An
RAF pilot loses his sidearm after his plane is shot down behind enemy lines.
That sounds bad, but it gets worse when we realize this might not be a war
movie. It might fall into the horror genre instead. Or maybe not. Call it
whatever you like, but Álvaro Rodriguez Areny’s Wolves (trailer
here) is a heck of an intense short film that
screens during the 2017 Ridgefield Independent Film Festival.
The
dogfight ends badly for Arthur, but the bailing out and crashing-and-burning
effects are pretty impressive for a short film. Injured and unarmed, he makes
his way to an apparently abandoned country estate. Unfortunately, the National
Socialists are following close on his heels—and they might be even more
sinister than we thought.
Very
subtly, Areny drops hints that there might be something supernaturally evil
afoot here. He gives flashes that are almost subliminal, but
undeniably creepy. Regardless, he clearly uses a visual vocabulary much more in
keeping with the horror genre than an Alastair MacLean-style manhunt thriller.
Yet, it still has more action packed into it than many feature-length war
movies. It might be a tease for a prospective feature, but it is certainly
effective.
