“Teen Wolf: The Movie” – An Emotional Return to Beacon Hills

After what has felt like a long 4 years, the Teen Wolf Pack is finally back. As “Teen Wolf: The Movie” is now streaming on Paramount+

As a writer who has been there since the show’s inception and is a big fan of the original series, of course finding out about a Teen Wolf Movie was music to my ears. But, the questions are, is it a good movie? Does it pay tribute to the series? Is it a good story? And does it finally give us closure. Let’s see.

“Teen Wolf: The Movie” takes place thirteen years after the events of the main show’s final season took place. Season 6 of the show was released in 2017, but the events depicted in the final season of Teen Wolf happened in 2013. At one point of the film Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) mentions it’s been 15 years since Allison Argent (Crystal Reed) died.

A terrifying new evil has emerged in Beacon Hills calling for the return of Alpha Werewolf Scott McCall, to once again reunite the Banshees, Were-coyotes, Hellhounds, Kitsunes, and other shapeshifters of the night. With new allies and trusted friends like Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin), Lydia Martin (Holland Roden), Jackson Whittemore (Colton Haynes), Malia Tate (Shelley Hennig), and the return of a long lost love, Scott and his pack just might stand a chance.” Unfortunately fan favorite Stiles Stilinski played by Dylan O’Brien and Kira Yukimura played by Arden Cho are missed.

Is it a good movie?

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From the very beginning of the film you feel a sense of nostalgia as each character appears on the screen. You also feel a sense of nostalgia for the show itself, because just like with the show, the movie is full of entertaining and comedic moments, heartfelt and emotional scenes, and then we are thrust into the dark and gritty, action packed parts of the show. Each part balances each other out well in the movie just like in the series.

The movie has effortlessly pulled off a 15 year transition, smoothly continuing the story. We get to see each character 13 years later, Scott is stuck in a wistful state, at the same job running an Animal Shelter next to Deaton’s new veterinary clinic in LA.

Derek is dad now, and he’s got his own teenager to deal with, Eli Hale (Vince Mattis) Derek’s 15 year old son, Malia is dealing with commitment issues in her new secret relationship with a familiar face from the series, Deputy Parrish (Ryan Kelly) and Lydia is a successful girl boss working in a company that deals with sound energy, however one thing that fans are not going to be happy about, forget that, this Stydia (Stiles and Lydia) shipper is extremely disappointed in is that Lydia has left Stiles in order to protect him from a dream she had. This plot point is extremely dissapointing as the couple was built up over the past 6 seasons of Teen Wolf, and Davis chose to break them up for a completely ridiculous reason which partly might have something to do with the fact that O’Brien did not return for the movie.

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Not to mention with an enhanced budget, the camerawork and CGI in the returning characters in the movie as well as the wolfing out scenes compared to the show has greatly improved. “When we did Teen Wolf, we tried to make every episode look like a movie, even on our limited budget. We didn’t have a Marvel movie sized budget for the movie either, so we were still pushing the boundaries of the budget.” Says the show’s creator and executive producer and writer Jeff Davis in an interview with Collider.

The movie sees some great stunts and intense action scenes especially between the werewolves. Crystal Reed in particular gets some exciting fight sequences, one in particular that takes place in a hospital. Allison was known for her skills with a bow and arrow and ring daggers, and we some well choreographed fight scenes from both her and the werewolves in the movie and sword fights.

With incredible performances from each of these actors, who step back into these roles as if never having left them.

Does it pay tribute to the series?

The movie’s plot is a great fan service in that it integrates many key aspects from previous seasons of Teen Wolf, and brings back almost all the show’s beloved characters for one final fight. We also get to see many callbacks and Easter eggs throughout the movie that fans of the series will enjoy. There’s quite a lot going on so as the story unfolds it takes time to put the pieces together, this way even someone who hasn’t watched the series can watch the show and enjoy it.

Davis spoke about his goal with the movie “One thing I wanted to do, that we did in the movie, was a lacrosse scene in a big stadium. We got our big stadium, and I was able to do that championship game. I also wanted to do really big life-or-death moments. And I wanted to just keep telling the story. One of the things that the movie allowed us to do was to tell a more compressed story. It’s fast-paced, even for 2 and a half hours. I’m really hoping the audience likes it.”

