Wilderness: Rating: 3 stars

British TV + werewolves = not half bad.

Reviewed August 30, 2007

A decent but fairly forgettable made-for-TV werewolf movie about a librarian who turns into a timber wolf once a month — which, naturally, puts quite a crimp in her love life and makes for great fodder at her weekly therapy sessions. I wanted to like this movie more than I actually did; it’s refreshing to see a werewolf movie where the wolf is an actual wolf, meaning that it looks like a largish dog and is not all that threatening to look at. The film sets aside the how and why of the heroine’s transformation and focuses more on the effect it has on her life, and on the inner struggle between her human self and her “inner wolf.” Also, there is lots and lots of nudity — yay for British TV! Amanda Ooms is good (and sexy) as the wolf–woman; Owen Teale was probably okay as her penguin–researcher lover (I say “probably” because I was too distracted by his freakishly misshapen head to note his acting prowess), and Michael Kitchen does a rare and refreshing comic turn as the psychotherapist who wants more out of Wolf–Woman’s story than she suspects. It drags on a bit too long, but overall it’s a decent flick.