Teddy Review: A French Werewolf Film That Just Does Not Sink Its Teeth Into You

Release date: August 5, 2021 Running time: 88 minutes Directed By: Ludovic Boukherma and Zoran Boukherma Starring: Anthony Bajon (The Prayer), Ludovic Torrent, Christine Gautier, Noémie Lvovsky, Guillaume Mattera, Jean-Paul Fabre, Alexis Orlandini, Gérard Pau and Jean-Michel Ricart Twentysomething Teddy lives in a foster home and works as a temp in a massage parlor. Rebecca, his girlfriend, will soon graduate. A scorching hot summer begins. But Teddy is scratched by a beast in the woods: the wolf that local angry farmers have been hunting for months. As weeks go by, animal impulses soon start to overcome the young man.

Teddy is a strange werewolf film, but one that has its moments. It starts with a sinister opening that sets the stage with bright colors and an old school style. And Teddy takes its time developing the story, preferring to have Teddy's transformation occur throughout the film. You see hints of what will happen, as he develops a taste for meat, becomes more aggressive, and starts to notice hair in new places; but overall the film takes its time. And during this transformation, there are some painful looking scenes as Teddy tries to forestall the inevitable.

But Teddy is a strange film with an old school look to it that does not help with the enjoyment. The film feels like it is from another era, with cameras that seem a little too blurry or low resolution to get a good feel across. The film feels quirky with some characters that are meant to be funny, but just didn't translate well to an American audience. Maybe there is more humor in the original French dialogue, but in the subtitles the jokes just did not land for me. And although the movie has some good effects building up to the transformation, the actual end result is a let down. The film seems to go more CG for the final sequences, which breaks your disbelief and is a strange departure for a film that mostly stayed with well done practical effects up to that point. And overall, the slow pace hurts the film as it feels like nothing happens. The story is not exciting and even parts that should be did not keep my attention. And despite the slow build up, there are some abrupt character changes that just don't make much sense. And overall, the film just does not seem to deliver the payoff that is promised from the slow build up.

Teddy's slowly built story and good practical effects are hampered by a lack of tension and a style that might cause the viewers to lose interest before the moon becomes full.

Pass on it.

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Teddy is available to stream on Shudder starting August 5, 2021.