‘Jesus Christ, this is worse than my birthday…‘
The issue with reviewing a film straight after you have watched it (which is typically what I aim for) is that sometimes it takes a few days of reflection to form a true opinion on something. And so it is that I ended up giving Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road 7.5/10 despite the fact that it genuinely contains what could be the greatest opening scene in cinematic history. And I do not say that lightly. That 15 minute tour-de-force of comedy, drama and tragedy is so visceral, so unique, that it has taken a few months and repeated viewings to truly appreciate just how good it is. Here I sit again with a Jim Cummings movie, and again with a 7.5 rating. Could there be another agonising reappraisal in the future? Almost certainly…
Detective John Marshall (Cummings) can’t catch a break. Sherriff Hadley (Robert Forster), Marshall’s father, refuses to just goddamn retire and wont stay out of harm’s way, his truculent daughter Jenna (Chloe East) won’t do as she is goddamn told, and perhaps worst of all, young girls in the sleepy town of Snow Hollow keep showing up dead. As in Thunder Road, Cummings’ character handles all of these problems with a mixture of heavy drinking and irascible rage in yet another landmark performance for the up and coming auteur.
With The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Cummings has confirmed that his incendiary debut feature was no fluke, and he handles the mix of absurdist comedy and chilling violence with aplomb here – no mean feat of course to combine two such disparate genres. He is a rare example of a true triple threat. A sharp writer, a talented director and a genuinely wonderful actor. This is a man who has a masterpiece in him, the fact that …Snow Hollow runs out of a steam a little in the final act despite a skinny running time perhaps prohibits this film from being that masterpiece, but there is something stirring inside Cummings that ensures that all roads surely lead to something truly special.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow is essential viewing for horror fans, for comedy fans, or just for anyone who has a heart beating in their chest. Cummings is an exciting voice on the indie cinema scene. Drink him in.