VOD Review: Wolf Mother (2017)

"The movie is a mess, but Najarra shines."

We decided to check out Wolf Mother because it's been looming out there in "Waiting For Release" land for the better part of the last year and a half, and it looked like a cool, off-beat Thriller.

And because we love the hell out of Najarra Townsend.

Having now finally seen it after so long, I have to say that it's not going to be for everybody. If you like pulpy "That dame had a pretty mug on her" kinds of flicks, and if you don't care about coherent plots as long as there are some stylish visuals and some twisted avenues are explored, then you might dig it.

Might.

Ben is a petty thief and a scumbag in general who is on the run for shooting a Cop. Zelda is a former child star turned prostitute who survives on the streets the best she can. Both of them have shameful pasts that they can't come to grips with, and both of them want to kill themselves, but can't find the courage to do so.

TWO PEAS IN A TWISTED POD.

When an 8-year-old starlet is kidnapped by a gang of Satanic pimps called The Band, the two of them form an uneasy partnership to rescue the girl, in an effort to atone for their sins, after which they will help each other commit suicide.

HOLLYWOOD ATE HER UP AND SPIT HER OUT.

On  the road to redemption, Zelda and Ben take jobs in a greasy spoon, and fight off the romantic urges that are beginning to come to life between them.

WOLF MOTHER IN ACTION.

On one hand this movie is a fun little slice of pulpy noir that has some great and twisted ideas going for it. Najarra Townsend's performance made the movie watchable for us, as she owned every second that she was on-screen. She's an Indie darling in every sense of the word, and every since we saw her in Dawning (review HERE) and Contracted (review HERE), we've wondered why she hasn't blown up more.

On the other, Wolf Mother feels like a disjointed attempt to to a pulpier version of a Tarantino film. Much of the dialogue was crude and tried way too hard to feel like it came from some hard-boiled Mike Hammer novel or something.

The plot made little sense either. The movie centers around two people who are living sinful lives who meet each other, and decide to seek redemption by rescuing a child who was kidnapped by a Satanic gang. That's all well and good, but none of it plays out in any sort of logical way. When the two decide to seek out the gang, who has fled north to San Francisco, they decide to take a job in diner in the desert to save money for the rescue... because leaving an 8-year-old girl in the clutches of a gang of Satanic child traffickers is somehow good for the child? "Sure, maybe she'll get raped over and over again, beaten, abused, and maybe even killed, but let's gets jobs for a few weeks?"

Let's not forget that they have two rotting corpses in the trunk of the stolen car that they're driving too. Because that wouldn't give them away in the scorching heat of the desert or anything.

There was a lot of potential in two characters giving chase to an evil group of guys like The Band, and I personally expected it to get all kinds of violent and twisted, but nothing really ever came of it. At the end, when they finally catch up with the gang, the girl was already found alive, and the way that they all "faced off" was clunky and made little sense.

BUT NAJARRA, SHE ROCKS IT.

Plenty of gun violence towards the beginning and end, and some rotting corpses.

WOLF MOTHER SHOOTING BITCHES.

This movie wades in the seedy side of the pool, so there's plenty of nudity and disturbing sexual elements to be had.

HNNNNNNNNNG.

Wolf Mother is a stylish, twisted movie that is definitely way more style than substance. If you're watching this one, it's because you like character studies and noirish pulp. I liked it solely because Najarra Townsend gave a hell of a performance, and we've long said that she deserves bigger roles in better movies.

For her alone, we give this one a 3 out of 5 rating. Without her, it's a 1.

C+

Wolf Mother is available now on VOD.

Najarra Townsend is a sexy bunch of untapped acting potential.