My Animal
Heather, an outcast teenage goalie in a small northern town, falls for newcomer Jonny, an alluring but tormented figure skater. As their relationship deepens, Heather’s growing desires clash with her darkest secret, forcing her to control the animal within.
- Released: 2023-01-23
- Runtime: 99 minutes
- Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
- Stars: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Cory Lipman, Amandla Stenberg, Joe Apollonio, Stephen McHattie, Bill MacDonald, Heidi von Palleske, Dean McDermott, Scott Thompson
- Director: Jacqueline Castel
Comments
- kannibalcorpsegrinder - 9 February 2024
Far more effective lesbian coming-of-age drama than genuine werewolf horror
Trying to live with a deadly secret, a teenage girl struggling with her sexuality and the monstrous secret within her tries to strike up a romance with a new girl in town that shares her interests, but as the dark secret threatens to put everything in danger forcing her to fight for what she wants.
This was a fairly enjoyable if somewhat difficult to label as a genre outing. The main focus here is on the stellar coming-of-age storyline, managing to balance a fantastic setup involving the series of issues presented to her as a series of obstacles to overcome. With the build-up here involving the struggles of being a loner teenager in a small town such as this, growing up in that type of conservative environment while balancing the growing realization of her feelings for her neighbor with the usual trial and tribulations of growing up, and doing all that while trying to keep as dark a secret as her lycanthropic origins come to the forefront is a massively engaging way to go about this. Combining it all with the other family dynamics utilized here generates the kind of immersive drama that gives this a stand-out storyline to start with. On top of that, there's also a lot to like with the influx of artfully-accomplished scenes that focus on the inner nature of the werewolf within her. Taking place in neon-soaked sequences in a blank, black space where her carnal desires and experiences are presented, the hallucinatory approach taken here is masterfully accomplished. This ends up creating a genuinely enthralling series of setpieces that bring about a more erotic tone than expected even if they bring about the main issue with the film in that it's hard to call this a genuine genre effort. The dramatic approach and lack of traditional genre thrills for such an unwieldy running time cause this to drag on way too much rather than focus on the desired carnage and bloodletting most would desire. It's entirely the wrong attitude since it has different aspirations in mind but that should still be mentioned here.
Rated R: Graphic Language, Nudity, sexual scenes, and Violence. - DragonTwoSeven - 29 January 2023
Ethereal, Sapphic Romance
There are so many good things about this movie, which premiered at Sundance 2023. This is a story of becoming - and there are so many layers to uncover about identity, sexuality, and societal expectations. It's a sapphic tale directed by a female, for one. And all sensuality is focused on facial expressions and real connections between the characters, not gratuitous scenes for shock value. Not to mention the chemistry between the leads.
The creatures are not in-your-face either; more psychological with transformations demonstrated in visions and colors. As a whole, with a beautiful nostalgic score, ethereal cinematography, superb performances, and a deliberate color palette to demonstrate passion, this is an impressive feature debut from Jacqueline Castel.
