‘Werewolves’ Review
Stars: Frank Grillo, Ilfenesh Hadera, Kamdynn Gary, Lou Diamond Phillips, Katrina Law, James Michael Cummings | Written by Matthew Kennedy | Directed by Steven C. Miller
Werewolves, originally titled Year 2, begins a year after a supermoon turned everyone who was exposed to it into a werewolf. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, a supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is at the closest point to Earth, they have a dramatic effect on things like tides, but this one goes further than that. It unlocks mankind’s latent werewolf gene, causing unimaginable chaos and death. And now it’s about to happen again.
When we first meet Wesley Marshal (Frank Grillo; Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend, Boss Level) he’s busy setting up defences at the home of his sister-in-law Lucy (Ilfenesh Hadera; Godfather of Harlem, The Bricklayer) and her young daughter, Emma (Kamdynn Gary; Postmark Dyersville, Mermaids). They need the help because Wesley’s brother was a firefighter, killed in the line of duty during the first transformation.
He can’t however stay to protect them because he is also the world’s best-built molecular biologist. And in that capacity he’s part of a team led by Dr. Aranda (Lou Diamond Phillips; Get Fast, The Big Hit) that the CDC has working on Moonscreen, a spray that will block the effects and stop people from transforming. Tonight it gets its first real test, a test you just know it’s going to fail.
If all of this sounds extremely improbable, director Steven C. Miller (Margaux, Silent Night) and writer Matthew Kennedy (Canary Black, Inheritance) think so too and don’t even try to explain it. The question is raised and quickly brushed off early in the film during an interview with Dr. Armada. Instead, the focus becomes Wesley and wolf expert Amy’s (Katrina Law; Death Valley, Arrow) attempts to get across the city to Lucy and Emma who are under siege by the creatures led by their neighbour Cody (James Michael Cummings; City on a Hill, New Jack City), a survivalist who’s been turned.
Now if this sounds familiar, it should because as others have already said, Werewolves is pretty much The Purge with fur, fangs and claws. Grillo’s presence here and in multiple Purge films only makes the similarities more obvious. And, if you look at Werewolves as an action film rather than a horror film, it’s not too bad. What it lacks in scares, and it is severely lacking in that department, it makes up for in chases, gunfire, and even a werewolf vs werewolf brawl.
The film’s lycanthropes were the work of Alec Gillis (Skyline, Godzilla vs. Kong) and Tom Woodruff Jr. (Starship Troopers, Harbinger Down) look like the creatures from The Howling on steroids. The design is imposing, but the execution leaves something to be desired. While they look good from a distance, when seen close up they sometimes look stiff and their fur artificial. However, the CGI used to enhance the transformation scenes is fairly good.
One thing from the horror genre, Werewolves does embrace is the gore. The creatures are savage, and we see victims get disembowelled, faces and heads torn off, among other bloody deaths. These effects are solid and give the film a bit more impact than it deserves at times. Cinematographer Brandon Cox (Marauders, The Phoenix Incident) tries to infuse the film with some atmosphere to help it along, but he has the script working against him.
Werewolves had a lot of potential, but it fails to capitalize on much of it. Some of that may be due to a lack of budget to fully realize the idea of a city overrun by these creatures, but a lot of it stems from an underdeveloped script populated with bland, generic, characters that it’s hard to really care about.
In the end, while Werewolves has its moments and isn’t as bad as some of the early reactions said, it really never rises far above watchable and feels more like a film that should be renting for $4.99 rather than $19.99. Hopefully, the upcoming Wolf Man reboot will deliver the goods because Werewolves is nothing to howl about.
**½ 2.5/5
Werewolves was released to US theatres earlier this year and is now available on VOD and streaming platforms.
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