Director: Charlie Steeds
Year: 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Struggling to get through life, a photographer comes into contact with a strange puzzle-box lorded over by a cult of followers loyal to a figure in the city’s underground, rumored to be a werewolf, and must fight to save those around him from being turned into the creatures.
Review:
This was a pretty disappointing if still watchable genre effort. One of the better features with this one is the way that this tries to interject a new mythos into werewolfism that attempts to change the creatures into something different yet still entirely plausible. The idea of this one looking at werewolves as being capable of being summoned like demonic creatures through a specific ritual involving a sacred puzzle that holds sacred value to a cult of creatures under the employ of a fanatical ruler who presides over the London underground. This idea of the werewolves being more of a supernatural entity that can be called upon and summoned, while still maintaining enough of a creature aesthetic to everything, creates a somewhat intriguing setup that does something new to the creatures, for better or worse.
There’s also some rather fun work to be had here, with the final half going for a series of encounters with the werewolves coming into play far more. Featuring some solid scenes of the seemingly supernatural creatures going around using their powers to help others who have gone through hardship in their lives, the ambush attacks and action scenes come together rather nicely. From appearing in Gothic churches to a congregation of followers, going through the streets of the city to tempt potential followers to their cause, or attacking those who have wronged a follower, this has a nice bit of cheesy, low-budget charm on display to give this a bit more action and bloodshed that all make for some positive aspects.
The film does have some big issues with it that bring it down. The main drawback with this one is the immensely convoluted and overbearing storyline that has way too many moving parts for its own good. This has way too many characters in it’s orbit, featuring a photographer trying to come to terms with the death of his friend who has given him the device that summons the werewolves, a gay burn-out with a fractured parental relationship who tries to rebuild his similarly-fractured relationship with his sister who has problems with her drug-dealer boyfriend, and a third woman who’s carrying the child of a co-workers’ rape that she can’t tell her boyfriend about. Dropping at least one of these stories for a sense of streamlining this one in general would’ve been greatly appreciated.
The other issue with this one is the low-budget limitations that make this one wander along in some unexpected aspects. The most troubling part of this is the filming style which is quite flashy and extravagant in places where it’s hard to tell what’s going on, with the big scenes in the gay nightclub supposedly featuring nightmarish hallucinations yet it never settles on what’s going on as other scenes here are so dark and difficult to make out it’s sometimes impossible to tell what’s going on. The werewolf make-up work is terrible with the rubber masks being so obvious when the individual is standing around doing nothing, yet maintains the same expression throughout, which comes off silly and goofy when it’s not trying to be, all of which come together to be the factors holding it down.
Overview: **.5/5
A slight disappointment even with some positive points, there are some big drawbacks present which are enough to bring this one down despite some of the more enjoyable factors featured here. Those with an interest in this style of genre fare, who appreciate the positives featured here or are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like here, while most others might want to heed caution.
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