Teddy (2021)

 

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Teddy (2021)
Genre: Horror
Length: 88 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Shudder, Baxter Films, Les Films Velvet, The Jokers, Canal+, Ciné+, WTFilms, Indéfilms 8, SofiTVciné 7, Région Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision, Cine Canibal
Directors: Ludovic Boukherma, Zoran Boukherma
Writers: Ludovic Boukherma, Zoran Boukherma
Actors: Anthony Bajon, Christine Gautier, Ludovic Torrent, Guillaume Mattera, Jean-Michel Ricart, Alain Boitel, Noémie Lvovsky
 
Blurb from IMDb:  In a rural French town, twenty-something Teddy is scratched by an unknown beast and slowly undergoes frightening changes.

 
Cat’s Point of View:

At this moment, I’m finding it hard to put my feelings about Teddy into words. I’m conflicted.
 
Let’s rewind a little bit.
 
When Selina and I watched the trailer for Teddy, prior to putting our respective Top 20 lists together, I gave this a 4.5 out of 5 rating reflecting my desire to watch the film. I noted that it looked like a fun dark comedy coming-of-age tale focusing on the titular young spa employee. Teddy landed at #13 on my personal Top 20, while Selina was a bit less optimistic – listing the movie as #19 on hers.
 
Now that the credits have rolled, I find myself leaning more in her direction.

 
Teddy wasn’t horrible, don’t get me wrong. I just feel like there was a lot of buildup throughout the production and too little payoff. 

Events begin oddly. Unfortunately, Teddy only builds momentum with its awkwardness rather than offering relief through story satisfaction.
 
I imagine that it’s a hard and awkward life to be the village black sheep in such a tiny community as shown in Teddy. The production went full bore on those elements, however, and teased the wolf more than I would have liked. I’m not sure if Teddy suffered from low budget woes resulting in some of those decisions, or if the odd and drawn-out process was purposeful.
 
Each part was acted well. I just couldn’t seem to invest in any of the characters.

 
Where was my werewolf?! I think that’s my biggest frustration with Teddy. I didn’t even get the dry dark comedy I was looking forward to. I had a couple chuckles, but Teddy took itself more seriously than I felt it should have.
 
I’m not sure that I would actively steer anyone away from Teddy, but I doubt I’d offer the title up if asked for recommendations.
 
Be that as it may, you can watch Teddy and judge for yourself starting Thursday, August 5th on Shudder. 

 
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 6.3/10
 
Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating – R
 
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5
 
Movie Trailer: