Directed by Jacqueline Castel, My Animal is a love story between two teenagers that takes an unlikely turn when we realize that one of them is not a human. The film is never able to impact you in the manner it wants to, as it struggles between being a love story and a suspense thriller. My Animal does not have the emotional depth it aspires for, and in the end, it just ceases to be this half-hearted attempt that fails to entertain.
Spoiler Alert
Why Did Heather’s Mother Stop Her From Going Out?
Heather’s mother, Patti, didn’t let her go out late at night because she was scared that the people would get to know about her reality and that she would end up hurting somebody. Patti knew that her husband and her daughter were werewolves, and on full moon nights, they transformed completely, and then they couldn’t control their impulses.
At night, when Heather used to sleep, her mother used to handcuff her so that she didn’t run off anywhere. Heather’s father, on the other hand, was a bit lenient and empathetic towards her, as he himself would have gone through the entire ordeal, and he would have felt how difficult it became to deal with himself. He loved his children, and he not only pampered but he understood them. If any third person would have seen Patti, they would have believed that she was a drunkard who didn’t love her children and had a vendetta against their daughter, but it was not so. She was merely being protective, and she must have seen so much in the past that she had lost her patience and was done leading such a life. Patti was an alcoholic, but she loved her husband and Heather, and at times, she got paranoid for their safety. She always felt that something would happen to them, and she would lose them forever, but this insecurity made her utter very bitter words, which Heather didn’t take in good spirits.
Heather knew how her mother was from the inside, but at times, she also craved the freedom that other kids her age enjoyed. Heather saw a girl named Jonny at the store, and there was something about her that intrigued her. Jonny met Heather the next day and called her to hang out with her group of friends. Heather started growing closer to Jonny, and the latter reciprocated her feelings completely. Heather started going out really frequently, late at night, and Patti didn’t like that at all.
One time, in My Animal, Jonny came to Heather’s house, and Patti talked so rudely to the girls that Heather had to take Jonny out of there. Heather was embarrassed, and she told Jonny that she could choose to leave if she felt like it, but Jonny stayed because she didn’t want her friend to be alone at that moment. Patti had started feeling that Heather and her father, Henry, had started ignoring her, and they didn’t feel that she was fit to be around people. Henry was a good man, and he knew how much Patti loved her and that he couldn’t have survived without her. He didn’t even react whenever Patti lost her temper, and it showed how much the man valued her and also that he never took her for granted.
Things became serious between Heather and Jonny and the inevitable happened: they ended up getting intimate with each other. It was a special moment for Heather, and probably for the first time in her life, she felt that she had found happiness. She felt like she had something to look forward to, but Jonny was in denial, and she didn’t want to accept the fact that she could get attracted to a girl and have a physical relationship with her.
What Happened Between Heather And Jonny?
Jonny started ignoring Heather in My Animal, and the latter didn’t know what she had done to deserve such behavior. Heather thought that whatever had happened between them brought joy to both, but soon, she realized that she was wrong in thinking so. Jonny was in denial, and she started telling herself that she could not be attracted to the same sex. Heather, on the other hand, didn’t know what she had done wrong, and she was becoming more and more restless with every passing day. Henry tried to cheer up his daughter, and she, too, saw the kind of effort her father was making. But this issue was not going to be resolved unless and until Jonny herself came and talked to Heather. Meanwhile, to make things worse, Heather’s father died, and the twins, i.e., Heather’s brothers, blamed her for his demise. They had seen Heather getting close to Jonny, and they considered it a vice that aggrieved their father so much that he succumbed to his grief.
Why Did Heather Kill Rick?
Heather played snow hockey, and once in the changing room, she saw Rick, Jonny’s so-called boyfriend, physically abusing her. She wanted to give a befitting reply to him there and then, but Jonny had stopped her, and she didn’t end up saying anything. Rick didn’t like Heather as somewhere he would have noticed that Jonny was getting attracted to her and was giving a lot of importance to her in her life.
Heather was not herself after her father’s death, and she decided that she would go and talk to Jonny and end the issue once and for all. She went there, and as expected, Rick came out to talk to her. Jonny still didn’t know what she should do, and she ended up closing herself in the bathroom and pretending that she didn’t hear or see anything.
Rick started beating Heather, not knowing what he was signing into. Heather’s anger reached a level where she herself couldn’t control it, and she transformed into a werewolf. Rick couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Heather turning into a werewolf in front of his eyes. Probably, Heather never wanted that, but she wasn’t able to think rationally at that point in time, so she just gave in to her impulses.
In My Animal‘s ending, Heather kills Rick and escapes from the scene. Patti found Heather sleeping at the doorstep the next morning, and she told her that living in the city was no longer safe for her. It was all over the news that a wolf had killed a boy, and Patti knew that if the law enforcement authorities got to know what had happened, they would kill her daughter.
What Will Happen With Heather And Jonny?
We were not shown what happened to Jonny or how she would have reacted when she learned that her partner had been slaughtered by a wolf. We think that Jonny would be able to connect the dots, and sooner or later, she would figure out that Heather was a werewolf. Jonny was already going through a lot of internal conflict, and this news would not go down well with her. She knew that she had already lost a friend because she had chosen to cut off contact with her, and now, with Rick getting killed, it would become even more difficult for her to accept everything. Jonny knew that she was attracted to Heather, but she had been suppressing her feelings because it was not easy for her to accept her reality. But in order to do that, she made Heather go through hell. Heather’s personal life was already not very nice, and now, by choosing to cut off from her so abruptly, Jonny had made things worse for her. Maybe this event changes something inside Jonny, and she chooses to come back to talking terms with Heather.
One thing is for sure: Heather would have left the city, as it was no longer safe for her. She and her family were able to survive there because they had been hiding their real identities from the world. Nobody knew that Heather was a werewolf, but now, after Rick’s death, she would be able to hide that fact. For now, everybody was considering it a wolf attack, but it was highly possible that they would find some evidence that led them to Heather and come to know the truth. We believe Heather will, as of now, leave the city, but she would still want to confront Jonny once and talk to her about everything, and we hope that the latter stops running away from her feelings and accepts Heather back into her life.
