Werewolf Movie, the latest novella from Stephen St. Francis Decky, follows a group of friends in the local New Jersey music scene during the late 1980s as their musical ambitions cross paths with a pack of ravenous werewolves. Rick, arguably the central character of the group, is a budding musician. After the sudden death of his boss, Rick decides that it may just be the perfect time to get more serious about his musical career. Dale works a job at the local movie theatre, which he seems perpetually close to losing, and playing music late into the night with friends doesn’t seem to be helping his abysmal sleep schedule. Frankie, a friend of Dale’s, struggles with anxiety while on stage, but makes some compelling experimental music along with his friends. He’s far more interested in having fun being creative than in making money off his music.
The lives of these three characters are dangerously unstable, but the uncertain situations cause each of them to dream of something better. Rick’s recent unemployment means he only has a month or two before he runs out of money. In his now abundant free time, he realizes he may be in just the right position to start his own record label. Dale, because of his terrible sleeping habits, is just a few bad days from ending up in the same financial situation. Frankie is thrown into the position of potentially losing his home upon the sudden death of his grandmother. While she was strict and controlling, she at least gave him a stable place to live. Though he struggles with his new situation, Frankie’s newfound freedom gives him space to lean harder into his band, Bee Plasm. Even as he feels the lingering presence of his grandmother in his home, along with bumps in the night, books flying across the living room, and other haunting occurrences, his musical motivation only grows.
One of St. Francis Decky’s most memorable choices in Werewolf Movie is the unorthodox depiction of the werewolves. Rather than beasts that stalk the forest at night, Decky’s werewolves take to the sky, either under their own power or in a car picked up along the way, landing on top of their unsuspecting victims. For those who become werewolves, their nights become movie-like dissociative episodes filled with gory, violent scenes, large animals, and a wet dog smell that seems impossible to get rid of.
“Before this, or right after, there is something like the dream I had the other night, or the movie I saw with the people being eaten in the apartment. Except this time, it takes place at a supermarket with several customers in it… There are other people moving and one of them comes right up to the camera: From where I’m at, I can see a pair of hands that look sort of like mine dig into his face, squeezing at both ends while the thumbs push into his eyes until this milky purple-black shit explodes out of the right one.”
In exchange for these gruesome events, and the disarray caused in their lives, the characters’ musical talents are heightened to a supernatural degree. This refreshing take on a well-established monster turns an already intriguing story into a whirlwind series of events that becomes almost impossible to put down.
Donnie, an executive for O.L.C. Records, and the catalyst for this new pack of violent furballs, seems to be an allegory for the drug use common in the music industry in the 1980s. When Rick turns down his initial offer to sign on with the label, he doesn’t take no for an answer, whisking him away into the night. Donnie continues his role as a puppetmaster throughout, leading the characters through their druglike haze and taking control of people’s bodies when they’re unconscious. Befitting his role as a predatory record executive, he takes advantage of the characters’ renewed dreams and musical talents, twisting them to his own design. By the time he eventually disappears, the friends are left with a wrecked house and a feeling that something is missing. They know they’ll never make music that good again.
Overall, Stephen St. Francis Decky’s Werewolf Movie is a fun ride through a pivotal point in the lives of its characters. The shaky progression from dead-end jobs to up-and-coming musical stars makes for a compelling and relatable group of friends. When combined with the fabulous twist on werewolves and the other mysterious phenomena that seem to follow the characters at every turn, the story grips its reader until the very end, moving at times so quickly that it feels almost as if one were experiencing a “werewolf movie” for themselves.
You can purchase a copy of Werewolf Movie here.
Werewolf Movie
Stephen St. Francis Decky
Frayed Edges Press
October 21, 2025
108 pages
Azalea Feather is a third-year Game Design and Production major at Drexel with a focus on writing. In her free time, she enjoys playing and making video games, movie nights with friends, and working on her currently in-progress science fiction novel.