Director: John Hough
Year: 1988
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
After undergoing a psychological breakdown, a young mystery writer and a friend decide to stay at a secluded cabin in the woods, where they try to convince her skeptical husband that the ghostly visions of werewolves she sees are real and set out to solve the mystery of their appearance.
Review:
This is a really entertaining and enjoyable werewolf entry. One of the main selling points in this one, and one of the better aspects of the whole series, is the fact that this one manages to come up with a grossly entertaining and engaging mystery setup with the werewolf history in the town. There’s a lot to like with how this comes together, from the appearance of the two girls and the town itself out in the middle of nowhere with little to no forms of communication that lies next to their remote cabin, which are mixed well together and make it incredibly entertaining and interesting. The gradual build-up of clues about the environment or the town of locals that she meets, who are just off-setting enough to be creepy beneath the friendly demeanor, since it's a well-designed storyline that moves into greater, more threatening detail as more is discovered later on in the film.
This becomes far more interesting when it becomes a duo with the friend trying to help her figure out what’s going on. As this is accomplished with the mixing of a great sense of reality-or-dreams, creepy locals in a creepy locale, as the night-time chase scenes are pretty tense and a fair degree of werewolf action, it turns into a rather entertaining affair. Trying to place a connection between the stories about the howling in the woods, the strange locals’ friendly actions, and the friends’ missing friend, who has her own mystery to solve in uncovering the cryptic saying known to have been the final piece needed to figure out what’s going on, the storyline makes everything feel quite intriguing as everything plays out. Learning the truth about the mythic bell-tower in the area, how the cover-up of the town keeps it operating in secret, and what the ghostly visions are really telling her, this makes for a rather fun mystery.
This all comes about incredibly well before all the graphic violence and enjoyable werewolf makeup are utilized. These are all done incredibly well and feature enough action and attacks to appease gorehounds and those looking for the more traditional werewolf style. The stalking scenes through the foggy woods offer up some solid moments, an attack on lost hikers has some creepy images, and the later appearance at their cabin also manages to bring about several fun aspects here. It even manages a few good scare scenes, mainly the transformation after a sex scene where a participant bends down to kiss them on the neck, only to pull it up as a true demonic werewolf face, as well as the great finale defeating the creatures. Remarkably, the goriest scene isn't a werewolf attack, but a victim disintegrating from flesh done to a flopping skeleton in a fantastic sequence, making for a rather underrated horror effort in any regard.
The film does have a few flaws that bring it down. The main complaint about this one, beyond the expectedly low-budget nature, is the hurried ending, which comes about quite quickly. After discovering the truth about the village and the bell tower, the film ends five minutes later as the two women lead the wolves into the church by ringing the bell, then setting the place on fire, which could have been dragged out an extra couple of minutes. It seems like it would’ve been easy by giving the two some obstacles to overcome at the end, as they set about destroying the place in a remarkable amount of time when infiltrating the enemy's headquarters. The lone werewolf inside offers no challenge to the two and lets them go about their business. Also, there’s a better sense of déjà-vu that permeates this one due to its storyline and plot origins, but that really isn't as noticeable as it should be, and overall, this one is pretty fun.
Overview: ****.5/5
A far better werewolf effort than expected, this is a really enjoyable time for those who appreciate this kind of low-budget werewolf feature, while still being slightly held down by its few minor flaws. This is a recommended viewing for any werewolf movie fan, or don’t mind these kinds of issues, while only those turned off by these issues should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment