Considering the mass amount of horror flicks that are quickly pumped into the genre each year, it only makes sense that a handful of these frightful features are inferior entries that fail to engage with an overall audience. While 2022 has so far been synonymous with horror byproducts that have catapulted this year into being one of the best for the collective genre, 2021 simply missed the mark on all counts, which was completely evident with psychological horror Wolf.
Written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri, Wolf’s premise is one that strangely allows its characters to fantasize about a greater life beyond the walls of confinement. George MacKay stars in the psychological drama as Jacob — a young man suffering from zoanthropy, in which he believes that he is actually a wolf. Placed into psychiatric care, Jacob befriends other patients and maintains an intense dislike for the Zookeeper — a doctor at the facility.
With a mind-numbing plot, it’s certainly no wonder that the Biancheri vehicle was relentlessly panned by no-nonsense critics, who criticized its strange angle on dysmorphia combined with its disoriented characters. As a result, Wolf, unfortunately, harbors a middling 45 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes — and even that is exceptionally generous.
Critics be damned, however, as arguably the worst horror movie of 2021 has gained traction on the streaming charts over this past week. As per FlixPatrol, Wolf has been rising up in the ranks on HBO Max, where it has been performing extremely well in the United States and has now cracked into the platform’s most-watched films. And while we highly doubt a sequel is on the horizon, subscribers can at least enjoy this animalistic adventure that was never going to wow the genre.
