Nerdly » ‘Scream of the Wolf’ Review

08th Jun2023

‘Scream of the Wolf’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: James Fleet, John Henshaw, Nicky Evans, Jay Taylor, Thaila Zucchi | Written by Joel Ferrari, Pete Wild | Directed by Dominic Brunt

I am always very much excited when the film-making duo Dominic Brunt and Joanne Mitchell have a new film coming out. They have proved themselves again and again when it comes to horror and the variety of ways they can creep audiences out. From the often subtle but great zombie movie Before Dawn, to the at times brutal revenge thriller Bait to the bizarre but brilliant Attack of the Killer Babies. Next up, they tackle the werewolf subgenre with Scream of the Wolf.

Scream of the Wolf shows a new vampire movie being shot in an old abandoned house but with a full moon in the sky some of the cast and crew go missing and a wolf seems like the most obvious culprit.

Despite only lasting about seventy minutes, Scream of the Wolf does run at a slightly slower pace, focusing on the film within a film and the small gags surrounding that. The comedy throughout is unfortunately as much miss as it is hit. It never really aims to be laugh out loud – although the beginning of the final ‘fight’ scene did have me chuckling – the jokes I more ones that make you smile or giggle a little. But when there’s no gore or death scenes, it felt like the comedy should have been a bit stronger. The gore though is a definite plus in Scream of the Wolf.

There are some great death scenes that involve sliced-off limbs, decapitations and blood spraying everywhere! The practical effects and limited CGI work well together and it’s clear that Brunt was keen that these things were done right. Not only that, the look and design of the werewolf is fantastic. The poster showed this before the movie was released but in action the werewolf looks just as good. Actually scary and perhaps so frightening that it feels like it should be in a less comedic movie. Teeth showing, blood dripping from its face – this is one of the most vicious-looking werewolves in recent horror history.

As always with Brunt and Mitchell’s movies, the cast do a great job. They clearly have an eye for talented actors, no doubt coming from the years they have worked as actors themselves and they cherry-pick the best of British talent new and old. I’ve always said British television has plenty of great actors who never seem to get opportunities outside of a few TV shows but as with previous films, this is proved correct.

Unfortunately, outside of the werewolf scenes, the movie isn’t as interesting as I hoped. There’s not a whole lot of story to get involved in and you just end up waiting around for the next kill. So for me, this is the weakest of the directing duo’s four films but with that said, even when not at their best, they are better than most. Werewolf movie fans will still enjoy Scream of the Wolf and make sure you stay for the mid-credits scene – which is basically a five-minute short film that links to the rest of the movie.