Wilderness (1996) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

MILD SPOILERS

Wilderness was originally a  BBC mini-series about a woman who thinks she's a werewolf. It was shown on BBC with 174 minutes of footage, but has been trimmed to 99 minutes for a video release. That compression is not without problems, as you might imagine, but the video still presents a comprehensible, often entertaining story.

Remember that this was on British TV, and you'll realize immediately that it will not be a typical werewolf film. The British censors don't much care for gore, so this is one of the most lyrical non-violent werewolf films you'll ever see. She's sort of like a Quaker werewolf. The film mentions one wolf attack, but there are no close-ups of the attack or its aftermath. Instead, they show the horrified reaction of a passer-by. Most of the time, the wolf simply leaves human company without attacking. Actually, this makes a lot of sense, much more than the typical werewolf yarn. Real wolves rarely attack humans, and don't kill without a reason.

The film doesn't picture any gory, bone-cracking transformations either. Those are done with a simple computer morphing program on the cheap, producing exactly the same type of effects you could do on your home computer.

In fact, at first we are led to believe that the psychiatrist and the boyfriend are right. She appears to be a meek, disturbed librarian who has molded her mental anguish into this werewolf story, possibility to let her act out her repressed aggressions through an alternate personality. As the story progresses, she gains control of her transformations, and is able to convince them.

The film also differs from the typical werewolf flick in that it has a certain intelligence to it. The co-screenwriter has written some very good recent scripts (Bridget Jones's Diary and The Tailor of Panama), as well as the Masterpiece Theater version of Moll Flanders with Alex Kingston.

One of the most interesting features on the DVD is a written article about the development of the project, featuring the tribulations of working with Ayla, a real timberwolf raised from infancy by its owner. Most of the time Ayla was a docile as a Collie, but she retained her DNA and could revert to wild behavior. At one point one of her handlers tripped when walking her, and was temporarily in a position where his head was beneath Ayla's head. This triggered some instinctive aggression from the wolf, and subverted the guy's normal role as a member of the dominant species. Starting a couple of days later, and unprovoked, she started stalking and attacking the poor guy incessantly, every time she saw him. They finally had to fire the guy so they could get Ayla's mind back on the film!

Since you are now aware it was a TV series, you're probably thinking it doesn't have much nudity. You're forgetting that this is British TV, in which nudity is almost mandatory. The quantity and context of the nudity here is very, very similar to the Nastassja Kinski version of Cat People. They might easily have called this film "Dog People". Amanda Ooms is naked throughout the film - probably 10-20 minutes of screen time, several different scenes. She does all of her transformations naked. She gets naked when she knows the change is coming, so she won't ruin her clothing. 

Hey, she's a werewolf on a budget, you know. They don't pay werewolf librarians any more than the other employees at the university library. In fact, many of the larger libraries are cutting back to only a single werewolf on staff. Certain hard-line CFO's are even arguing that a library doesn't need a werewolf at all, but I don't think it will ever come to that point. There are some things that man must maintain as a part of our precious cultural heritage, despite some economic hardship.

OK, I guess I've stolen enough of Monty Python's Pantomime Horse jokes, so it's time to summarize by saying it's an OK movie, despite the trimming.