Director: Jonathan Glendening
Year: 2010
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: 13Hrs
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
After returning home to catch up on the family, a woman and her brothers find the house stalked by a vicious creature that serves as the embodiment of a deadly curse upon the family for actions committed against them previously and must find a way to reverse the curse to stop its deadly rampage.
Review:
Frankly, this turned out to be quite a decent British horror effort. One of the better efforts about that is the fact that it manages to incorporate the traditional aspects of the werewolf genre into a film that doesn't quite belong there despite showing a lot of the hallmarks of such a film series. That we get a fine setup involving the family curse turning someone into a ravenous creature in the dark of night after being inflicted with the wounds of such an animal, the animalistic behavior exhibited afterward and the use of stopping the transforming into one by killing the individual who passed the curse on is a great touch here. As these are all quite popular examples of such a film genre and generally work well here means there's a lot to like with this section of the film alongside the family dynamics that take place here for a generally well-rounded storyline.
As well, there’s the enjoyable enough way the creatures are treated here which is itself admittedly a mixed bag. The fact that this is almost nothing like a traditional werewolf in appearance as the coat of fur, canine features, and huge, hulking body are all gone might be cause for concern as this one gives off the general look of a deformed humanoid with fangs, claws and savage teeth and an attitude to match. This can be off-putting but the fact that something new was tried is certainly commendable enough here and works quite well in the later half where the film really gets into high gear with the extreme pace that features a strong series of stalking scenes throughout the elaborate mansion filled with suspenseful chases down long corridors, trapped beneath walls and crawl-spaces as it tries to break in and a general air of indifference towards doling out the deaths which get rather bloody and gruesome at times for some good times. Overall, this is still a highly enjoyable and entertaining effort.
That said, there are some issues to be had here. The main factor with this one is the generally lackluster family that we’re forced to follow as the first half might spend a lot of time working on how they’re trying to get back together as a family but it slowly becomes obvious over time that they’re not as worthwhile the longer we’re around them. Constantly snapping and arguing with each other at the drop of a hat, hurling derogatory insults with no base to do so, and generally acting like selfish jerks make for a somewhat hard time to get through here with how they come off. The only other problematic area here is the fact that the decision to include the two hunters outside tracking down the creature's rampage beforehand doesn't mean much of anything with them being wiped out without any difference at all and that they take so long to get to the obvious conclusion to be dismissed like that makes no sense. With the look of the werewolf also being a personal preference issue more than anything else, these overall are what keep this one down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A fun enough British creature feature that does have some minor issues, there’s a lot to like here even if some of the drawbacks to this one do manage to hold it down pretty heavily. Those who enjoy the approach taken here, appreciate this kind of indie fare, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment