The premise of this film from Czech avant garde director Vera Chytilova resembles that of many "B" horror movies of the time. A large group of teenagers head to an isolated camp with relatively little adult supervision. In this case, it's clear from the start that there is something peculiar about the camp counselors, who claim that there is an extra camper who doesn't belong. The counselors consistently work to undermine the relationship between the various campers, which isn't difficult given the isolation, extreme cold of the mountain location, and lack of good food. It seems that one of Chytilova's aims here is to build a tense atmosphere for psychological horror, yet this is not altogether successful, mostly because of the goofiness of the campers and the absurdity of the eventual reveal of the nature of the counselors and their goals. Chytilova's direction isn't as successful as it could have been either - though she attempts to spice things up with some creative camera work and transitional close-ups of spreading ice, she fails to infuse the proceedings with much tension.
Like many films from major Eastern European directors of the era, Wolf's Chalet contains elements of political allegory that are hard to ignore. The inhuman behavior of the counselors resembles that of an oppressive regime that demands sacrifices from its people for no good reason. At the same time, the campers mostly fail to band together to combat the obvious malevolence of their captors, which suggests the lack of useful action undertaken by the people. It is only when the campers work together that they have any chance of withstanding the counselors, although they find it impossible to offer opposition without making sacrifices of their own.
While Wolf's Chalet has an interesting premise and it avoids most of the pitfalls of the "B" horror movies it resembles, the narrative still doesn't work all that well when taken literally. While it's a little more successful as a political statement, it's a bit hard to swallow serious themes from such silly goings-on. The best part of this film overall is the camera work, which at least attempts something interesting and original. Nevertheless, while it's easy to see why this is not a very well known film, it kept my attention and was fairly engaging throughout.
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