A whodunit murder mystery with claws and comedy
Ranger Finn Wheeler arrives at his new assignment, a sleepy little town in the woods named Beaverfield. The mild-mannered Ranger at the town lodge and winds up interrupting a conversation between the inn keeper, Jeanine (Catherine Curtin (Stranger Things)) and oil man Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall (Lincoln.)) Parker’s plans to build an oil pipeline have the townsfolk divided, which becomes a major plot device.
Jeanine shows Finn (Veep’s Sam Richardson) to his room, and he puts things away just before following the town’s mail carrier, Cecily (Milana Vayntrub (This is Us)). Finn and Cecily hit it off right away and she introduces him to the rest of the town’s residents. Devon (Cheyenne Jackson (30 Rock)) and Joaquim (Harvey Guillen (What We Do In The Shadows)) are the town’s token gay couple. Gwen (Sarah Burns (Barry)) is the town mechanic. Her husband Marcus (George Basil (Crashing)) is a moron redneck.
Finn and Cecily are greeted by Trish (Michaela Watkins (Wanderlust)), the town’s resident Karen. Her husband, Pete (Michael Chernus (Orange is the New Black)) is the right wing, “get off my lawn” neighbor. The strange nature expert, Dr. Ellis (Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll)) and the town hermit, Emerson (Glenn Fleshler (Joker)) round out the cast.
A month before Finn’s arrival, Jeanine’s husband ran off with his mistress. She’s pretty distraught and doesn’t really get to grieve because she is constantly taking care of everyone else. Finn’s first day is very eventful, as he meets all of the town’s residents and gets to have a semblance of a date with Cecily in an axe-throwing bar. The next morning, Trish’s dog gets eaten by a mysterious creature, and the werewolf whodunnit begins.
Finn is the ultimate nice guy and Richardson plays him as the straight man to perfection. All of the other characters are so over the top that he needs to ground the whole performance. He and Vayntrub have an instant chemistry that is on display thanks to writer Mishna Wolff’s (Limp) fun dialogue. Finn’s timid nature is outlined from the beginning of the film as he is listening to a self-help book and trying to get in touch with his (ex-) girlfriend.
Once the introductions are over and the plot is set up, Werewolves provides a comedic case study of motivations and how far people will go out of fear and greed. The townspeople are split almost 50/50 on their feelings about the proposed pipeline. This leads to some arguments before everything ramps up to super violent. For a big chunk of the movie, the characters aren’t certain if there is or isn’t a werewolf, even as they’re getting taken out one by one.
The film feels a bit slow at times because Wolff and director Josh Ruben (Scare Me) allow plenty of time and space for reaction shots. Richardson and Vayntrub have multiple exchanges that allow for deadpan performances among all of the chaos and mayhem. The humor is right along the lines of Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, but the film never feels that slow.
This one has been on my radar since I saw the trailer last year and I am so delighted at what Wolff and Ruben cooked up. Richardson and Vayntrub are a delight together and all of the other actors lean hard into the cooky aspects of their characters. Werewolves Within is a fun ride with witty dialogue, great comedic timing, and a storyline that is super satisfying.
Werewolves Within clocks in at 1 hour and 37 minutes and is available on streaming services as of July 2, 2021.