A creepy sheepherder and a horde of ravenous werewolves terrorize a group of teens on a church youth group camping trip in the Scottish Highlands. This is only six weeks after teen angst hits a new low when Kelly Ann (Samantha Shields) gives up her newborn baby for adoption. There's little explained about this situation, and it's quite unclear as to how or why their priest organized an unsupervised overnight trip for these four teens (2 male, 2 female) who are 'obviously' experimenting with sex. To make matters even more complicated, the group is (secretly) joined by Lee (Peter Capaldi), the young man who fathered Kelly Ann's child.

The first day of their trip, just before nightfall, the group happens upon the aforementioned creepy sheepherder, and are treated to an objectionable return visit from him later on that evening. They scare him away, and decide to investigate the darkness upon hearing some creepy sounds. During her investigation, Kelly Ann comes across a baby securely wrapped in a blanket. Naturally, she turns mom and claims the child as her own. How's that for karma? This (of course) leads to the first of many wolf attacks that all take place throughout the remainder of the evening and the following morning. With the climax taking place at the little Bed & Breakfast where the teens are scheduled for a rendezvous.

Grrowlll?

Wolves gone wild in the Scottish Highlands. (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society)

Devoid of any form of social commentary and bringing absolutely nothing new to a table overpopulated by hungry wolves, you'd think that I'd be giving this one a big ole' thumbs down. But you'd be wrong. There's still something infectiously entertaining about this film. It has a great spirit about it that I really enjoyed...and admired.

The characters seemed real and I genuinely cared for them. Although it's still unclear as to why it was necessary for Kelly Ann to drag that baby around the whole time, the bit of a punch line offered at the end of the film was not nearly enough of a reason to validate it. And I'm still uncertain as to the purpose of the sheepherder. Although I'm not going to tell you who was 'actually' present for the finale (because it would just strip away all of the fun), the showdown at the Bed & Breakfast is quite enjoyable.

Reportedly made for about 1 million dollars, it looks as if every penny of Wild Country's budget may have gone to either film stock and/or creature effects. There are moments in which the effects work fairly well, while at other times, they are more than lacking (it sounds like they went to a zoo and just recorded lions growling at each other for the wolf cry). Still, the b-movie quality of the effects don't mask the love and care that really seems to permeate the latex and greasepaint makeup on display. In addition to the creatures, there are some really enjoyable gore effects, including one great 'wolf chomp' towards the tail end (get it?) of the film that really made my day.

Running at about 75 minutes, Wild Country barely qualifies as a feature. For better or for worse, the film doesn't stick around long enough to either annoy or get under the skin. That being said, if accepted at face value, Wild Country is easily credited as an adequately solid 75 minutes of horror entertainment. If I were ever inclined to use the word 'charming' to describe a film in which teens are devoured by wolves, this would be it.

Thumbs Up Low-rent yet effective and fun horror flick.