Sometimes, bad things come in small packages. In this case, Jenny is a snotty, phone-fixated teen witch who unwittingly gets morphed into a bloodthirsty werewolf inhabiting the body of a Yorkshire terrier. And when this pint-size terror eats your favorite pair of shoes, chances are good that your feet will still be in them. Bring on the schlock and awe!
If the opening premise of Yorkie Werewolf sounds like your cup of kibble, you’re in luck. The campy tail, er, tale of horror, by St. George filmmaker Michael DiBlasio-Ornelas, premiered at last year’s Vermont Film & Folklore Festival and was just released last week for online streaming. Theatrical screenings are also scheduled on Tuesday, January 21, at the Welden Theater in St. Albans; Friday, January 24, at the Hooker-Dunham Theater in Brattleboro; and Sunday, January 26, at the Vermont International Film Festival Screening Room in Burlington. The film has garnered several awards, including Best Feature at the 2024 Horror Underground Film and Screenplay Festival in Montréal.
Filmed in and around Cambridge, Jeffersonville, New Haven and Burlington, Yorkie Werewolf recounts the witchy woes of Jenny, who learns at her grandmother’s deathbed that her mother has long harbored a dark secret about Jenny’s bloodline — namely, that her father is the local warlock and mafia boss, Papa Nick.
After joining forces with Chris, a clingy and simpering teen vampire who has his own vendetta against the pasta kingpin, some of which involves garlic, Jenny sets out to fulfill her ancient destiny as the monster who finally brings peace to her warring town. Along the way, viewers are treated to plenty of fart jokes, spurting arterial bleeding, amputated limbs, low-tech special effects and over-the-top ethnic stereotypes.
“The ruling principle with this film was fun,” said DiBlasio-Ornelas, who wrote, produced and directed the movie, his fourth feature-length film. He added that he tried to recreate the look and feel of the cheesy, low-budget creature features of the 1970s and ’80s. Produced on a low, six-figure budget of its own, Yorkie Werewolf was filmed almost entirely with a Vermont-based crew, using many local actors and extras.
The idea for this snarly, eviscerating fur fest was actually born from a different kind of bloodbath — the decimation of the American film industry by COVID-19. During the lockdown, DiBlasio-Ornelas, a largely self-taught writer and filmmaker, wasn’t sure if or when he would ever work again.
“I needed to get back to my ‘Why?’ which was just to have fun and be engaged,” he said. Having little more than a working title and what he called “this ridiculous premise,” DiBlasio-Ornelas was able to find investors to bankroll the project. Then, drawing inspiration from such horror-comedy classics as Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), he wrote the script in March 2022 and was on set filming by November of that year.
Though no one except the Addams family would describe it as a family-friendly movie, Yorkie Werewolf has DiBlasio-Ornelas’ own flesh and blood in this project. His wife, Rebecca De Ornelas, who also coproduced the movie, plays Jenny’s mother, Sandra. Unbeknownst to the couple at the time, De Ornelas was pregnant with their younger daughter during filming — the second time she was with child during the making of one of their movies.
Also, the eponymous Yorkshire terrier who is used for a blood sacrifice early in the movie was portrayed by the couple’s own dog, Zelda. Needless to say, no animals were harmed in the making of this film.