2025 Alma and the Wolf

• Directed by: Michael Patrick Jann
• Written by: Abby Miller
• Stars: Ethan Embry, Li Jun Li, Jeremie Harris
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPLRJwXJjv0

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

A police officer with personal issues responds to a wolf attack. And things get more complicated from there when he, and us, start having a hard time telling what’s real and what’s going on. The acting is good, the effects are very cool, it’s short and moves well. Things are strange, but mostly explained in the end. We both liked it very much.

Spoilery Synopsis

We’re in the Pacific Northwest for this one. The sheriff’s deputy, Ren, stands on the seashore carrying a red balloon. He gets a call and goes to investigate. On the way, he passes a girl walking on the side of the road, and she’s not looking so well. He recognizes Alma and takes her in for questioning. Ren assumes she was raped, but she calls him a dummy and says her dog was killed. A wolf and a bunch of goats did it, but she was drunk, so who knows. Eventually, he gets the full story out of her, and it’s weird. Ren explains that wolves are protected, and killing one is a felony.

Alma and Ren used to be a thing back in high school; neither is looking too successful at the moment. He promises to kill the wolf for her. Ren goes to his son Jack’s game, and it’s clear that none of the townspeople much like him. Jack’s mother Connie is there too, and she hates Ren as well. There’s a whole custody argument.

That night, Ren goes off looking for the wolf that killed Alma’s dog. He finds the goats she described, but they aren’t normal goats. He also finds Alma’s dog’s leash. When he sees the wolf, he fires his gun. Then he sees it turn into a wolf-man. “I am the wolf and you are the weasel,” it says before it charges at him. Still, he’s pretty drunk, so who knows?

In the morning, the sheriff mentions that the lieutenant position is up between Ren and Murph. Murph brings in banana bread for the boss. Alma comes in, looking much cleaner, and wants to hear about the wolf last night. She guilt-trips him into a date. Jack comes over and talks about a talent scout that saw him at the big game.

The date with Alma goes really well. Elsewhere, the wolf-man attacks Jack.

In the morning, Ren gets the call about Jack going missing. He didn’t show up to school this morning and his dog was found dead. His meeting with the sheriff and Murph doesn’t go well because Connie keeps attacking Ren. As they all leave, Ashley, the town drunk, pukes all over Ren’s shoes.

Ren and Murph go for a drive, and they’re attacked by goats. Ren thinks the goats will lead him to Jack, but Murph isn’t too supportive. Night falls, and they get lost. Murph explains that he’s a pacifist and doesn’t even load his gun. Jack dreams about the wolfman and goatmen, now giant-sized. He sees Alma, “Search the trees.” Then he gets a vision of Jack in the lake.

In the morning, Ren gets divers to search the lake, but there’s no one there. The sheriff thinks Ren is losing his mind.

When Ren gets home, he finds Alma making scary meatloaf. She believes him about the wolf, which leads to sex. Ren tells her all about his life and feelings about Jack. Then he gets a call from Alma; she wasn’t with him at all last night– it was a flaming goat!

Ren runs over to Alma’s house and finds the nasty neighbor, Betty, outside the house. He shoots her. He then runs to the police station, and they say they found old Ashley in the woods with his head bashed in. Jack’s blood was on him. Everyone in town is starting to get sick, including the sheriff’s daughter.

Murph and the sheriff arrest Ren for murdering Ashley and Jack. Ren denies it. They have fingerprints, and they aren’t taking his explanation seriously. “He’s coming for all of you,” Pam screams before splitting open and releasing a goatman which attacks Murph.

Ren and the sheriff barricade themselves in an interrogation room as the goatmen try to break in. Then, the sheriff changes as well. Ren slips out the air duct while the sheriff holds the baddies off.

Ren drives out to the woods and confronts the wolf about Jack. We then get a flashback to what happened to Jack. He ran into Ren on his walk and they argued about Ren’s drinking. Ren wanted to go swimming at the lake, and Jack couldn’t say no. It’s really cold, and Ren wants to play “Wolf and Weasel.” This goes badly, as Ren ends up drowning Jack. Ashley came upon them and Ren ended up killing him too. “You are the wolf,” says the wolf.

Ren wakes up in the morning with a terrible hangover, but he now remembers what happened. He finds Jack’s corpse in his back room just as the whole police force comes to the door.

Alma, as it turns out, is one of the deputies, and she asks him what happened. We see the opening scenes again how it actually was, with her as the cop finding him walking down the road. Back in the now, he sees the wolf with the cops, and it goads him into grabbing for a gun, which ends the movie. Alma shoots Ren.

Brian’s Commentary

It’s a weird “What’s going on here?” kind of story. Is this all real, or is Ren losing his mind? Or is it something else entirely? It’s a mystery that doesn’t seem at all real, but then again, maybe it is. Ren is damaged goods, and Ethan Embry does really well with the tormented character.

The bits with the wolf, wolfman, and goats are really cool-looking. It could probably be debated that this isn’t a horror movie, but I liked it quite a bit.

Kevin’s Commentary

Despite the title, there wasn’t all that much Alma. It’s more like Ren and his Angst and the Wolf.

I was expecting something like a standard werewolf fare, but this was more strange and complicated than that. The animal/human hybrid prosthetics and effects were very cool. And I thought the cast, led by Ethan Embry, does a nice job.

The tragic explanation of things at the end was not what I expected.

Overall, I’d give it a thumbs up.