I Am Lissa

[classichorrorfan]

The film follows Lisa, a young woman who runs a bookstore that was left to her by her deceased grandmother. She is bullied by the local mean girl and drug dealer Jess, who also steals a rare book from the store and later sexually assaults her when the two are alone in the bookstore. Lisa tries to report it to the local police, but is met with dismissal as the sheriff is Jess's mom, Deborah "Deb", and the deputy her brother Nick. In retaliation Deb arranges for Lisa to be viciously assaulted and taken out to the woods. They leave her for dead, expecting that she will be mauled to death by wolves. Lisa manages to survive the encounter but is still bitten by a wolf, turning her into a werewolf. Lisa manages to make it to the home of her friend Sam, who is horrified by what has happened.

Unbeknownst to Lisa, Deb is fully aware that werewolves exist. She had previously beaten and left another girl, Lisa's cousin Gretchen, for the wolves to maul. The girl had survived the attack and become a werewolf, making it necessary for Deb and the others to hunt and kill her. It is also implied that Deb was responsible for the death of the previous sheriff, who had also been mauled to death. As Lisa's transformation continues, Lisa tracks down and kills those who wronged her, beginning with Millie. She also kills Dana after she threatens Sam, as well as Jess and Nick for trashing her bookstore.

In an attempt to stop Lisa, Deb captures Sam and threatens to kill her if Lisa doesn't come to the station. Lisa, aware that the sheriff is untrustworthy, tries to sneak up on her but is unsuccessful. Deb then orders one of her subordinates, Dolphus, to nail Lisa's arms together, after which she reveals that she is going to cut off Lisa's arms and leave her to bleed to death. She also reveals that she was responsible for Gretchen's death, after which she taunts Lisa by cutting off a lock of Sam's hair to test her blade's sharpness. This, along with the rise of the full moon, causes Lisa to fully transform into a werewolf. Lisa slaughters Dolphus and Deb is captured. When Deb awakens she discovers that Lisa plans to leave her to be mauled to death by wolves, the same fate to which she subjected others. The wolves set upon her as Lisa walks calmly away.

This film is different from most and uses a similar idea to the Wolfen Native American myth that the early 1980s horror film with Gregory Hines is based on. It also has its share of twists, turns, and eye opening scenes. It is not big budget, but they did do a very good job with what they had to go with. It should definitely appeal to those into the more traditional artsy independent horror films based on revenge, and maybe to those into stories about bad karma getting those who have it coming to them.