Are We Monsters - FrightFest 2021

Are We Monsters asks some big questions that have been asked many times and will continue to be asked, as they should be. We should be continually assessing ourselves to changing circumstances and surroundings and if necessary be prepared to adjust or take issue.

The themes aren’t buried that deep and set up at the start of the film when father (Justin Haywood) and son Everett (John Black) set off on a werewolf hunt with the last remaining silver bullets that are capable of killing the creature (more on that later). It doesn’t quite go to plan with father killed along with one of the creatures, but the final bullet is discharged to no effect.

Going forward Maya (Charlotte Olivia) is in the wood for good reason and joined by Luke (Jathis Sivanesan) an excitable person with an occult interest who nearly gets himself killed. Also there are hunter brothers Connor (Stefan Chanyaem) and the aforementioned Everett.

For Connor it is an almost evangelical mission to destroy the creatures at all costs while Everett remembering his father’s words has a more open and questioning mind on who are the monsters and what is evil. It’s all gets very uneasy once the group understand who they with their opposing motives and outlooks to the what some perceive to be as a problem.

The most welcoming element of Seb Cox’s film - he directed and cowrote with John Black - is taking a different tack on werewolf lore (including the silver bullets) and their appearance, plus the ambition of the film to experiment with animation using to their origin other sections. The simple looking line animation is very effective especially as we get to the denouement. This may have been budgetary as there’s selective use of CGI for the creatures who have a distinct appearance compared to what we are used to seeing for werewolves.

The pacing is gentle which for a dialogue heavy film such as this could have been tricky however the sporadic violence and animation ensure there aren’t any deep lulls. The film becomes denser as it goes on and the characters develop with issues being introduced though by and large the cast handle this pretty well though there’s never a great deal of empathy for any of them despite the obvious developing bias.