Shaky Shivers
Directed by Sung Kang
Written by Andrew McAllister and Aaron Strongoni
Starring Brooke Markham, VyVy Nguyen, Jimmy Bellinger
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour, 22 minutes
In theaters September 21

by M. Lopes da Silva, Staff Writer

Werewolves can be used as sophisticated metaphors to explore things like gender, sexuality, and systemic violence–people come up with new and exciting interpretations of werewolves every day–and sometimes a werewolf is just a werewolf.

Shaky Shivers tells the story of Lucy (Brooke Markham) and Karen (Vyvy Nguyen), two employees working at a Friendly Freeze ice cream store in Winlock, Washington. Lucy is dating their co-worker, Eric, who accidentally gets shot by Karen when he startles her while wearing a cheap werewolf mask. His murder sends Lucy off on a troubling forgotten night in the woods, while Karen hides in an abandoned summer camp cabin. Hijinks ensue when it turns out that Lucy might have been bitten by an actual werewolf, and a spell that they use to attempt to reverse the curse ends up causing further supernatural shenanigans.

It's a shame that the energy of all of that plot-driven action doesn’t end up on screen. Despite everything that I just described, not a lot of stuff actually occurs in the film, and the immediate tension of having to deal with things like a dead body quickly become ameliorated by plot devices. The pacing feels off, attributable to both directing and editing choices, which means a lot of scenes tend to come across as slightly awkward and drag on for a little too long, or cut off before the joke gets to breathe. The actors are doing their best; Brooke Markham (Lucy) adds charm to the lines she’s given, and Vyvy Nguyen (Karen) depicts her character’s fresh trauma with comedic timing admirably. But while the acting is performed earnestly, the roles don’t give the actors much to work with, and even the most seasoned acting is just putting more hot pepper flakes on bad pizza. Your pizza will still taste inexplicably lackluster and sad, but it’s peppery now. That’s something, I suppose.

The film’s story is uneven, with funny or fun moments being more of an exception than the rule. There’s a fairy tale element to the plot that I found intriguing in the first act, but it ended up feeling like a hat on a hat by the third: unnecessary, and ultimately adding very little to the narrative. There are additional “wacky” moments sprinkled throughout, including a Bigfoot subplot, but despite the promise of zany fun these scenes also suffered from pacing issues and generally feel dull.

What I appreciated the most about Shaky Shivers is the script’s refusal to fat shame one of the protagonists, who happens to be fat. A lot of comedies usually turn fatness into a joke, and it’s great to see a broad comedy demonstrate some ethical standards. I just wish that those standards also extended to preventing slut-shaming and a brief moment of casual transphobia from going on in the narrative, but alas, I dreamed for too much, too soon.

The film concludes with a cameo by the director that made me feel squeamish and uncomfortable – is this “cringe”? God, I miss Twitter.

It turns out that the werewolf of Shaky Shivers could only ever be a werewolf – nothing more, and nothing less. Aooooo.