Before True Blood made vampires a metaphor for gay panic and before In the Flesh made zombies the same, the 1998 art film The Wolves of Kromer used werewolves as the monster of choice. And it also featured Boy George as the narrator.
The Wolves of Kromer isn’t really a “horror movie,” but the gay men living in a small town are treated as vile, deadly wolves. They live in the woods, away from society. They wear fur coats with tails. And they terrify people who take walks in the park by baring their teeth and claws and snarling.
While it might not seem as clever today as it did almost twenty years ago, this film does a brilliant job of satirizing the treatment of gays by society, and it still all holds true today. It explores religious hatred, gays trying to act straight and conform, beliefs that gay is a disease that can be caught, and concepts of being a “man.” It even considers witch hunts…complete with a gaggle of old, cat-loving lesbian “witches.”
And as dark and tragic as The Wolves of Kromer gets as it nears its conclusion, it has an amazingly uplifting closing sequence.
I so wanted to like this movie more than I did, but you pointed out a couple of things that are absolutely fascinating. I haven’t watched it in a while, I’m going to check it out again. An astute observation here! Great review.