Werewolves – A Decent Genre Action Film

Werewolves is set a year after a supermoon’s light activated a dormant gene in humans, transforming them into bloodthirsty werewolves and leading to several deaths. That nightmare was soon on the horizon as the supermoon looked to rise again. Dr. Wesley Marshall (Grillo) and Dr. Amy Chen (Katrina Law) attempt to stop the mutation but fail which then leads to all those exposed to the moonlight turning into feral werewolves. As chaos engulfs the streets, the scientists desperately try to reach Wesley’s family whose home is under siege by the creatures. Boasting a great premise that is essentially The Purge with werewolves, and a few other things going for it, the film ultimately isn’t as good as it should have been and suffers from a subpar execution.

A likely smaller budget promotion, Werewolves makes the most out of it as director Steven C. Miller uses it to his advantage, making it feel larger in scope. The practical effects and overall designs of the werewolves are very impressive, and easily the most memorable part of the film, also offering up some appropriately bloody violence and carnage throughout. Though none of the action sequences are anything too special, occasionally hampered by the smaller budget, they still provide reasonable entertainment and help keep things moving at a good pace. While Grillo can play roles like Wesley in his sleep, he’s easily the standout and clearly had a lot of fun making this. It may not be the most memorable character he’s ever played, but he still makes for a solid lead that can more than hold his own across the film’s action sequences.

While not a disaster by any means, it has more than enough flaws that keep the film from reaching its true potential, the first being the script which features a fair share of cringe dialogue, while the characters aside from Grillo’s Wesley are completely forgettable and stock. When it decides to be self aware, it is a great deal of fun but arguably, the film’s biggest issue is how it plays things straight and takes itself so seriously despite its ridiculous premise and campy tone at times. Meanwhile, the film also takes far too long to get going. That being said, it is hard to be mad at a film for something it can’t control, but if it had a bigger budget it clearly could have done so much more with its premise, leaving many to wonder the kind of film it could have been. The visual effects, especially those used during the werewolf transformations, can be rough and are quite distracting when played against its solid practical work. Introducing some interesting elements in the third act, the film fails to explore them nearly enough before then rushing through all the best moments in the climax, all leading to an abrupt ending.

In the end, Werewolves has its moments of campy B-movie fun but outside of that, some cool werewolf designs and a typically solid lead performance from Frank Grillo, it just doesn’t have that much more to offer and above all else there are countless better action films and countless more better werewolf genre films than this. Nevertheless, Steven C. Miller deserves a lot of credit for what he was managed to pull off in spite of a lesser budget than most, but his latest work is one audiences need not rush out to unless they happen to be big werewolf enthusiasts.

still courtesy of VVS Films

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/