Cult cinema is alive and kicking, and We Are Wolves is proof that the weird, chaotic spirit of offbeat thrillers hasn’t gone anywhere. Directed and written by Rich Mallery, the film follows Fenix (Savannah Mares), a lost soul yearning for belonging, as she attempts to rejoin her chosen family—only to find that acceptance comes at the cost of playing some dangerously twisted games.
On paper, the film is a mess of formulaic plotting and familiar tropes, and yes, the acting isn’t exactly Oscar-worthy. But let’s be real: in a world where even legends like Robert De Niro have phoned it in, a little imperfect acting isn’t a dealbreaker. What We Are Wolves excels at is capturing your attention through sheer audacity. From start to finish, I was locked into the strange, suffocating world Mallery creates, where desire, submission, and belonging twist into psychologically intense, and often unsettling, territory.
This isn’t a film that relies on explicit shock for impact. Instead, it thrives on off-screen implication—the quiet tension of a safeword spoken moments before a fatal commitment packs more emotional punch than overtly obscene gestures. There’s a lineage here that harks back to the eroticism of ’60s sexploitation and the fetishistic extremes of cult productions like W.A.V.E., but filtered through a modern digital lens with performances that feel fully embodied, even when flatly composed. Think David Lynch meets Lifetime thriller, with a touch of The Canyons-era Schrader, and you get the idea.
The story itself can feel thin and uneven at times, and some of the soft-core elements may feel under-plotted, but there’s an undeniable energy and chaos that carries the movie. It’s messy, it’s lurid, it’s bonkers—but that’s the appeal. We Are Wolves is the kind of cult film that feels like a $2.99 rental at Hollywood Video: slightly shameful, entirely compelling, and impossible to look away from.
In short, it’s not life-altering cinema, but it is exhilaratingly, beautifully depraved in its own way. If you’ve been craving the return of audacious, weird cult films, We Are Wolves delivers with full-throttle, chaotic enthusiasm. Tubi Pinku enthusiasts will find a lot to love here.
Jessie Hobson