In my original review, I gushed over the critically acclaimed Israeli horror-comedy Big Bad Wolves. Now that it’s been released on home video by Magnolia Home Entertainment, I’ve had the chance to dive back into Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado’s haunting and violent vision of revenge. It’s no surprise to say that the film holds up to multiple viewings and thanks to the disc’s fairly decent making-of feature, there’s even more hammer-swinging, blowtorch torture to enjoy.
To paraphrase my original review from back in January, Big Bad Wolves follows a rogue detective named Micli (Lior Ashkenazi) as he turns to brutal interrogation techniques to grill Dror (Rotem Keinan), the only suspect in a string of murders. Micki winds up crossing paths with Gidi (Tzahi Grad), the father of one of the murdered girls who’s out to get his own revenge against Dror.
The title suggests fairy tale elements, which are always lurking beneath the surface in the film. Co-writers/directors Keshales and Papushado address this concept in the making of feature. They explain that how the classic fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, pedophilia and sex are pretty much always part of the subext. Their idea was to take these classic subtexts and make a fairy tale for adults, while flipping the script in the process – making the wolves the hunted.
The making of features Keshales and Papushado as well as all the principal actors providing their insight into the film. Most notably, Rotem Keinan talks about the difficulties that go with being tortured every day on set. Subjects also discussed are Frank Ilfam’s amazing orchestral score, shooting in Israel, and balancing the tone of horror and comedy.
The only other special feature is the “AXS TV” A Look at Big Bad Wolves” spot, which is basically a condensed version of the longer making of feature.
The A/V is sharp and free of any hiccups, which should be expected when the source is a digital file.
Since reviewing Big Bad Wolves back in January, it’s still sitting high on my favorites list for the year. If you haven’t seen it yet and have the balls for a blind buy, definitely pick up the Blu-ray from Magnolia.
