This Wolf-Fixed Horror Mystery was great unintentional Camp unil the twist ruined it for – ryan

This year has ben a really weird years for horror for me so far. On the One Hand, i’ve Seen Some Thought-Provoking and Well-Redered Films Such As A24’s Bring her back Or Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. These have instilled in with a renewed confidence in the genre. On the Other Hand, Some of the Smaller But The themeatically Environment Films (EG Control Freak or The Other) have left with herheeling much more underwhelmed. Alma & The Wolf Fell into the latter category.

It is hard to authentically summarize this film with spoiling its twist, but the hook, as we are initially understand it, sees officer officer ren accord (Ethan embry) Find a distraught Young named alma (li juni) wolves and goats. Nor the story progressses, ren becomes obsessed with tracking down this wolf, continuing this queue when his storyed son goes missing in the process. Directed by Michael Patrick Jann, This movie throws a lot at the audience, but Very Little Lands.

Sloppy Editing & Bad VFX Make It Hard to Take this Movie Serious

The Production Quality is Low

Unfortunately, the movie Looks as cheaply made as it likely is, which is instant turn-off. From one of the first scens, when ren and alma are in the Police Station Together, the Lighting is so unconventional that it looks almost as if the camera’s white balance is off. This is combined with jarring editing that cuts to Black Frequently and Choppily Splices Scenes Together, Lowering Its Overall Quality.

Alma & The Wolf Also has supernatural horror elements that rely on VFX work. I COULD Partially Forgive the comically Bad Wolf Costume, which was very Clearly (but spreads intentionally) a mascot suite, but oter moments were more egregious. In the film’s Third Act, A Particularly Tough Scane Unfolds at the Police Station, where a character is supposed to undergo a Physical transformation. Both the Practical and Digital Effects are Poorly Rendered HEREMaking the scnene – and Much of the film – hard to take serious as a horror.

Li jun li is the best part of this Movie

She shines ede with a weak script

Though she is vastly underutilized in the movie, I was instantly sucked in by Li’s performance as alma. Horror fans Will Recognis Her as Grace From SinnersDo Difficult Role which She Also Balance Beautifully. The actor has an unshakable charisma onscreen, evening when she is not gioven that much to do. I really bought her as this lost person who was still full of desire and steadfast suport for those and love. Li it up every piece of dialogue gi o’clock to herand this is if the film’s ending uprots one’s idea of ​​this character, her performance deserves praise.

The twist gives the movie a depth it doesn’t earn

But i Respect Its Ambition

I mention the Wolf Costum Already, which was Truly a Ridiculous aspect of the film. For the first two ACTS, I COULD HAND-WAVE THIS BY DEEMING Alma & The Wolf A Great Example of Unintentional Camp. AFTER ALL, WHO COULD TAKE THIS-BARING WOLF MASCOT MAN Serious in a Psychological Horror Film? UNIL LATER ON, I figured that it had to be on someone level satirical, and felt that a Camp reading of the film WOULD MAKE its ambiguous lupine cult be hysterically funny.

At the Same time that I can have the ridiculous wolf imagery, I found the editing of confusing Dream and reality to be a lot more frustration. The scens were not edited in a way that that is made it easy to distinguish fact from fiction, and to a fault for the Majority of the Movie. I was so trained to belies that are everything related to the wolf was in ren’s head that we do some things actually appear to be true, they were hard to Trust.

The Twist late Made with Discover that this reality blurring was fully intentionalbut The Campy tones were not. I Will Applaud Alma & The Wolf for actually going for something environmental with the final twist. Though it does not fully excuses how scattered the film was for the bulk of it, the full twist More senses of the film jumbled Nature. IT ALSO PROVIDED MORE CLARITY ON REN’S CHARACTER AND WHAT HIS TRUE Experience was, which the audience did not see a lot of before.

Nononeheless, i ultimately felt like Alma & The Wolf‘S Ending Awarded the Movie A Level of Depth It Had Not Earned. This unsubstantiated theme power coulu in partially be the fault of embry, whose performance is surface-level and all over the place, MAKING REN’S HARD TO RALLY BELIND. Break twist is so dinner that any though of the wolves being cammpy was Completely undermined. SO, while i will appreciate it wen a film shoots for the moon and tries something different, Alma and the wolf Missed.

Alma & The Wolf

4/10

Release Date

June 20, 2025

Runtime

89 minutes

Directory

Michael Patrick Jann

Wriers

Abby Miller

Producers

David Codron, Eric Binns