‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Review: A Shape-Shifting Witch Learns What It Means to Be Human in Creative Art-Horror Offering
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film CriticThe villagers refer to her as Old Maid Maria, invoking the witch’s name as a way to make children behave.
But the Wolf-Eateress — or Volkojatka, as the superstitious peasants call this shape-shifting witch — is more than just a scary story in “You Won’t Be Alone.” The adults also believe in Old Maid Maria, with her sharp black claws and a face like Freddy Kreuger’s.
She has terrorized the countryside for nearly two centuries, surviving on the blood of newborns and wild animals. Once, very long ago, she wanted a child of her own.It’s a daring choice on the part of Macedonia-born writer-director Goran Stolevski to show Old Maid Maria in the film’s opening minutes.
Horror movies typically try to keep the monster hidden for as long as possible, and here, the makeup looks … well, like makeup: All but unrecognizable beneath a layer of synthetic skin — pockmarked as a slice of reheated pizza — and a wig of stringy white hair, Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”) reveals herself early as the Wolf-Eateress.
Read more on variety.com
