Out Come the Wolves (2024) – Review

Directed by Adam MacDonald (watch Backcountry ASAP) and starring Missy Peregrym (who starred in Backcountry), Out Comes the Wolves focuses on an all-around terrible weekend for three people. Sophie (Missy Peregrym) has brought her fiance Nolan (Damon Runyan) to experience what it’s like to hunt and kill an animal. Nolan is the editor-and-chief at a magazine and figures that if he’s going to eat animals, he might as well kill one – and get a story out of it. This involves hunting with Sophie’s longtime best-friend and former hunting buddy Kyle (Joris Jansky – who has a co-writing credit), who is traveling to the cabin with his girlfriend Leah. Kyle is needed because Sophie swore off hunting and embraced veganism after years of killing animals started to weigh on her conscience (her father and grandfather were hunters – it’s in the family).  It’s a solid idea to build off of, and it gets more interesting when Kyle claims that his girlfriend Leah couldn’t come to the cabin because she got called to work at the last minute. 

After some dicey bow and arrow training, and arguments about working while on vacation (Nolan is writing his piece during the trip), Nolan and Kyle settle in for a night of drinking that will ensure the survival of anything they shoot at the following day. It’s during this time that Kyle questions Sophie’s engagement and reminds Sophie about the time when they promised to get married if they were both single at age 40. Kyleso admits that he and Sophie broke up and apologizes for lying about her having to work. It makes Kyle’s solo arrival become much more dubious and his interactions with Nolan aren’t helped by the fact that he’s obviously in love with Sophie. It also doesn’t help that Kyle is the type of guy who says things like “I know you better than you know yourself” to Sophie – which is never a good thing. This all leads to Nolan having a drunken chat with Kyle in which he tries to act tough but comes across as a drunken cityboy who has consumed too much expensive cognac. Ordinarily, insulting the man who is taking you out hunting in a few hours isn’t a great idea, but the movie needs some character drama to carry the first 30 minutes of the film.

Since the movie’s title is about wolves coming out of the woods, Nolan and Kyle’s hunt goes sideways when a group of wolves attack. It’s a brutal first encounter made worse when the opportunist Kyle leaves Nolan behind to die (the trailers give this away so I don’t mind spoiling it). This forces Sophie to come out of hunting retirement to battle the predators and deal with the shifty Kyle who saw his opportunity to get with Sophie and took it (like a true predator). What makes Out Comes the Wolves enjoyable are the sudden and violent wolf attacks that feature ripped flesh, wild scrambles and primal violence. The wolves aren’t messing around, and they pose a legitimate threat with their sharp teeth and hunting skills. Basically, when the movie transitions to Sophie’s battle with the predators – it gets more interesting. 

The opening drama makes sense when looking at the limited budget. Out Come the Wolves doesn’t have the budget of The Grey or The Edge, so the 87-minute film couldn’t solely focus on hunters battling wolves in the Canadian wilderness.  When shooting on location there’s inclement weather, a limited amount of light, and long treks with heavy gear that slow down the shoot. Toss in animal wrangling and special makeup effects, and a movie budget can blow up quickly.The problem is that the character drama isn’t inspired, there’s nothing to hold on to while the two male lead characters are fighting wolves. I understand what MacDonald and co-writer Enuka Okuma are getting at with the title (Sophie has to battle wolves AND terrible dudes – which is a great idea), but it doesn’t really work because the two distinct parts of the film never gel into something cohesive. 

When it comes to survival thrillers it helps when you are emotionally invested in the people trying to survive – this doesn’t happen here. In fact, by spending so much time with Kyle and Nolan, it takes away from Sophie becoming more of a character. She’s the one who saves the day, so it would’ve been nice to spend more time with her, and less time with two drunk guys who enjoy pushing each other’s buttons.

Ultimately it’s a movie with two very distinct parts, and they never combine to create a fully realized film. 

Grade: C