smothering claustrophobia, showing the spirit of unsettling experimental animation found in the works of Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica, and Jan Švankmajer is alive and well.

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Video Quality

The Wolf House comes to Blu-Ray courtesy of KimStim with a fantastic 1080p transfer that represents the source to perfection. With stop-motion animation being such a delicate process, you might expect some variances in quality amongst some scenes, but everything looks homogenous in terms of raw aesthetics. The colors present in this transfer are not the most dazzling due to the grim subject matter, but the depth and nuance of the hues are admirable while maintaining crisp delineation.

The texture within this beautifully disgusting abode renders naturally with a nice sense of depth. The movement of the characters and creatures is as fluid as the process will allow, and they retain their crisp edges free of streaking. The level of detail this transfer reveals is a knockout with every intricate detail on display including some of the strings holding characters in place. Black levels are very good with no serious banding or compression issues. This Blu-Ray provides a fetching presentation for a staggering implementation of stop-motion animation.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio lossless track presented in its original mixture of Spanish and German with optional English subtitles. The track is a faithful experience that brings the movie to life ideally. The voiceover is persistent as you learn more and more about the coded horrors these individuals have experienced. This voice is very intimidating or time depending on the speaker, and it always comes through clearly. The feature builds up the world through environmental effects that add a nice layer to the experience. The music is precise in its handling of the core elements as it washes over the audience. The track employs some subtle activity in the low end when things get more frightening. This is a fantastic release that should more than please fans of the film.

Special Features

Collected Short Films: Three short films are presented here in HD which continue the dark, inventive stop-motion animation techniques (with some live-action footage).

- Weathervane by Joaquín Cociña (3:24)

- Der Kleinere Raum (The Smaller Room) by Cristóbal León and Nina Wehrle (2:26)

- La Bruja y el Amante (The Witch and the Lover) by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León (21:02)

Trailer: A two-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

The Wolf House is not what most expect from stop-motion animation, but the daring use of the medium to explore such traumatic material is something to praise. The execution is intentionally rough around the edges, but what this team is able to pull off on a technical level proves this is not amateur hour. There are some transitions executed here that will knock fans of the medium sideways. The movie is aesthetically beautiful and thematically heartbreaking. KimStim has delivered a Blu-Ray featuring an excellent A/V presentation and some great additional material. If you are up for animation intended to explore the full range of the human experience, add this to your watchlist. Recommended

The Wolf House will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray on May 21, 2024.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: KimStim has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.