Review by Josh Felty
There's nothing better than a great werewolf movie, especially since Universal's updated version of The Wolfman is due out this month. Perhaps even better is a werewolf movie that is not overly concerned with transformation scenes and how impressive the wolfsuit looks. "Hey, it doesn't have a zipper up the back!" is not something you concern yourself with when watching Audie and the Wolf.
We start with the brutal killing of a notorious Native American terrorist being gunned down outside his compound. Before facing his own demise, the Indian fellow admonishes his pet wolf to run away, stay away from people, and hide in the trees. Strangely, the same wolf is hit by a beautiful young actress as she makes her way home from a Hollywood suaree and wakes up the next morning as a man, naked on said actresses bedroom floor. She's wielding a gun and bleeding, having been bitten in the neck. The man-wolf finds himself desiring the taste of raw meat, where we meet Audie.
Audie is a hot, carefree goth chick who works as a delivery person with her sister. She finds herself both grossed out by her new acquaintance's raw meat fetish and enamored with his human side. Audie finds her new friend apparently has amnesia, prompting her to call him John Doe. She calls a doctor, who meets a terrible end at John's carnal hunger for fresh raw meat. This continues for many more unwitting victims, including a Guatemalan housekeeper and a couple of devil worshippers Audie invites to help cure her friend.
What's most incredible about this movie is that it's part comedy, part horror; but deep down, it's a love story about a wolf who changes into a human. So we get to see things from that perspective, rather than the usual opposite incarnation that attaches itself to most werewolf flicks. I was most impressed with the character of Audie; she's goth, punk, and a whole lot of fun. She's really the sort of moral anchor behind everything and really a sympathetic character. The Wolf/John Doe is also a magnetic character, an antihero in many ways. He's just trying to make sense of the world around him, both corporeal and supernatural. And if that means getting it on doggystyle after hiking his leg all over one of his victim's homes, then so be it. Who said a dog can't have his day, right?
Audie and the Wolf is a wonderful horror film that's not too concerned with taking itself seriously. And that's a compliment, trust me. We need some humor interspersed with the blood and gore, and you get that with this one. It's not so much humor or campiness that it quells the overall tone of the rest of the film, just enough to get a laugh every now and then without having to resort to potty humor, stale satire, or downright stupidity. It's just a really truly fun movie, albeit one you may wanna watch after the kids get to bed due to a couple nude scenes. This film is what most modern horror movies, at least the ones that the big studios are pushing down the pipeline, should be: bloody fun, bloody hilarious, and bloody. We don't need gimics or subliminal, viral marketing to get butts in the seats. We need moving, thrilling stories that do more than give us a few cheap scares and send us on our way.
I suggest you see Audie and the Wolf if for no other reason than to be entertained. If you're not, then I can't help you there. I just watch 'em, write up a review, and throw it out there. I'm honestly amazed something like Audie hasn't been pushed up the ladder into more mainstream markets. But then again, everybody in Tinseltown's concerned with remakes or the next Paranormal Activity phenomenon. If it doesn't have loads of hype behind it, it's getting nowhere. And seriously, Audie and the Wolf has impeccible production value and a story that could seriously rival any drivel that eeks its way out of Hollywood anyday.
What are you waiting for? A full moon?