The Wolf House (El Casa Lobo) Review by Jgames

The Wolf House is a stop-motion horror movie from Chile base on the events of Colonial Dignidad in Chile. The story its about Maria escaping from a colony to escape punishment and stumble to a house with two pigs. As the story continues the pigs become more human in a very surreal dark story with a wolf just waiting for them outside the house.

This was one of my most anticipated movies from 2018 that I never got to see since it wasn’t available for me to watch unless I visited other countries. Thankfully it has finally arrived in the US and made available to stream due to the current pandemic, so no need to go to a film festival or drive 30-60 minutes to a theater in a specific day and hour to watch this. The wait was definitely worth it as the movie manages to be a mesmerizing piece of dark surrealism base on some of the dark past of Chilean history. The stop-motion showcase the talents of Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León artistry with the artwork coming together while they are moving. Making the art feel like they coming alive and seeing all the hard work that goes into making this stop-motion movie. It uses a variety of different types of mediums from paper mache, doll, to wall art that kept the surrealism and creativity of the movie. Not to mention the stop-motion just looks creepy in general and helps with the atmosphere of unease. Just another wonderful showcase of how stop-motion animation does lend itself to dark imagery.

The story itself does seem to be very nonsensical with pigs being turn to humans and the logic behind that being strange and out of nowhere, and there is a German narrator and a mysterious wolf outside apparently. It is very much a metaphor that is admittedly hard to follow, especially not knowing the backstory the movie is base on, which is Colonial Dignidad. I had absolutely no idea behind that dark chapter of Chilean history, and only got a little introduction to it in the beginning. That being said I was able to get some of what the story was trying to say and was liking the creepy and dark surreal fairytale-like story. That being said, once I did read up on the history and the context of Colonial Dignidad, it recontextualized the story more and was able to better appreciate it. But again, even not knowing the background of what the story is based on, I was still able to enjoy it. There is always some sense of unease with the outside world coming from the main character Maria, but it slowly becomes overshadow by the unease inside the house with the two pigs. Plus it was just fun figuring out what the movie was trying to say and dig deeper into the lore and story behind the movie, which is refreshing to do once in a while.

Overall the movie was just an enjoyable piece of art that looks amazing, and base on one of the dark chapters of Chile. It is definitely not for everyone as the storytelling is a bit too nonsensical, and enjoyment varied depending on how entrance a person is by the animation. That being said overall, I had a great time with this movie and give it a B.

Available to rent at https://www.kimstim.com/film/the-wolf-house-virtual/