Dead By Dawn 2018: An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Reposted from my Flickfeast.co.uk review.

Two young Americans, David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), are trudging across the moors of Northern England when they are attacked by a large, deadly creature. Jack is killed instantly and David survives, only to be informed (by Jack, who is now cursed to wander the Earth as a member of the undead) that he will sprout fur and fangs at the time of the next full moon, hence the title. Despite this worry, David still manages to impress the beautiful nurse looking after him (Jenny Agutter) and gets his wicked way with our very own English Rose in a scene that fuelled many the fantasy of a young lad in the mid-80s. But will his happiness last? Is he going mad? Or will he, indeed, start howling at the next full moon?

If you haven’t seen this perfectly crafted horror-comedy (though director John Landis prefers to call it a horror movie that lets you laugh)  then stop reading this review and do so immediately. Now! It is a favourite for many, many people (certainly one of mine) and remains one of the best blending of those two genres ever made. I also think that this movie, alongside Scanners, helped to expand the newly introduced home entertainment market (thanks to the major rewind moments – Scanners had that exploding head scene and this movie has not only a naked Jenny Agutter but also THE finest werewolf transformation ever committed to film, for which I am eternally in awe of the magnificent Rick Baker . . . and we shouldn’t forget his sterling work in making Jack a very real, very decomposing member of the undead). Just watch it. Seriously. Now.

For those of you who have seen it or have just watched it for the first time, how many highlights can you think of right now? It’s a long and impressive list and, in a random stream of consciousness, I would have to plump for the following: the soundtrack filled with songs that have “moon” in the title, the adult movie titled “See You Next Wednesday” (a Landis trademark in-joke for some time), a young Rik Mayall on screen for seconds, “The Slaughtered Lamb”, the amusing comic relief from the staid policemen, Frank Oz in both muppet and non-muppet form, David Naughton checking his teeth in the mirror and THAT transformation sequence. Throw in an amazing finale set in Piccadilly Circus, genuinely good acting from all three of thhe main leads, a witty script full of love for the lycanthrope myths and great direction PLUS a hell of a lot more and you have the greatest werewolf movie ever made, for my money anyway.

10/10

Buy the disc here.
Americanos can get it here.

The one, the only . . . ME. With that there John Landis.

Wolves (2014)

I first heard of Wolves when someone described it as being like Twilight, but with the focus on werewolves instead. For some reason, I knew that I had to check it out. Thankfully, it's a better film than Twilight.

Cayden Richards (Lucas Till) is a young man who starts to develop a bad habit. When his primal urges, such as anger or lust, increase then so does his body hair and his propensity for violence. It all goes a step too far, to put it mildly, when he attacks his girlfriend during a makeout session, and then kills his parents in the night. Hitting the road, and trying to evade the authorities, Cayden ends up in a small town that is full of many of his kind. One takes quite a liking to him (Angelina, played by Merritt Patterson) and one really doesn't (Connor, played by Jason Momoa). Despite trying to keep his head down, and settling into the job/lodgings offered to him by a kindly man named John (Stephen McHattie), it's not long until his arrival in town leads to all kinds of trouble.

Written and directed by David Hayter, this is a real mixed bag of dubious delights. The effects work, for example, is often very good, but one or two of the lead characters look a bit too cute and cuddly when in wolf form (including Cayden, of course). The plotting is entirely predictable, some of the dialogue will make you wince, and the main romance is tedious to get through, for a viewer like myself (who put those teenage angst years in the past a long time ago, thank goodness). But the pacing is zippy, there's a decent amount of action, with a decent amount of blood sprayed around, and the cast features some fun performances.

While Till may not be a very strong lead, he does well enough in his role. The fact that he manages to be quiet and burdened with guilt without being constantly mopey and irritating is a big plus. Patterson isn't too bad in her role, and she's certainly attractive enough to make the central plot point believable. McHattie is often a pleasure to watch onscreen, as is the case here, and Momoa gets to scowl and arch an eyebrow in almost every scene. He's a fun baddie, with his formidable size and intimidating demeanour.

