Director: John Fawcett
Year: 2000
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Living together in a small town, two sisters find the strange creature hunting them down is one of them who got turned into a werewolf and must find a way to contain the ravenous beast within before more of their friends are killed by a creature that threatens their relationship.
Review:
Frankly, this one was a disappointment even though there's still a lot to like. The film's main problem here is also one of its best features the connection between the onset of womanhood and the curse of lycanthropy which is the big guise in this one. It associates some of the normal conditions of burgeoning femininity as the potential signs of lycanthropy, from the introduction of the feminine status, their biology starting to give away their conditions and the sudden outburst of aggressive behavior seems to be all consistent with the changes found in this situation, and the trade-off with the lycanthropy traits is fun and unique to this one.
That said, none of these are really all that enjoyable as they take the focus off the horror to such an extent that the film instead paces along quite dreadfully by remaining stuck with these teen-angst drama scenes that are just not that exciting. The scenes of the two girls lamenting their high-school situation, how they're concerned with that project of life-like death photographs of themselves, or the utterly bland and boring school-yard meandering are not that exciting and really make it hard to care all that much about the girls or their condition in the first half and really makes it hard to buy into this one as a horror movie at times.
Thankfully, what saves this one is the film's fleeting horror moments as there are numerous pretty well-timed scares and suspense in here which really brings this one up considerably. The initial playground attack is simply stellar with the hairy beasts' rapid movements and an inhuman growling giving the impression of something running around that's hidden enough to make it a mystery about its identity while offering plenty of suspenseful tactics of them chasing off into the woods. The later attacks offer up plenty of gruesome attacks alongside some rather fun times here with the attacks at school on the personnel, the party scenes are a lot of fun with the seduction coming off rather nicely before the initial transformation scene and the big one that works well here is the finale at the house.
Finally letting the werewolf loose, getting some impressive stalking as she follows the blood trail through into the basement and some fantastic action together for a spectacular scene that serves as the highlight here. Lastly, the design for the wolf is a bit more modern, with a large head, and lean body that has more wolf-like qualities than most previous werewolf designs yet still retains the vicious appearance and attitude that make it something to be feared and respected while looking somewhat original here as well. These here are the film's overall positives.
Overview: ***/5
A new twist to a time-honored story, this was a rather fun take on the genre which comes off nicely enough to help it overcome a few minor drawbacks that are present here. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the style taken here, are curious about it, or are hardcore werewolf film fans while those turned off by its issues should heed caution.
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