Review: Indie Horror 'At Night Comes Wolves' Is a Slow Burn of Cult Creepiness

At Night Comes Wolves was just released on VOD today by Gravitas Ventures. This horror/thriller centers on a woman who leaves her objectifying husband and joins ex-cult members. The film was written and directed by Tj Marine, and stars Gabi Alves, Colleen Elizabeth Miller, Madeleine Heil, Vladimir Noel and Myles Forster.

Leah (Gabi Alves) reaches her breaking point with her misogynistic husband and finds the courage to finally leave him. After running out of gas and money, she walks to a small diner where she meets Mary (Sarah Serio) a kind drifter living in the nearby woods. Mary introduces Leah to Davey (Vladimir Noel) a cult leader who specializes in mixing home brewed concoctions made from natural ingredients.

At Night Comes Wolves is the kind of film you need to see twice to really appreciate all the small details leading up the twist ending. This film is comprised of three short films, from Writer/Director TJ Marine, blended together with additional footage to create a cohesive story. However, much like a Tarantino film, the timeline skips around the main characters to tell their own origin stories leading up the their fateful introduction to Leah.

As the trio get to know each other Leah reveals her husband Daniel’s (Jacob Weldy) weird incoherent rants while sleeping. This leads Davey and Mary to the realization that Daniel is actually Walter Wilbur, the former leader of their cult. Davey and Mary ousted Walter after an incident led to the death of other members of the cult. Only letting Walter live with the stern warning that the universe will bring them back for vengeance if he continues his misogynistic ways. Leah takes them to confront Daniel in hopes to regain herself and overcome Daniel’s hold on her.

The past truly comes back to haunt these characters, and poor Leah in the process, in the search for the enlightened life Davey and Mary desperately seek.

This film is an interesting mix of the horrors that exist in real life and the ways in which people can deal with their own situations. At Night Comes Wolves has raw unrefined creepiness that translates into the characters actions and attitudes in life. What’s truly unsettling is the ease of which Leah is drawn from one bad situation to another. However, any fan of cult phenomena, whether in film or real life, will tell you Leah is the type of person that would fall victim to this group of characters.

At Night Comes Wolves is a film that will make you think and question things in our society, as well as some comedic moments that lighten the mood along the way. Fans of films like The Lodge will appreciate the slow, creepy build up to the surprise conclusion. 3/5

★★★

You can check out the trailer for At Night Comes Wolves below. The film is now available on VOD through Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Fandango Now and all major cable/satellite platforms. As always be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror, sci-fi and more.