She
is the horndog’s natural predator and she is racking up quite a body
count. It will be a tricky matter
determining exactly who or what she is, but she is definitely out to teach the
slimier men out there a permanent lesson.
The gender war hits the streets of Buenos Aires hard in Tamae Garateguy’s
She Wolf (trailer here), which screens
during the 2013 Fantastic Fest.
Just
for the record, she is not affiliated with the SS. She is a werewolf, who shifts her appearance,
alternating between three seductress personas, or maybe she is a serial killer
with multiple personalities. It is hard
to say definitively. Sometimes people
recognize her in her different guises and sometimes they don’t. Either way, foreplay typically leads to a
gruesome death for the men she ensnares.
The
She Wolf is not out to kill all men—just the scummy would be players. This will include the Tom Sizemore-esque
undercover cop investigating her killings.
After their first encounter, he becomes rather obsessed with her, for
several reasons. However, the She Wolf
falls for the punky punk who rescues her.
If
you are easily offended by explicit sex, blood-spurting violence, gritty drug
use, and black-and-white cinematography, then good luck with She Wolf. There should definitely be an audience for it
at Fantastic Fest, but it clearly appeals to the artier end of the cult film
spectrum. Yet, despite some head-scratching moments, it somehow never feels
pretentious. Frankly, it has a similar vibe to the sort of indie provocations
that were filmed on the Lower East Side during the early 1980’s. There are also plenty of naughty bits.
The
raw ferocity of three actresses playing the She Wolf elevates the film well
above seedy exploitative fare. We see their
rage and their vulnerability, often simultaneously. Waifish Guadalupe Docampo’s every kill is
shocking, whereas the voluptuous Luján Ariza certainly looks like she could be
some sort of man-eater. However, it is
the more mature Mónica Lairana who really lays it on the line, especially in
her bracing scenes with Edgardo Castro’s effectively sleazy copper.