REVIEW: ‘Viking Wolf’ Puts Emotion Before Scares

Netflix has introduced me to a whole host of Norwegian stories, and when it comes to fantasy, Norway is one of the best in the genre. Viking Wolf is a Netflix Original film that spins werewolf lore into something new, weaving in Viking history, exploration, and mythology with the traditional tropes that audiences know and love. Directed by Stig Svendsen and written by Svendsen and Espen Aukan Viking Wolf is perfect for fans of mythology, fantasy, horror, and of course, werewolves.

In Viking Wolf, 17-year-old Thale (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) has just moved with her parents to a small town from Oslo. A fish out of water who is only in the town because her mother Liv (Liv Mjönes) has a new job in the local police, Thale is looking for a way to fit in. But when Thale ventures out of their comfort zone to a party, violence changes the course of her new life. Instead of a night to remember positively, a student is killed brutally and leaves Thale as the key witness. With all the markings of a wolf attack but more brutal and undeniably bigger, the hunt for the beast begins and leaves Thale and her family at its center. As Thale tries to heal from the trauma she also winds up having to fight off some weird aftereffects as a beast terrorizes the town.

While I’m not always a fan of title card exposition, Viking Wolf’s execution works perfectly to bring non-Norwegian audiences into the story without having to waste time during the story on exposition just to get audiences up to speed. This allows the lore to develop over the film’s runtime without having to recover the basics which are that Vikings and werewolves go hand in hand. Leveraging Viking history and mythology Viking Wolf explores werewolves, how they came to be, and the danger they pose through the sleepy town without ever feeling too much like a Viking 101 course. Instead, viewers are allowed to learn with the characters and are trusted to follow the breadcrumbs as they drop.

On the horror front, Viking Wolf manages to offer up some bloody kills. That said, some cutaways make the suspense of the kills oddly paced. However, what it loses in pacing, the film makes up with emotional choices as Thale, and her mom navigate the situation, and hard decisions have to be made.

Do you take care of the town and the people you have sworn to protect or do you protect your family? While the horror comes from the murders, the real core of the film is the conflict that maternal ties can cause and what duty supersedes the other. In that, Liv Mjönes and Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne who play Liv and Thale respectively deliver strong and emotional performances that make the film’s ending hit as a mother-daughter duo.

That said, the special effects work in Viking Wolf is phenomenal. While the werewolf in the film is very much just a large wolf, the attention to detail in the fur and face allow the monster to have a soul. Instead of feeling like an inserted afterthought that doesn’t fit into the surroundings, there are multiple times that the wolf interacts with humans that allow the audience to feel something. We see the emotion in the wolf and how she responds to the people around her softly and viciously in equal measure. Gorgeous and intimidating, the effects work is something to write home about.

Viking Wolf doesn’t resolve itself like other werewolf stories. There is no great romance, no savior, and no understanding for the girl trapped by the wolf. With an open ending, there is only bleakness and frustration, but in a way that makes for good storytelling. While the film may not be the best when it comes to pacing out its violence, the way it handles emotional and internal conflict is what makes it one to watch. If you’re coming into the film for loud and brash werewolf bites, you won’t find it here. But you will find something more vulnerable instead.

Viking Wolf is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.