Like the best hunters,Out Come the Wolves (2024) excels because of its restraint. Directed and co-written by Adam MacDonald (Slasher), the survival-horror film is a tight 87 minutes, but economy of runtime isn’t its only strength. The cast features just three characters: Missy Peregrym (FBI), who collaborated with MacDonald on Backcountry, plays Sophie, a woman who comes from a family of hunters, while Damon Runyan (Star Trek: Discovery) plays Nolan, Sophie’s fiancé who’s never fired a weapon. Kyle (Reacher’s Joris Jarsky), a skilled hunter who grew up with Sophie, rounds out the trio — and the love triangle.

Although the film opens with the promise of violence — one of the injured men crawls desperately across the forest floor — the first 40 minutes or so of Out Come the Wolves is all about the tension between its characters. Tasked with writing an article about where his food comes from, Nolan agreed to venture up to Sophie’s family cabin for a weekend of deer hunting. Kyle, who’s supposed to teach Nolan the ropes while his girlfriend hangs with Sophie, shows up solo. Predictably, this leads to toxic friction between Nolan and Kyle, who harbors feelings for Sophie.

The first half of the slow-burn survival horror is all about its characters

Even though it’s Kyle who teaches Nolan how to nock an arrow and blast beer bottles apart with a rifle, Out Come the Wolves is quick to point out that Sophie is the most skilled hunter and survivalist. She’s the kind of woman who casually slices her apple with a penknife. While she calls Nolan out for his poorly disguised jealousy, Sophie also can’t help but land an arrow a little shy of a bullseye just to protect Kyle’s ego.

Sophie is caught between two men who see her as prey, whether intentionally or not.

At first, Nolan seems to be the problem. During dinner, Nolan lets slip that he and Sophie are engaged — something she would have preferred to tell Kyle, her brother stand-in, at the right moment. The night before the big hunt, Nolan gets drunk and interrogates Kyle about the one time he slept with Sophie. Kyle, a much quieter character, drowns his feelings in beer, stolen glances, and half-truths. Although he is Sophie’s long-time best friend, Kyle embodies a more insidious kind of toxicity: He thinks his “good guy” nature will absolve him of anything.

While Nolan can’t contain his jealousy over Sophie and Kyle’s shared past, Kyle isn’t much better. His first reaction to Sophie’s engagement is to bring up a Frasier Crane and Roz Doyle-style marriage pact they made as 12-year-olds. A former hunter-turned-vegan, Sophie is caught between two men who see her as prey, whether intentionally or not. When the odd couple head to the woods, Kyle proves just how flawed he is when his poor decision attracts the attention of the movie’s titular canines. As in any good survival horror, the hunters become the hunted.

Out Come The Wolves Boasts A Chillingly Realistic Approach To The Survival Horror Genre
No one is an action hero in MacDonald’s film, which raises the stakes and tension

Admittedly, the first half of Out Come the Wolves is slow. Even though that pacing is deliberate, it’s worth mentioning for horror fans who are expecting an adrenaline-pumping ride from start to finish. Not only does the slow-burn approach mimic the way a hunter spends most of their time waiting — for prey, for the right shot — but it also allows the body horror of the film’s second half to really stand out. While the characters’ accuracy scores are on par with Star Wars’ Stormtroopers, I appreciate that MacDonald takes a more realistic approach to the genre.

Even when Sophie is eventually pulled into the hunt, Out Come the Wolves subverts our survival-horror expectations. Despite being the most resourceful and collected of the trio, Sophie isn’t slicing and dicing droves of wolves, either. Aside from a few lone wolf moments, the canines show the strength of a pack-animal approach, circling their targets and choosing when to strike. This grounded feel, both from the movie’s portrayal of the wolves to its protagonists’ reactions to them, deepens the tension.

Out Come the Wolves
is definitely a movie that will have you talking
at
the characters, which is the best horror movies’ badge of honor.

The realism is unsettlingly accurate because it makes us forget about the medium’s inherent guardrails. Plus, the actors deliver solid performances that enrich the straightforward story. Although Kyle and Nolan are frustratingly territorial, we momentarily forget about their near-constant pissing matches when a wolf comes out to play. Likewise, even though Sophie isn’t an action hero, we’re rooting for her to save these toxic blockheads from being mauled to death. Out Come the Wolves is definitely a movie that will have you talking at the characters, which is the best horror movies’ badge of honor.

From screenwriter Enuka Okuma’s economical-yet-effective script and Christian Bielz’s gorgeous cinematography to the stellar use of practical effects, Out Come the Wolves manages to be a solid entry in a well-worn genre. While body and survival horror fans might not find anything particularly groundbreaking here, and while the toxic masculinity plot is thinly veiled by the bloodthirsty wolves thread, the movie accomplishes what it sets out to do. Ultimately, the bones of the story have been licked clean of any excess, making for a film that will successfully holds our attention in its jaws.

Out Come the Wolves premieres in theaters across the US on August 30.