The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

It is easy to understand Netflix's desire to expand the universe of The Witcher (one of their flagship series) by offering a story dedicated to Vesemir, the mentor of Geralt of Riv (played by actor Henry Cavill). The excellent idea of The Witcher: The Nightmare of the Wolf is to propose this story in the form of an animated feature film.  This animated spin-off focuses on Geralt's mentor, Vesemir, and the origins of Kaer Morhen, the sanctuary of the wizards. The story will explore his early years as a Witcher after the mysterious Deglan claims him through the law of surprise.

Clearly geared more towards an adult audience than a child one, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is quite violent and benefits from a truly disturbing atmosphere in which we discover Versemir's past from his childhood, from his apprenticeship as a young wizard to that of a real killer of monsters of all kinds. The past and the present confront each other here and allow us to complete a world that we know as well by the numerous books of Andrzej Sapkowski as by the video games. The animation here refers to Japanese manga with the same desire to offer spectacular and violent scenes. In the same way, we can only advise you to see this animated film in its original version as it is so well done and benefits from the voices of Theo James, Lara Pulver, Graham McTavish and especially the too rare Mary McDonnell (Dance with the Wolves (1990)). 

The Witcher: The Nightmare of the Wolf turns out to be an excellent surprise because too often the spon-of films or series turn out to be failed and tending to exploit the success of these works to the maximum. In this case this film is not only a simple will to propose a glimpse of the past of Geralt's mentor but also to continue to develop a really rich universe in the same way as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The scriptwriter Beau DeMayo understood that it was necessary to propose a story that was solid and gripping enough to hold the attention of the spectators and above all not to go for the easy way and a forgettable work. Some sequences of the film are beautiful and remind us of the importance of animation to propose beautiful stories provided that the scenario and the animation are of indisputable quality. 

The numerous flashbacks allow us to witness the real hell of Vesemir, a child with a past marked by the violent death of many of his friends during the Kaer Morhen tests. These tests were discussed in the series The Wticher but find here all their strength and cruelty. Seeing his orphans die under pain will mark Vesemir as much as the spectators. Likewise the beautiful love story through time between Vesemir and Lady Zerst. The ravages of time and their separation during their childhood make the reunion of these cursed lovers bring a real dose of sensitivity that contrasts with the omnipresent violence. The work done by Mir Studios is not only impressive but also makes The Witcher: The Nightmare of the Wolf produced for Netflix has nothing to envy the major American studios and animated films that are released in theaters. 

Certainly The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is not only but excellent spin-off of The Witcher series but especially an excellent animated film that we can only advise you to discover.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
Directed by Kwang Il Han
Produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
Written by Beau DeMayo
Based on The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski
Starring Theo James, Lara Pulver, Graham McTavish, Mary McDonnell 
Production companies : Studio Mir
Distributed by Netflix
Release date : August 23, 2021
Running time : 81 minutes

Viewed on August 20, 2021 (Screener press Netflix)

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