Wolfcop

This wolf in cop’s clothing is the real deal.

Wolfcop, the story of a police officer with boozing tendencies and a lycanthropy problem, will be coming to an Edmonton Cineplex theatre on June 6. The product of film accelerator Cinecoup, the Regina film was recently shown at the Cannes film festival and has already had a sequel green lighted.

Lindsey McNeill is a local filmmaker and was one of the hopefuls in the running for the Cinecoup grand prize. Cinecoup helps package Canadian feature films and offers up to $1million in financing and a guaranteed release in Cineplex theatres. The Cineplex release itself has McNeill seeing its worth.

“Making Canadian films more accessible to Canadian audiences and artists is really important,” McNeill said. “If you are willing to go to see a theatre production, why can’t we show Canadian films?”

McNeill’s submission, a film called Gillian’s Just Right, was also of the horror ilk. She thinks that this is one of the reasons that Wolfcop won, besides it’s wonderful campiness.

“With Wolfcop, you immediately know what you are signing up for,” she said. “It just looks entertaining. Also, tapping into any element of the horror genre is a great idea. Horror fans are crazy; we will consume anything. We will watch it even if it is terrible because we like to yell at the television or the theatre screen.”

Wolfcop writer and director Lowell Dean, sees it in a different light. As one would look at their child, Dean only sees its howling potential.

“It is born out of my love for 1980’s films,” Dean said. “There are definitely scary elements, but to me it is as much a comedy, as it is an action, as it is a horror film. I don’t think you need to be a geek to see it.”

As for how an idea like a werewolf who is also a cop was conceptualized, Dean said after coming up with the title, it grew on its own.

“It’s always been a passion project for me,” he said. “What began as a simple and ridiculous word has taken on something much deeper than me. I see Wolfcop as an iconic hero in my brain now. I’m seeing other adventures for him.

“When the idea existed, it snowballed very quickly. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I visualized a few key scenes that basically formed the whole script. It was the quickest turnover of any project I’ve ever been involved with.”

McNeill has another suggestion as to why not only a movie like Wolfcop could get made, but also why it would succeed.

“Canadians are very strange,” laughed McNeill. “We have a kind of twisted view on things. If you look at director (David) Cronenberg, he’s probably one of the most famous Canadian filmmakers. There is always something a little eerie, a little off, a little twisted about his work. I just attribute that to cold weather and isolation during the winter time.”

All rights Quebecor and QMI Agency (except for picture)