Year: 1981
Country: United Kingdom/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Traveling through the English countryside, an American backpacker learns that an attack by a strange, savage beast has suddenly turned him into a werewolf and tries to gain the help required to lift the curse before he becomes a werewolf forever.
Review:
While there's a lot to really enjoy about this one, it's still slightly flawed overall. The opening here is among one of the most impressive parts to this one, with the fun of their arrival in the country and their journey through the countryside, eventually winding up with the actual attack, which is quite a dark and brutal effort, which is far more inhuman and savage than expected, before letting the big gun-down finish. As well, that leads into the main section of the film here where it starts to get into the growing realization of what he's become, as this is easily the best part of the film. The conversations with the gradually decomposing friend showing up at the most inopportune times are a great building block, while also managing some fine jokes at the comedic content of the situation. Far more engaging is the actual investigation done at the behest of the doctor into his condition after arriving at the hospital.
That leads into some rather enjoyable times here, where it really manages to continue on through a fine series of clues that gradually lead to the eventual discovery of the group, which is how this one really gets a lot of good fun going, along with the events leading up to the initial attack and overall build into how he got to become a werewolf. Once it gets past that into the action as well, it's a lot of fun here with the series of attacks found in the suburbs of the city and in the subway station that gets some pretty enjoyable times here, along with the finale in crowded London, making for a lot of good fun. The design is pretty creepy, and it looks like what a man who turns into a werewolf looks like, in terms of the werewolf, as it looks incredibly scary and creepy. It's wisely kept out of the shadows in the beginning so that suspense is drawn up about what it looks like, and all we get are brief glimpses of something, and when the big reveal comes, it works wonders as it doesn't look like what you expected.
There are only a couple of minor quibbles about this film. The first one is the slow beginning, as it takes a while for the film to really get going, with the cheap jumps getting a little tiresome after a while. The big stuff doesn't happen until an hour into the movie, so it does finish on a flourish, but the opening is a long drag. The humor is another big distraction, as if it doesn't know if it wants to be a horror film or a comedy, since the comedy can be a distraction for those who are into the hardcore horror aspects in the film. The last flaw here is about the storyline, as it's one of the few that doesn't try to change the werewolf mythology and instead relies on viewers' knowledge of previous werewolf movies to know the background for this one. Some of it is given in the film, but not really enough for first-time viewers to truly understand. Otherwise, this one is a lot of fun.
Overview: ****.5/5
One of the finest genre efforts of all time in the style, most of the film's flaws tend to revolve around the individuals' own preferences within the genre in several areas. This should be seen regardless of genre preference or how connected to these films the viewer is, while only those who aren't aficionados of the genre won't be interested here.
Comments
Post a Comment