When a group of tourists go missing in the north woods, a seemingly innocent waitress is haunted by guilt even though the authorities claim it was an animal attack. The true reason for her tortured soul is just one of many intertwined stories in this puzzlebox mystery where the nonlinear clues point to both mundane murder and movie monsters. MEMENTO meets FARGO (with werewolves)

SYNOPSIS:

Trying to describe Once Bitten in a linear way is kind of impossible because after the first 10 pages, a lot of the story unfolds in a nonlinear way through flashbacks. Some revisit key moments from the day of the disappearances, others illuminate motivations and backstory while intercut with action. Basically, even though there are "sleuths" you follow who are trying to figure out what happened, the viewer actually has more information than any one character seems to via access to flashbacks. But that access isn't fully "godlike" either and the viewer is also in the dark much of the time until key information is revealed or old info re-contextualized in the finale by revisiting conversations or showing it from a different POV.

The short version of the full story is this: It seems like a pretty normal horror movie (cute co-eds heading on a camping trip in an area with werewolfe lore) up to page 10 when we smash cut ahead after "the crime". A deputy and a group of concerned citizens already suspect werewolves based on local lore and a supposed sighting, but the Sheriff is a nonbeliever. Over time and after another body drops, we find out that while werewolves definitely are real and living among them, they had nothing to do with the crimes. In a total script flip, militarized, vigilante werewolf hunters are shown to be the true monsters, so desperate to weed out wolves they stoop to killing/kidnapping the tourists to convince the Sheriff to let them kidnap an entire extended family without consequences. (Their flash-bangs, smoke bombs, and propensity for covering their faces while terrorizing innocent people just for being "other" also happens to resemble certain events that have been occurring both in Minnesota where I grew up. This resemblance is coincidental but fitting.)

Red herrings and backstories finally come to a head in an action-packed climax as the serial killers/werewolf hunters get their comeuppance through the combined efforts (and multi-timeline intercuts) of a cult survivor/waitress, two charming middle-aged podcaster besties, and a lone wolf looking for a pack of his own. Although the body count is high, the ending is surprisingly wholesome, with a new pack peeling off to start a new life in California, far from harm.

ONCE BITTEN