Although Wolves struggles to break out from the confines dictated to it by the target demographic, it has a few pleasant surprises in store for those expecting a sappy and sanitised piece of dross. Horror fans will always have other films to prioritise above it, but this isn't too bad for something that could have been laughably atrocious.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Lucas-Till/dp/B00P80Y3WI/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1421399349&sr=1-1

Wer (2013)

Directed and written by the men responsible for The Devil Inside - THAT should have been my first warning sign. Possibly full of scenes shot to resemble found footage - THAT should have been my second warning sign. The third warning sign? Well, I guess you could take your pick from any of the moments during the first half hour that start to cause your spidey-sense to tingle.

Wer is an attempt to deliver a werewolf movie to the i-phone generation. It mixes faux-news footage with other recordings, while also using a standard shooting style that's so wobbly and irritating it may just as well be found footage. In fact, that stylistic choice is one of the biggest things working against the movie. Well, that and the fact that the leads are pretty annoying. Oh, and also that the story plays out predictably, with a reliance on occasional jump scares and a disappointing lack of anything to make it a truly memorable werewolf movie.

A.J. Cook plays Kate Moore, a lawyer who is defending a man named Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott O'Connor) against murder charges. The murder was a particularly vicious one, hard to believe that it was committed by a human being at all, and it seems that Gwynek was arrested on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence. The leading officer on the case, Klaus Pistor (Sebastian Roche), is convinced that they've got their man. Is Gwynek an ill man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or is he capable of such a feral attack?

William Brent Bell needs to be stopped. He seems to be a man allowed to direct movies on the basis that executives don't think movies need actual direction nowadays. Oh no, not at all. This is the marvellous age of movies made on HD cameras and even smartphones. Just point in the direction of your protagonists and forget about anything else.

But that's not how it works, so why can't someone tell Bell that. This particular story isn't told through found footage, not entirely anyway, so why he insists on using that aesthetic for every scene is a stylistic choice that shows, in my opinion, his severe limitations as a film director. The script, which he co-wrote with Matthew Peterman, is also lacking some major amount of polish, but it doesn't help that the cast deliver their lines with little to no enthusiasm, with the sole exception of Roche, who makes the whole experience a bit more bearable.

Cook is poor, Simon Quarterman is worse, Vik Sahay is on a par with Quarterman, and those are the three characters that viewers have to spend most of their time with. Quarterman plays an expert who is helping on the case, and also an ex-partner of Cook, while Sahay is some kind of PR guru that all great lawyers must have. O'Connor isn't bad in the role of Gwynek, mainly thanks to his physical performance.

One or two scenes save the film from being completely unwatchable, but even those scenes are almost spoiled by some horribly inept CGI gore that wouldn't look out of place in a console game. That's a shame because there's some computer work elsewhere that enhances moments of slight physical transformation, decent work that hints at how impressive this material could have been, in more capable hands.

Some people will still find this enjoyable enough. I am hoping to never have to see it again, and I'll be very apprehensive when about to watch any future movies from William Brent Bell.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/WER-J-Cook/dp/B00LM4A21A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411734877&sr=8-2&keywords=wer

Battledogs (2013)

When a young woman (Ariana Richards) turns a bit funny as she arrives at a New York airport she ends up causing quite a major situation. You see, she infects a number of people with what becomes known as the lupine virus. That means that when people get agitated they turn into werewolves. Vicious werewolves that appear to have jumped out of the nearest Playstation One. Anyway, Craig Sheffer and Kate Vernon play two people wanting to find a cure and help the situation, Dennis Haysbert is an uncaring military leader who wants to harness the power of the lupine virus and weaponise it, and Ernie Hudson pops up just long enough for fans of Ghostbusters to say: "look, Ernie Hudson."

