Werewolf
Director: Ashley McKenzie
Writer: Ashley McKenzie
Cast: Andrew Gillis, Bhreagh MacNeil, Cindy DiDieu
Seen on: 11./12.11.2025

Content Note: drug addiction, suicide

Plot:
Blaise (Andrew Gillis) and Nessa (Bhreagh MacNeil) are in the methadone program of their small town. They are outcasts and have a hard time getting by, but at least they have each other. They try to make some money by offering lawn mowing services. As Nessa slowly gets to a more stable place, Blaise isn’t as successful, though.

Werewolf is an honest assessment of what it means to be addicted and how hard it is to get away from drugs once you’re there. It may not cover much new ground, but covers it well.

Werewolf is made in a very realistic style, making it feel more like a documentary than a fictional movie sometimes. At the same time, it is a highly stylized film that often shows us only parts of the characters or details of what is going on, asking you to piece things together by inference more than actually showing you what’s going on.

Since nothing big or unpredictable really happens, it is not much the film asks for us here. When Nessa is allowed to take her methadone dose home, we already know that Blaise, the more fragile of the two, is going to steal it. The question is more whether that is enough for Nessa to leave him behind and prioritize herself, or if she will go down with him.

Gillis and MacNeil give tremendous performances. Nessa’s quiet resilience and Blaise’s twitchy anxiety are perfectly embodied by the two, increasing the impression that we are watching a documentary. I assume that many people they encounter along the way basically played themselves, because the entire environment just feels so natural.

Werewolf is McKenzie’s first feature film, but with her sense for the characters and for the scenes, you would never know it. She captures the extraordinary in the mundane – everyday people get addicted, everyday some make it and others don’t, but it is always a miracle when they do make it and a tragedy when they don’t. Werewolf shows us that very clearly.

Summarizing: very much worth it.