When a trio of young children play what appears to be an
innocent game of hide and seek, the dreamy slow motion and throbbing score
inform you that there is something much darker on the hunt. So begins
Big Bad Wolves, the now-on-Blu-ray thriller from directing
duo Aharon Keshales Navot
Papushado—the pair behind 2010’s Rabies, the first horror
movie to come out of Israel. Tense, twisted, and, oddly enough, startlingly
funny in a way that occasionally calls to mind early Coen Brothers films, Big
Bad Wolves grabs you from the opening and drags you, often kicking
and screaming, along for the ride.
This first scene results in the horrific kidnapping and
murder of a young girl, and this tragic even throws three men together in a
brutal collision. You have Micki, (Lior Ashkenazi), the cop on the case who
works outside the restrictive bounds of the law; Gidi (Tzahi Grad), the father
of the dead girl; and Dror (Rotem Keinan),
the suspected killer. Before long, Dror is strapped to a chair in the basement
of a secluded house, as the others work him over, searching for answers about
Gidi’s daughter’s missing head. No one should have to bury their child without
a head. The whole film plays like the reverse of a fairy tale, designed to
terrify parents instead of their children.
While this could have easily descended into another torture
movie, and there are definitely tropes from that genre, but Keshales and
Papushado’s script keep it fresh. Perhaps it is the cultural stance that
provides a unique point of view, but they keep Big Bad
Wolves full of wicked surprises, thick, moody atmosphere, and creates
an interesting dynamic between the three leads, and takes an exploitation revenge
framework and classes up the joint.
Each of the actors brings an astonishing rainbow of grays to
their performances, with each providing their own perspective. Gidi is the
driven father, searching for answers that he thinks will bring him peace, who also
takes the time to references chaos theory. Micki, who resembles a more macho
Steve Carell, is the source of most of the humor, and though he’s not above
kidnapping and torturing a suspect, he remains likable throughout. Dror is harder
to crack, which is the point. You never know why everyone suspects him of this
heinous crime, after all he’s a bible teacher who has never been in trouble for
crying out loud. Still, there is unnerving and off about him, and you fluctuate
back and forth on whether you believe his claims of innocence, whether you
despise him or empathize with him. In something of a notable feat, the film
keeps you guessing about his true nature until the very last moment.
Layered Hitchcockian strings and nasty
dark twists and turns create a moody, suspense filled landscape. The directors
snake the camera through the tight confines of the basement and play with depth
of field in the wide exteriors to toy with your moods. But despite how heavy
the subject matter is—we’re talking pedophilia, murder, and particularly mean
spirited uses for a blowtorch—Big Bad Wolves is never so
oppressively bleak that you lose all hope that someone, somewhere, eventually,
might do the right thing, or at least something that isn’t completely terrible.
And the pitch-black sense of humor remains constant even in the darkest times.
It has an uncomfortable gallows style, but a well-timed laugh offers you a
brief breath that you need from time to time.
Unpredictable—in an earned way,
not a crazy coincidences coming out of left field—pretty to look at, and
energetic, Big Bad Wolves a unique, writhing beast that
subverts your expectations and constantly changes how you see things.
The picture on this Blu is crisp
and clear, and provides an fantastic delivery system for the photography, but
the rest is just okay. You get a trailer, a three-minute look at the film from
AXS TV—Mark Cuban owns both that network and Magnet, who distributed the film
and released this disc—but the key piece is a 16-minute behind the scenes
documentary. You get all the usual stuff you expect, like interviews with the
cast and crew about the origins of the story, but the one thing that comes
through is how much fun everyone had making this movie. Everyone involved has
an impressive level of enthusiasm, and that zest is infectious.
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