The Wolfpack (2015): One of the most uplifting horror stories you’ll see (Review)

During a customary stroll around New York City, Avid Filmmaker and Director Crystal Moselle gazed at a group of identical, slick, long-haired boys, swerving through the crowded streets. Her inquisitive nature led to her approaching individuals found to be brothers with a passion for film. With this, a friendship was established over the next five months until gradually this family’s shocking upbringing is unravelled and from there Crystal knew that the world needed to know their story.

The Wolfpack is a horrifying documentary that displays over protective parents to a whole new level and both the positive and negative results that arise from this particular case.  The film follows the Angulo family made up of six brothers and their mentally disabled sister that have spent almost all their lives locked away in a housing-project apartment on New York City’s Lower East Side. Governed by their ideological Peruvian Father, they are home schooled by their former hippie Midwest mother who is if not more controlled as they are. Thankfully the father’s love for film and music is pushed on the boys and it’s with these hobbies they find means of comfort and contact with the outside world.

From an initial hobby comes obsession, mind-numbingly writing out entire film scripts to ingenious DIY prop making and ultimately remaking entire films in their apartment with pitch-perfect mimicry that is both charming and entertaining. The result is a first hand and if not the more pure way of learning the art of film and acting. The boy’s knowledgeable wealth and appreciation of the classics and modern films are astounding. Even with the lack of social interaction, the boys are startlingly emotionally articulate that they have gathered from watching the film.

Much of the film takes place in the four-bedroom apartment. Moselle’s heavy use of closed framing gives a good sense of claustrophobia which she intersects with home footage that she was personally gifted by the boys. The first half of the film can only be described as shocking and tense made only more horrifying by the fact that this is real, heightened with an eerie soundtrack it’s quite easy to be made uncomfortable and drawn into these boys stories of being “treated like prisoners” in their own home. Inadvertently scenes where the father can be seen lurking around capture the awkward presence that he gives off seeing the boy’s reaction to him first hand.

The most unnerving scene from comes from an interview with the Dad, when he utters “My power has influence over them” coming from the fact that his delusional paranoid fears of society is being projected onto his children. To make it worse this man regrets none of his actions, fortunately glorifying his conduct by implying that he’s given his children the drive to go out and get what they want from life.

The film primarily follows 15-year-old Mukunda after his decision to venture outside the apartment against his father’s will, re-enacted in a scene that uncomfortably escalates. His rebellion signals an inevitable outcome whereas the children become older they will eventually rise up and claim their independence. Moselle beautifully captures the boy’s first experiences that they treat like an adventure, like a day out to the beach and going to the cinema. As they break free from the house, Moselle respectively moves away from the closed framing to try to not intrude as they grasp their independence. It’s this that allows the boys to live out their dreams but unfortunately only showcases Mukanda’s will to get into the film industry.

The mother is the glue that keeps the family together despite seeing as overprotective it’s quite easy to feel sympathy and understand why she feels the way she does, coming from a more rural Midwest background with a lack corruption which she wishes her children could have also of grown up with. This is wrapped up beautifully with the family taking a trip to out of city and into the wine country seeing them playfully bask in their well deserved freedom.

As dangerous as their parenting methods are the overall result fortunately works out, showcasing the tremendous power of the human spirit. This twisted coming of age experience leads to the boys becoming upstanding members of society with the independence to follow their own paths. Through all the ups and downs, The Wolfpack becomes one of the most uplifting horror stories you will see.

Thanks for reading our review of The Wolfpack

For more Movie talk, check out our podcast CINEMA ECLECTICA The Wolfpack featured on Episode 33