Review: Skinwalker: The Howl of the Rougarou

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Skinwalker: The Howl of the Rougarou
Directed by Seth Breedlove
Small Town Monsters; 1091 Pictures
70 minutes, 2021
www.smalltownmonsterss.com

One of the things I enjoy about Small Town Monsters’ releases is that not only does each documentary focus on a particular cryptid, but they centralize the story; they will pick a part of the country and focus on that area, even if it covers a corner of multiple states, situating the events, including the more commonly widespread ones, such as Bigfoot.

So, after covering the likes of the Bell Witch, Bigfoot and Mothman, among many others, here they focus on one of my favorite topics, the werewolf. This mystical creature has been having a resurgence lately, with films like Bonehill Road (2017), Night Howl (2017), Lyncanimator (2018), and the upcoming The Beast Comes at Midnight, so it makes sense to check on one in the real world. in this case, southern Louisiana. This is a change since most of the previous films by STM I have seen involve the Northeast. It is great to see them stretching their (literal) boundaries.

Like Bigfoot, which has multiple names depending on the location (e.g., Yeti, Sasquatch), the “Skinwalker” down in the bayou is known by the Cajun (Acadians originally from Nova Scotia) term, Rougarou (or as I, as a Brooklyn boy heard it, Loup-garou). The story of a man-wolf hybrid has been around for centuries in those swampy areas, giving rise to multiple alleged sightings and stories of meaning.

That is where this story takes off, into the swampy, spooky landscape that has appeared in so many horror releases, such as in Hammer Films’ The Mummy (1959) and many voodoo zombie B-films of the 1940s. It’s a mysterious place full of danger, like quicksand, poisonous snakes, alligators, and the legendary Rougarou.

The film is narrated by Lyle Blackburn, who has done so for a few other Breedlove releases, but he is also the lead vocalist and guitarist of the gothabilly band, Ghoultown, and has written an appropriate book to this film called Swamps: Monsters and Mysteries from the Mire (2020). He does a fine job in a slow and measured manner that’s appropriate for the location of the story, though without the drawl.

The film is broken into chapters. The first wisely mixed a few of the legends with a smattering of the background of the area, including some stunning photography as always; another is how the legend of the Rougarou started both by the American Indians/First Nations who lived in the area, and then by the French settlers. Apparently, the werewolf is historically common folklore in French literature.

The story continues in how the Rougarou is created, be it half-human, half-wolf, or mostly wolf but standing upright. It also includes some fun first- and second-hand stories by the locals, including the person who runs the Rougarou Fest held in Houma, LA, and members of the local Houma Tribe for whom the city is named.

An interesting aspect to me is the variations of the Rougarou. Most of the other cryptids tend to hold steady in their concept and aim, but because the Rougarou is a mixture of Indigenous tribes and European influence, the look, the means of transformation, and even modus operandi changes often. For some, the Rougarou almost takes the Boogeyman/Krampus role of being used to keep kids in line (e.g., “If you’re bad, the Rougarou will getcha!”), for others they are merely wood-and-swamp creatures, and mostly they are humans who have been cursed (one example is a wife who puts the lycanthropy on her good-fer-nuthin’ husband).

While there are certainly similarities between the various visions of the creature, there definitely appears to be a more human aspect, even with the occasional fear-mongering of either eating human flesh or souls. The latter is subtly explained by the very Catholic-based religions in the region. Most other beliefs, such as Baptist or Lutheran, would most likely (in my opinion) just express the Rougarou as either the work of the Devil, or to be a minion of such (Demon). Catholicism is often more varied in possibilities of evil entities, although Devils and Demons are right up there (ever hear of a Lutheran exorcism?).

Because of the addition of the human aspect of transformation, even though it is made clear that the Rougarou can appear as any animal or human, or even a bird or tree, it is usually associated with white clothing and fur (such as rabbits) except for the werewolf version. The consistent seems to be the red glowing eyes. This makes the creature more engaging in a The Thing (1983) way because it could be anyone, even the person sitting next to you in church, as one person interviewed posits.

As with most of the Small Town Monsters releases, there is a mixture of live interviews and travelogues of the area under discussion, some creative artwork and cartooning, and in this case, some really fabulous recreations. The wolf suits are stunning, easily as good as some of the more popular films like Dog Soldiers (2002), which relies more on man-wolf hybrids than, say, the mostly wolf shape of An American Werewolf in London (1981). It is these recreations that really flesh out the stories and give visuals beyond the talking heads syndrome.

With modern technology, salt-water flooding of the sweet water swamps thanks to climate change, and the different directions of the winds of culture, the documentary also tackles the possible future for the Rougarou.

For a company and director that is incredibly prolific, it is admirable that the quality of these films never diminishes. If you are into cryptids or just cryptid-curious, this will not disappoint, as is true with the other STM fare available at the link at the top of the page.