Director: Neil Marshall
Year: 2002
Country: United Kingdom/Luxembourg
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Sent into the wilderness as part of a training exercise, a group of British soldiers finds the area saturated with vicious, murderous werewolves and must find a way of getting away from the deadly creatures before they all fall victim to the creatures.
Review:
This here turns out to be one of the greatest entries in its' particular genre, appearing to be a standard-bearer for years to come. One of the film's many great points is the unrelenting action on display, which is incredibly fun to watch and gets so many big impact scenes throughout its running time. There are some absolutely fun action scenes here, from the initial charge through the jungle firing off numerous rounds at the approaching horde as the battles take place in the shrubs and different outlying sections of the forest while they make a getaway into the car to the frantic attempts at holding them off inside the house which is good fun in the extended encounter that utilizes everything from scalding pots of water, knives, bullets and fire as tactics during the battle as well as the countermeasures employed by the werewolves as they begin toying with the soldiers.
Even amongst the great fun here is their big assault on the house which has an insane amount of action as the creatures break through the protective barricades and fully unleashes their savage attitudes against the remaining members which bring out the fun action-packed encounters in the kitchen as they get swarmed over through the windows resulting in plenty of brawling and hiding out as they try to escape or the great encounters upstairs as they break-in through the windows forcing a series of battles to hold them off and escape the house. What makes both of these elements work is how they are just an absolute blast and far among the film's best qualities. Along with this load of action are the bucketfuls of gore, and this provides that in copious amounts with limbs being ripped off, a stomach chewed open, decapitations and far too many scratch-wounds and body mangling to count, leaving this one satisfying for gore-hounds as this does have an ocean of blood. Several moments do strike up the suspense that is wrought throughout the movie that makes the gore watchable from the forest stalking and the escape to the barn as well as the fun tactics at the end which really works nicely here,
The last positive here is that the beasts in this film are about as realistic a looking werewolf ever seen since the creatures themselves look really vicious and menacing, looking impressive when they are walking around, and coupled with their suit-build and smartness on display, create an imposing villain. While these here work, it does have one flaw here in one area expected to see in every werewolf movie. In this film, we have the potential for at least two great transformations but instead don’t even get to see any on-screen. The first is a classic fake-out as its claws burst forth and the eyes glow red, but then the character ducks underneath the table and we hear the transformation but never see it which is a colossal cheat. The second character is shot before the transformation is complete, so we never had a chance to see a werewolf transform in the movie. It's still quite a bit of fun regardless but is a slight detriment to the film.
Overview: *****/5
Despite managing to fail at one area that is expected in just about any genre effort, the rest of this one is stellar on every other level that it stands at or just below the pinnacle of the genre and is one of the finest efforts overall. Anyone who considers themselves something close to a werewolf fanatic should dive into this one as soon as possible while those who enjoy this genre or are just interested should also take a look.
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