This is how the main creatures look

Directed by Alexander Yellen and written by Shane Van Dyke, Battledogs may be full of horrible dialogue, uneven acting and special effects so bad that they will make your eyes water, but it also manages to be surprisingly enjoyable. God knows that I was expecting to do little more than endure this one, I'm as surprised as anyone else to have found a number of redeeming features.

THIS is a battledog!!!!!!!

The first redeeming feature is the cast. Although they are given the unenviable task of trying to polish a turd, forgive the expression, most of them still try to sell the ridiculous premise. Haysbert may be given the worst treatment by the script, but Sheffer, Hudson, Richards and Vernon all fare slightly better. They're not giving great performances, but they don't do too badly. Of course, maybe I was just expecting a LOT worse.

The second redeeming feature is the pacing of the thing. This starts off at a fair pace and never really lets up until the very end. Yes, there are inevitable moments of downtime but nothing ever gets so bad that you start clockwatching.

Third, there's just a healthy sense of fun about the whole thing. It's not being tongue-in-cheek, it's not trying to be some minor cult hit, but this aims to please. Despite the relatively small budget, it throws in many creature moments and keeps trying to punch above its weight. Most of those punches miss, but it's hard not to grudgingly admire the attempt.

Battledogs is NOT a good movie, yet I didn't hate it. I could bring myself to watch it again. But only if I really had to.

4/10


http://www.amazon.com/Battledogs-Blu-ray-Haysbert/dp/B00BMUL966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380191348&sr=8-1&keywords=battledogs

THIS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Silver Bullet (1985)

Based on a novella by Stephen King, Cycle Of The Werewolf, this is an enjoyable, if unspectacular, horror movie with a distinct 80s charm to it and a decent cast with many familiar faces.

The tale is narrated by a reminiscing Jane Coslaw (Megan Follows is the actress depicting the younger version of Jane onscreen) but the main events focus on her wheelchair-bound brother, Marty (Corey Haim), and the fear that encases the small town that they live in after a series of violent and random murders. Marty starts to consider the possibility that the killer is a werewolf but nobody really wants to believe him. He can only hope to convince Jane and perhaps his Uncle Red (Gary Busey).

Fondly remembered by horror fans who caught this movie when it first hit cinemas and then video shelves, Silver Bullet is one of many movies that seems to keep getting a lot more love than it deserves. It's certainly not a bad movie but it falls quite far down the ladder when compared to other films in the werewolf subgenre.

The direction by Daniel Attias is unspectacular, and the screenplay by Stephen King includes a lot of his favourite tropes (the narration by someone recalling their youth, the small town residents turning on each other, the use of religion to defend some horrible actions, etc), but there are a few moments that keep the movie just above average. A search party looking for a killer as they wander through mist-covered ground is an undoubted highlight, anything showing actual werewolf activity is pretty good and the whole third act is a great mix of tension and fun.

However, the most fun comes from simply seeing such a great cast going along with all the furry fun. Corey Haim had so much success as a youngster that revisiting any of his past performances makes you remember with sadness just how much of his life he wasted before his death in 2010. The young lad was likeable and capable and starred in a number of firm favourites in the 1980s. Megan Follows is a fine young actress who does well but, despite the film being told from her point of view, things always liven up when it goes back to the male cast members. Gary Busey is great as Uncle Red, a man who gains the disapproval of his sister (Robin Groves) but retains the adoration of his nephew. Terry O'Quinn isn't given all that much to do, he's the typically ineffective small town sheriff that King loves to write, but he's always good to see onscreen. Lawrence Tierney may only have a small role but he's as tough as usual and Everett McGill is very good in the role of Reverend Lowe.

If you remember Silver Bullet with fondness then you won't revisit it and find that you now absolutely hate it, not at all, but I do think that you may find your reaction similar to mine - the movie is a bit of fun, an amusing "time capsule" for a number of reasons, but it's nothing worth going out of your way to rewatch.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Kings-Silver-Bullet-DVD/dp/B00005OCVN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338072574&sr=8-1