Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Terrifying de-evolution to savagery, welcome liberation from the cosseting straightjacket of civilization, or something poised ambiguously in-between, the transformation of man to beast has held a persistent fascination that stretches from early tales of lycanthropy through to the famous opening of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis—as is testified to by this collection of films concerned with shape-shifters and the unloosing of men and women’s inner animal selves. Favorites by Paul Schrader, Jean Cocteau, and David Cronenberg prowl alongside more recent cult-classics-to-be like Ali Abbasi’s Border and Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom in our half-human bestiary of feral and fantastic films. Please don’t feed the wildlife.