Amazon.com
A mix of revisionist fairy tale and social satire, this gay allegory imagines urban runaways as storybook werewolves lurking around the fringes of a quaint little village. Gabriel (James Layton) is a rascally, seductive veteran of the wilds who fancies young Seth (Lee Williams), an innocent newcomer tossed out of his home by parents appalled at his sudden transformation from normal boy to... wolf. Sporting shaggy fur coats, long fingernails, and pointy Spock-like ears, these handsome young cubs are a cross between Dickensian street urchins,
Peter Pan's Lost Boys, and modern homeless kids. Harmless (except when committing petty crimes and doing some minor hell raising), they are feared and despised by the good churchgoing folk of the town, demonized in sermons, and blamed for the crimes of a few citizens whose pious façades hide the true evil in this rural paradise. It's a modest little tale with a simplistic view (it's a fairy tale, after all) and easy scapegoats in the scheming elderly villagers, but it's a clever approach accomplished with suggestion and sly revisionism. A rebellious city girl puts a cute twist on "Little Red Riding Hood" when she seduces the cute, naïve Seth, and a priest proclaims, "There were no wolves in the Garden of Eden," before loading his gun for a hunting expedition. Sweet, romantic, and sad, there's even a "happily ever after" worked into an otherwise tragic turn.
--Sean Axmaker
Reader Reviews
This is one of those rare movies that upon first view it enthralled and frightened me with it's subconsious familiarity. From Boy George's first words of narration to the strange interaction of a local women to these two "wolves" I was hooked. And while it could be seen as simpistic. When have fairy tales ever been complex? A case could be made that the acting is all over the place. Have you seen Star Wars II? The great "secret" of this movie seemed a bit obvious. But considering the current stuff in the paper seems sort of precient. Entertaining. Sensual. Evocative. Strange.
