Originally written on October 30th. Forgot it was in drafts.
I watched Wolf Girl because I was in the mood for a werewolf story, more than usual because October. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be as interesting as it was. Specially, the way it portrays characters who intentionally or not broke gender norms. It’s not explicitly an LGBTI movie, but there’s a bunch of androgyny and the bullies grapple with their sexuality.
First off, Tara isn’t a typical werewolf. She has hypertrichosis and is part of a freak show, thus “Wolf Girl.” An experimental injection used to treat hirsutism is what makes her go feral. She’s played by Victoria Sanchez, so she becomes outwardly conventionally attractive even as she devolves. (The poster doesn’t lie. There is nudity.) Before that, a group of townies argue over her sex.
If you’re wondering why she doesn’t just get laser hair removal, she was adopted by a morally gray showman.
(There’s the typical exploitative stuff you’d expect, and when Tara goes missing he forces the caravan to go on without her. Then there’s a scene where he admonishes two townies for being disrespectful towards the freak “baby show,” where infanticide victims are displayed. Harley Dune’s complicated.)
Tara’s love interest is townie Ryan. Who’s the Y2K version of a soft boy. In the first scene he gets called a pussy for “taking his bunny on a walk.” (The rabbit’s actually a lab animal that belongs to his scientist mom.) Ryan also freely admits he was labeled a crybaby in grade school and went to therapy as a result. He calls Tara pretty while talking to a lab rat, when she’s right there. Very demure.
Ryan’s bully Beau likes to admire himself in the mirror. Except for his micropenis, which he’s deeply ashamed of. To the point where he decides to kill Tara when he catches her peeping on him. There’s also a scene where he threatens Ryan because he’s terrified of anyone letting others know he was afraid. It’s not like in either case his victims would be believed. Beau’s just that insecure in his masculinity.
Another bully, Krystal, is sapphic. She tries innocently kissing “shaved” Tara, who she doesn’t recognize. By that point the latter is feral so it doesn’t end well for the former. TV Tropes agrees with me that it’s ambiguous as to whether she’s attracted to Darlene Cates’s character.
The sign outside Athena’s exhibit features her reclining in a one piece. Krystal wanders in by herself where Athena’s dolled up burlesque-ily. Athena sucks the cotton candy Krystal wordlessly handed over off her own fingers. Krystal, still wordless, wanders out. Where she forces herself to upchuck. It’s not a natural reaction. I prefer to think Krystal’s attracted to her, but who knows?
Grace Jones’s character is the most explicitly androgynous. It’s unclear whether Christoph and Christine are personas or what. He/she has a kind of Two Face thing going on. The female side has long hair, mascara, and a dress; the male short hair, a mustache, and a suit. Christoph/Christine jokes about how weeing on the wrong side of Harley gets the showman flustered. The “Two Sides to Every Story” performance also features two crossdressing background dancers who strip on stage.
Anyway, Wolf Girl is an underrated movie with good actors playing interesting characters and it’s on Tubi rn. On second watch I think it’s gonna be a fave.
