Inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, To Kill A Wolf is the bold and imaginative feature-length debut of Kelsey Taylor. She has, to date, crafted a great many short films and a music video, according to IMDB. With this dramatic mystery, the writer-director demonstrates her bona fides as a genre filmmaker. Let me tell you, she’s got strong storytelling skills.
Dani (Maddison Brown) is found nearly frozen to death in the forest by The Woodsman (Ivan Martin). Through her recovery, the two bond, though both are trepidatious of the other at first. Once better, Dani insists on going to her grandmother’s house. But the Woodsman realizes Dani is hiding something, and their trip to her family becomes a running from something in her past.
To Kill A Wolf is told in chapters, like a book. This is a conceit that several filmmakers have taken great advantage of. Wes Anderson, for example, used the chapter division in his early works. With The French Dispatch, he took it one step further and presented visual representations of the articles that were printed in the final issue of a fictitious paper. Here, the chapter divisions follow the set pieces of the original fairytale. We begin with “The Woodsman,” progress to “Grandma’s House,” and eventually find ourselves exploring “The Wolf.” How these archetypes are handled is part of the fun of unraveling the mystery buried within. I shall not spoil that for you, gentle reader, fear not.
Maddison Brown as Dani and Michael Esper as Uncle Carey.
“…the Woodsman realizes Dani is hiding something, and their trip to her family becomes a running from something in her past.”
The film does not deliver amazing visuals per se. What Taylor really wants to achieve is a general feeling of dirtiness and an unsettled atmosphere. She wants you to squirm in your seat as Dani’s story unrolls itself slowly across four chapters. The director shares a few similarities with Hitchcock in this regard, and I look forward to seeing how she handles generational trauma in future films as she progresses through her career as a filmmaker and storyteller.
To Kill A Wolf is solely powered by the gravitas and emotional depth presented by our various characters. Martin is a great character actor, and the ennui he imbues The Woodsman with is stellar. Acting is in the eyes, and his are lively and emotive. Brown acquits herself well. She excels at demonstrating the emotions connected with bad feelings across her most expressive face. As Dani possesses much to grieve over, this is a perfect casting decision.
Taylor has developed a slow-burning, trauma-heavy, creepy rendition of Little Red Riding Hood. To Kill A Wolf is a somber, moving, and deeply tragic film. Their actions, sparse though they may be, weigh heavily on the consciousness of the main characters. The Woodsman and Dani are both traumatized people who respond to their shared sense of grief. They have both lost someone dear to them. Without a doubt, this is a haunting, mournful fairytale. If you need that sense of catharsis, seek it out.
"…somber, moving, and deeply tragic..."
