Sonoma County filmmaker’s werewolf film comes to San Rafael movie theater
In January 2023, Hermann Hesse’s philosophical novel “Steppenwolf” quietly slipped out of copyright and into the public domain, along with all other works published in the United States in 1927. It only follows that Sonoma County filmmaker Daedalus Howell would turn “Steppenwolf” into a low-budget monster flick in which Hesse’s metaphorical “wolf of the steppes,” representing humankind’s animal nature, is literalized as an actual teeth-and-claws werewolf.
“Werewolf Serenade” is Howell’s follow-up to 2019’s “Pill Head,” which the Petaluma Argus-Courier described as “possibly the most bizarre film ever made in Petaluma.” Like “Pill Head,” “Serenade” is a collaboration between Howell and his wife Kary Hess, who acted as producer and production designer. It screens at 9 p.m. June 21 at San Rafael’s Smith Rafael Film Center, making its Marin County debut after debuting at the AVFest in Healdsburg last month. The event will feature onstage appearances by Howell and Hess, as well as members of the cast and crew, a post-film Q&A and a pre-show audience Werewolf Howling Competition. Admission is $10.50 to $14. More information at rafaelfilm.cafilm.org/werewolf-serenade.
Set amid the omnipresent wine culture of Sonoma County, “Werewolf Serenade” follows a burnt-out academic played by Howell, whose investigations into a dead colleague’s mysterious research take an unexpectedly hairy turn. It’s a delightfully disconcerting fusion of cheapo matinee-horror filmmaking with Howell’s highbrow wit and lyrical dialogue; everyone in the movie is smart, and the characters would make great dinner guests so long as they didn’t maul everyone at the table in a lycanthropic rage. And if you’re concerned you might be missing something because you haven’t read “Steppenwolf,” don’t worry: Howell hasn’t either, at least not all the way to the end.
“Don’t bother with it, it’s so bad,” Howell says. “I tried to revisit it after the movie, and it’s terrible. It starts off as somebody else’s book about this book that he found, and then there’s a book within the book. It’s like, just get to it, man.”
Howell, who edits the North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun on top of his filmmaking endeavors, took some time to discuss his movie with the IJ.
Q Where did the idea come from to mash up “Steppenwolf” with werewolves?
A I like the character Harry Haller, who is turning 50, and I’d actually already turned 50, so I began reflecting on what that means for me artistically. I thought about it being a more faithful interpretation (of “Steppenwolf”), and I pitched it to my wife, who’s my producer, and I said it’s “Steppenwolf 2.” And she said that sounded like “Teen Wolf 2,” and we were just looking at each other, and we knew we had to do a werewolf movie.
Q Tell me about how middle age is like being a werewolf.
A The difference between being a werewolf and nearing middle age is there’s a tad less carnivorous homicide. But other than that, the hair that used to be on my head is now on my shoulders and out my nose and out my ears, so lycanthropy and being 50 are not dissimilar. I’m saying this literally as this dude is walking by wearing ears and a tail out of his pants.
Q Your character is a professor. Have you ever been involved in academia?
A I’ve never been a professor, but I have friends who are, and occasionally I get to guest lecture to their students. I just wrapped up a couple of sessions at California College of the Arts, and I love it. Young people with bright open minds really give me hope for humanity. But I actually wrote this script as a means to graduate with my bachelor’s, because I never finished college at (San Francisco) State. This script was some of my final units. So I’m not very academic myself, but I do enjoy that atmosphere.
Q One of the most interesting things about the film is the ubiquity of Sonoma County’s wine culture. How did that seep into the work?
A The modern cinematic interpretation of the werewolf borrows heavily from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which I understand was meant to be an allegory for alcoholism. (My character) literally becomes a werewolf — spoiler alert — by drinking from a particular bottle of wine. What’s awesome is that Stevenson lived in Napa for a spell, so to me, that brings it full circle.
Q The dialogue really pops; you’ll have people being chased by wolves still carrying on witty conversations. Tell me a little bit about your process of writing dialogue and how you came up with the script.
A When I’m writing these things, I’m in conversation with myself, and I hear what’s being said and I find myself responding to it and then responding to that. I kind of get in character a bit and play the parts out until I crack myself up or somebody tells me to shut up. I need to write alone for that purpose because I’m often standing up and acting things out. But also I’m 51 years old, so I’ve lived a bunch and had a bunch of weird conversations. Having a married couple talk about lycanthropy, that’s probably 10 or 20 down on the list of things you have to talk about at that point.