I wanna tell you a story. No, not the title of Max Bygrave’s autobiography, but the opening to Fritz Böhm’s directorial feature debut Wildling, co-written with storyboard and visual effects artist Florian Eder, in which a man by the name of Daddy (Brad Dourif, best known for playing the suicidal Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) asks a young girl by the name of Anna (played by British actress Bel Powley) whether she would like to hear a bedtime story about an ominous figure with sharp teeth, long nails and dark hair who eats children.

Understandably, computer says no. But Daddy overrules computer and continues to widen the pupil’s of young Anna’s eyes with hair-raising details about her being “the only one left” who must be protected. Hence why she’s held captive in a dingy little attic. Hence why the metallic door knob is electrified. Hence why she must take “medicine” to prevent her from going to “the better place”. But what she doesn’t know is that said medicine suppresses the production of estrogen, slows down her maturity and keeps her in the no man’s land of virginity.

But when a change of circumstance enables her to step foot into the real world, it is little wonder that she acts like a fish out of water: every parental figure is referred to as Daddy, regardless of their gender; a penis is as alien to her as periods, both of which she experiences for the first time when she stops taking her special “medicine”; and a person who doesn’t drink is not a member of the temperance society, but someone who nurses a thirst.

Speaking of which, when her teeth begin to sharpen and her nails begin to lengthen and her hair begins to darken ‒ in effect, turning her into a Wildling, which the townspeople thought they had hunted down and killed, “every last one of them” ‒ she develops a thirst of her own: for blood. But not that of Sheriff Ellen Cooper (Liv Tyler) who saves her from being locked up in a psychiatric unit. Nor Ellen’s cute brother Ray (Collin Kelly-Sordelet) for whom she develops a crush.

Part Raw, part Let The Right One In, Wildling is at its strongest when it uses the vampire metaphor to explore notions of sexual awakening, coming of age and alienation. A strength which is bolstered by slick editing and minimal dialogue which propel the story through image rather than word ‒ the cinematography by Toby Oliver (Get Out) brooding and otherworldly. But just when you think it is going to delve deeper into those dark metaphors, it draws back and concludes with a finely crafted if formulaic cat and mouse chase through the woods which leaves you in no doubt that a sequel beckons.

Still, given that the budget was only $2m, and given the quality of performances by both the cast and the crew which include a fine score by Paul Haslinger and an equally fine original track by Linda Perry who penned Christina Aguilera’s Grammy Award-winning hit “Beautiful”, credit to Fritz Böhm for creating an absorbing drama out of a flogged to death premise. The only down point being that it lacked what its protagonist had in abundance: teeth. Just imagine what he could achieve with even a tenth of the resources of the run-of-the-mill star vehicles which litter our screens. Watch. This. Space.

Director: Fritz Böhm
Writers: Fritz Böhm, Florian Eder
Stars: Liv Tyler, Brad Dourif, Bel Powley
Peter Callaghan
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