The Howling

Wolwedans in die Skemer, the new Afrikaans thriller directed by Jozua Malherbe, starts with an intriguing premise based on memory loss and past and present trauma but becomes increasingly dependent on genre clichés towards the end. In spite of some interesting revelations towards the climax, the film falls flat on a narrative level; on a technical level, some cinematographic flair injects the visuals with some dynamism.

(minor possible spoilers follow)

Sonja Daneel (Rolanda Marais) loses her memory in a car crash. The management of the local Hotel Njala take her in, given that she was on her way to start working there as receptionist when the accident occurred. Of the hotel staff, Adele (Desire Gardiner) is cold and corporate; her sister Maggie (Lelia Etsebeth) is a sensitive, quiet counter; their father Jan (Andre Roothman) is strangely distanced and estranged from the mother (Riana Wilkens). The tour guide Ryno (David Louw) is a bit of a player; girls seem to clamour for his attention. He has eye on Adele, but Sonja’s arrival provides a new point of interest. In addition to Sonja, a red-hooded, axe-wielding figure also makes his appearance at Hotel Njala.

The film looks good, has an attractive cast and a beautiful Hazyview setting. I don’t feel qualified in commenting on the acting except to say that the actors do what they can with thinly drawn characters: Adele is Cold, Jan is Eccentric, Maggie is Soft, and Sonja is Absent. We never really get to align ourselves with Sonja since she is such a passive character. For someone who repeatedly states that she doesn't know who she is, she does not seem too focused on finding out. Paradoxically, Ryno is the most rounded character, yet there is no clear reason why numerous girls would be so interested in him. He’s amiable enough, but the motivation behind Adele's evident infatuation remains a bit of a mystery.

Given how Wolwedans is framed as a thriller the film is bizarrely inert, balancing romance (an attempted love triangle), family drama and thriller conventions. It's the latter that causes some problems: for example, the hooded killer suddenly appears in front of the camera and is accompanied every time by an explosion of musical cues. (In his heyday, M. Night Shyamalan as well as Spanish filmmakers Alejandro Amenabar and JS Bayona demonstrated the power of musical restraint in scenes of tension.)

Such reliance on overly familiar genre conventions make the film seem somewhat dated and compromises its suspense. Indeed, the film could have worked as a powerful period thriller – think Red Riding Trilogy – with Sonja’s amnesia and the killings set against the backdrop of politically tumultuous South Africa. Why, after all the self-aware genre commentary of Scream and other titles from the pre-torture porn 1990s  thriller-horror revival, and also in the aftermath of The Descent, Wolwedans still uses some of the same visual and narrative devices that those films decried.

To illustrate: thrillers often feature the damsel in distress running away from her killer. To the exasperation of the audience, two things happen. Firstly, the fleeing girl runs to the least safe place available (that is, away from light, away from crowds) instead of to somewhere safe and populated. Secondly, the girl’s pursuer walks while the intended victim runs. Finally, both end up in the same place within seconds of one another. Then, having cornered the intended victim, the killer does not proceed to just kill the victim but first engages the victim in some expository conversation; Roger Ebert refers to this as the fallacy of the talking killer.

Wolwedans is too reliant on such conventions in creating tension, and it undermines the impact of the revelations accompanying the ending. That said, the ending is unpredictable enough and delivers exciting moments that demonstrates some considerable acting skills.  

All in all, as a locally produced genre film, the polished Wolwedans in die Skemer is a vast improvement on Night Drive even if it too does not invigorate the thriller genre.