The Yorkie Werewolf review
This cycle’s Full Moon Feature looks at a recent release about a werewolf of a different color. Or, at least, size.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Yorkie Werewolf
Directed by Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas
Written by Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas
Starring Isabella Jaimie, Risa Mei, Jacob Rainer, Juan Salvati, Rebecca De Ornelas, Tricia Alexandro and Zsolt Kormendy
The Yorkie Werewolf Review
Wolf Man hits theaters later this week…but The Yorkie Werewolf has one major advantage over the highly anticipated remake. It knew enough to be released before the next full moon. This ensured that it would be covered in our latest Full Moon Feature. Poor Wolf Man…it’s going to have to settle for a regular review. Meaningless labels you say? First…hurtful. Second…accurate. Mostly accurate, at least. Full Moon Features tend to focus a little more on the werewolf aspects of a story. Other than that…yeah…they’re the same.
The Yorkie Werewolf is a unique werewolf movie. It features witches and…mobsters. There is a war on the horizon…one that eventually involves a werewolf. Kind of. One of the key attributes of The Yorkie Werewolf is its breakneck pace. Only slowing down to explain itself when it feels like it. The rules of this specific werewolf story are…loose at best.
Jenny (Isabelle Jaimie) is a young witch. She accidentally ingests yorkie blood as part of a sacrifice ritual and becomes cursed with a particularly strange werewolf affliction. Her wolf form, complete with dog features, is about half her size. Needless to say, it’s adorable. Jenny doesn’t think so…especially after the ritual results in the death of her mother (who she later realizes she kind of liked). Death is often treated as an afterthought in The Yorkie Werewolf. It plays into the film’s overall tone. A hyper-ridiculous world not only taken seriously by the people who live in it…but casually dismissed at its most ridiculous points. A unique, and funny, way of undercutting intentional silliness.
Jenny ends up in foster care where she meets Chris (Jacob Rainer), a vampire. Yes…there are also vampires. Together they uncover a plot by a half warlock/half mobster (you just have to go with it) to topple the creatures of the world. That half warlock/half mobster happens to be Jenny’s father. If you can’t tell by this point in the plot summary that The Yorkie Werewolf is a batshit insane movie…I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe that Jenny and Chris’s revenge plot involves taking down the local Italian restaurant to damage the mobsters. That should do it. The Yorkie Werewolf packs a lot into its short runtime.
Jenny’s Yorkie Werewolf form looks like an Ewok with a dog’s face. Jenny retains full consciousness and control while in her wolf form. Transformations happen offscreen…as does much of the wolfy violence. Normally this would be a knock against it…but The Yorkie Werewolf gets several laughs out of cutting back to the damage Jenny’s new form is doing. A scene in a local bar that Jenny goes into for help is a highlight of both this tactic and the irreverent treatment of life in this world.
Jenny transforms under the full moon…as is the most common way. How many full moons happen in a row, however…that’s maybe new. I wasn’t keeping the strictest count, but it had to be at least four straight nights. Vampires can walk in the sunlight…so rules are loose all over. I genuinely wondered for a moment if Chris was a vampire in this story solely to have a scene where mobsters torture him with garlic pasta in their Italian restaurant. Which, to be fair, is an inspired idea.
The Yorkie Werewolf is at its best when it leans into its absurdities. Budget constraints limit what it can do (hence the lack of transformations) but it wisely focuses on keeping a fast pace and a dismissive attitude. Jenny and Chris get up to some fun hijinks…including a long discussion about bombs vs guns with a weapon’s salesmen. Those scenes keep The Yorkie Werewolf feeling fresh and original.
The amount of strangeness the movie attempts to combine can be a bit overwhelming, however. I never got a full handle on how everything worked. I also wouldn’t have slowed down the movie at any point to explain things better. The Yorkie Werewolf pushes through any questions and hurdles towards a familial showdown. It isn’t interested in telling a deep character study with a defined arc and prolonged growth. A witch is also a miniature werewolf now. She’s heading to battle with her half warlock/half mobster father to prevent all-out war. Sometimes that’s enough.
The Yorkie Werewolf moves so fast you may not notice (or care) how many things are thrown around without proper explanation. There’s an early exposition dump by Chris that flies by as fast as everything else in the movie. Given the amount of lore needed to cover the multiple factions, their history and their powers…The Yorkie Werewolf probably makes the right call in asking you to just accept that this world is weird. The characters inside of it seem mostly non-plussed by the entire situation. Why should we be any different. There’s enough entertainment packed into the 74-minute feature to recommend.
Scare Value
The Yorkie Werewolf carries its bonkers energy from beginning to end. It drops us into a strange world and only stops to explain itself when it feels like it. Mostly, it keeps up a breakneck pace. The werewolf aspects are nothing if not unique. The rules aren’t exactly something they felt like stopping to explain very well. For better or worse, The Yorkie Werewolf is too different to be ignored.
2.5/5
The Yorkie Werewolf Link
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