Is it a good story? — (***Spoilers if you click Read More**)

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Through the trailer and the fact that Allison was alive again, fans came to guess that there could only be one explanation for this, the nogitsune, a trickster spirit who was trapped at the end of Season 3 is back, and they were right. Just as the film starts we see a hooded figure approach Liam Dunbar (Dylan Sprayberry) and his new partner Hikari Zhang (Amy Workman) and steal the sealed Trickster spirit, setting him free with one condition, retribution for what Derek Hale and Scott McCall did to him.

One thing that was a bit of a let down was that Jeff Davis chose to recycle the Nogitsune from season 3, even though that was the best villain on the show. Although it was the only way to bring Allison back, a new villain for a brand new Teen Wolf Movie would have been an interesting and fresh take.

After Scott and Chris Argent (JR Bourne) start having visions of Allison, they begin to suspect she may still be alive and somehow stuck between life and death. When Argent suggests that there is a ritual that could help Allison, Scott along with Chris and Deaton (Seth Gilliam) head to Beacon Hills, and get the pack back together to figure things out.

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Things soon go sideways when Deaton figures out that Argent was possessed by the Nogitsune and had tricked them into performing the ritual. The ritual which Scott, Lydia and Malia perform at the nemetton from season 3 ends up bringing her back to life, the downside, she doesn’t remember a thing, who or what she is, except wanting to kill Derek and Scott. This leads to the nogitsune using Allison as a weapon to wipe out Scott and his pack, with the help of the Oni from season 3 as well. When Allison gravely injures Derek with an Arrow to the throat, she then goes after his son, with Derek out of commission, it’s up to the others to now band together to save Derek’s son and stop Allison. Their enemy is also their greatest weakness.

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After a series of unfortunate events, action packed scenes and one incredibly emotional scene between Scott and Allison where he brings back her memory using their past together, they now have to deal with the present. They soon learn that the hooded figure who set the nogitsune free is actually Professor Adrian Harris from season 2 and 3, he too was believed to be dead after being sacrificed by a druid in season 3. His goal to kill everyone and open a portal into another world. Lydia manages to reach Allison with her voice allowing her to remember everything, so now thanks to the combined efforts of, well, everyone, the pack manages to take out the Oni and the nogitsune, but at a great cost, while subduing the Nogitsune for Parrish to light up in flames, the beloved Derek Hale is killed and engulfed in flames himself.

“I emember when I came up with the idea, I couldn’t do it without Tyler Hoechlin’s blessing. When I talked with Tyler, I said to him, “What do you think of giving Derek a big, heroic ending?,” and he was into it.” Says Davis recalling how he came up with the idea to kill off Derek “He loves the character just as much as I do. There was always trepidation and fear about it. I remember being with him on set, looking at him, and saying to him actually, “Oh, my God, we’re gonna have to bring you back. I don’t know if we can do this.” But I think you need to take big swings. You need to take those chances in a movie.”

The ending scenes include an emotional memorial for Derek, Sheriff Stilinski giving Eli Stile’s truck and a beautiful montage of Derek Hale. We then see Scott and Allison back in LA, finally having a future together and the show ending where it all began, with a Teenage werewolf.

The ending brings a shocking and painful loss. One of the Teen Wolf fandoms favorite characters. This death honestly could have been avoided by the writers, who have clearly chosen a more dramatic angle. This is yet another move that fans are not going to be happy with, it is partly a very bold move and partly one that leaves me wishing I had stopped at season 6 when everything was simpler and Scott was being chased by hunters.

Seeing as though this movie is somewhat of a sequel to the series, it does do justice to the show and its beloved characters. While also introducing new ones, Eli in particular that we fall in love with. These characters are ones that we love and root for, and this movie has delivered a beautiful heart wrenching and intense story that Teen Wolf fans will love, and movies lovers will enjoy.

Does this movie give us closure?

I wouldn’t say this film completely delivers closure, some may prefer how things ended in season 6 after seeing this film, as we still don’t know what will happen with Stiles and Lydia, Malia and Parrish, who Eli’s mother is and how Allison coming back to life can even begin to be explained, but you do feel a sense of finality in the end, with the story of the of Teen Wolf pack finally wrapping up. It has it’s flaws but this was an interesting continuation and end, with the start of Eli’s story. and a new start to a new chapter in Beacon Hills.