Small Town Monsters, a collective of filmmakers whose focus revolves around eyewitness accounts of small town folklore come to life, have been producing short- and long-form documentaries since 2015 when their first film Minerva Monster was released. Since then, they have worked at an impressive speed to release over ten films, as well as several investigative web series, a membership platform, and even their own event entitled Monster Fest.
The films, all directed by Seth Breedlove, are an apparent labor of love for both the filmmakers and their subjects, conveying stories that practically beg for skepticism with the guilelessness of a midnight campfire story. With American Werewolves, the latest in the group’s attempts to explain the unexplainable, Breedlove leaves the storytelling solely to witnesses of the “Dogman,” an aggressive creature to whom the deaths of many throughout history are attributed.
American Werewolves, which plays like a late-night TV special one could accidentally flip to in the early nineties, opens with a prompt that hints at the factual ambiguity to come: “The following program deals with a controversial subject. The theories expressed are not the only possible interpretation. The viewer is invited to make a judgment based on all available information.” From this point on, Breedlove treats his audience to in-depth interviews with those who claim to have seen the half-wolf/half-man hybrid, spliced together with B-movie-esque visuals of someone in a wolf suit prowling through the forest.
This combination of straightforward documentary and arthouse creature feature might not sit right with everyone, but for those who have enough curiosity to go down the Small Town Monsters rabbit hole, it’ll work like gangbusters. The accounts, told in harrowing detail, are always one wrong word away from seeming ridiculous, but Breedlove’s unwavering instinct to let his subjects ramble gives their stories a realism that is hard to deny.
Based on their official website, Small Town Monsters already has four more films in production this year, covering everything from the Rougarou to the Jersey Devil. The group shows no sign of slowing down. While an all-out binge of their content may prove tiresome and repetitive, there is something incredibly endearing about Breedlove & Co.’s commitment to putting untold variations of widely known legends to the screen. American Werewolves, and any of the films produced by Small Town Monsters, would make for good programming in a media library’s documentary collection.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
This would fit well in any documentary film collection that deals with folklore, the supernatural, or real-life horror.
Can this film be used in a library education program?
American Werewolves could be used in a library education program that highlights variations in eyewitness accounts or popular legends.
Would this film be suitable for an outdoor screening?
Watching this film anywhere near a forest would make for a great, spooky outdoor screening, perhaps for the Halloween season.