Ok....I'm going to keep this light fun. As light and fun as this film is.
First, I'm going to say that this film has flaws. Sure. It's stomping around in low budget territory for sure. The effects can be dodgy. The werewolves are clearly wearing masks. There's a lot of 3D elements in here. There are even some cartoon comedy sound effects. But, this film has heart and knows not to take itself too seriously.
And, it's just fun. A great, silly, splattery, comedy horror film that I really enjoyed.
The film plays like an anthology. We see various stories related to our wolf pack. How they got there. Who they've killed and why. It zips along through various tales and never stops trying.
There are some fun comedy elements that actually work really well. I found myself laughing a lot. The end does run off the rails a bit, but I still found it to be an enjoyable tale.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Tony Jopia knows how to have fun with genre movies. I always find his stuff to be entertaining. It's funny - the film trips and slips from time to time, but I still find it far more entertaining than some low budget items I've seen of late. I believe it's due to Jopia's sense of fun and whimsy. I'd still love to see what he's make with a higher budget.
Give it a viddy if you're in the mood for some horror fun and you're not taking things too seriously. I think you might dig it.
I just caught an odd little film called THE BIG BAD and I enjoyed the hell out of it. This genre film really makes an effort to be different and to bring that difference to the table in spades. It's a styled and crafted fairy tale for the time and it's well written and executed. I wish I had watched it around 2am or 4am like I did with THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS. That would have been perfect - this film has the same dream / nightmare quality to it.
Bryan Enk's Direction is fun. It has a little NIGHT GALLERY, 70s horror vibe to the whole of it. The camera is kinetic and wild as it takes in all of these strange sights and sounds.
Jessi Gotta wrote the story and stars in the film, which is interesting. I think she does a grand job in the role. The writing is very "fairy tale" and it hits a few fun moments throughout the storytelling. It's wild stuff. A little rough around the edges at times - sure, but well worth the view. It's highly entertaining.
Now, mind you, this is a lower budget feature and I'm sure people can poke holes in it left and right, tossing stones around in their glass houses. hehe However, I liked the newness and the craft of the tale. I found myself smiling and thinking how nice it was to see something different roll through. I wasn't even second guessing where it was going. I was just happy to be along for the ride...wherever we were going.
The plot is rather straight forward. A woman is "searching for the monster that destroyed her family" so she can get her revenge. She meets a wild cast of characters along the way and goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole as she gets closer and closer to the monster she's searching for. But, what a strange journey our Alice - Frankie Ducane (Jessi Gotta) - takes along the way.
It's currently streaming on NETFLIX as of the time of this posting - check it out when you're in the mood for something that leans towards the strange and dreamlike.
Jessi Gotta's 2013 film - THEY WILL OUTLIVE US ALL - needs to be watched now! I need to check it out. It looks like she produced a short in 2014, but has not done anything since. I hope she hasn't stopped writing. I dig her voice.
The folks over at Tirana Films passed me the latest and greatest trailer and images for their upcoming feature CRYING WOLF and I have to say that I'm excited about seeing it. We're not talking "mega-blockbuster-horror" here. We're talking "they love horror" here and that shines through in the trailer. There's a heart and soul to this feature and it has a style and look that I find very appealing.
Now, let's really look at this trailer and what it offers. Fans of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, UNDEAD, DOGHOUSE, or more specific werewolf films like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON or THE HOWLING should be able to appreciate this effort. You can see that the filmmakers are not dealing with AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF budget, but that they are all in and really trying to present something that will entertain. It's working for me for sure. The acting stands out for me. I want to compare Crying Wolf to many other films right now, but I don't want to bash the others due to the new HORROR SHOW policy and standards for reviewing. (If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.) Suffice it to say that I've seen many films of late that don't have this level of talent. This crew seems to be all in when they are working their roles. The way the film was shot is getting me more excited about this production. This doesn't look like they broke out a single Lowel light kit, a Sony HD pro-sumer cam and a prayer. There is some attention to framing and lighting here and makes me very happy. The color and picture quality takes this film to the next level.
And they have some good old "werewolf human" practical effects going here. Prosthetics and real world effects work with some light computer work tossed in for flavor. That makes me happy as well. I love seeing this sort of effects work in film. (Why Greg Nicotero makes me so happy with THE WALKING DEAD - not a lot of CGI work) I'm a sucker for a biped werewolf. It's why I love the Howling wolves better than David in AMERICAN WEREWOLF. I love seeing this style of wolf growling around. :) And lastly, they look like they are having a damn good time making the film and that energy is coming through in spades. It takes me back to a happy time for me. That time back in the 80s or so where people were excited about making films and really trying to not only get something on film, but to make people excited and happy that they watched the film in the first place. The golden time for me where my "internet" was Fangoria Magazine which I would buy religiously and read from cover to cover until the next issue would come out. I wish these folks well and I hope that I'm on the short list when it comes to announcements in the future. I can't wait to get my soda (...or whiskey, depending on the time of day....:::grin:::), my popcorn and snuggle up with this good ole werewolf flick. BRING IT ON! I'll be looking for Tony Jopia's CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS as well!
Feel free to toss me a screener, Mr. Jopia - I'll review it with gusto! :) I really want to see this film. It just looks like tons of fun.
CRYING WOLF:
"From the director of Deadtime and the greatly
anticipated comedy horror Cute Little Buggers Tony Jopia, comes the
British comedy horror Crying Wolf.
Produced by Tirana Films
International and Great Dayne Entertainment, ‘Crying Wolf’ stars
Caroline Munro, Gary Martin, Joe Egan, Kristofer Dayne and Ian Donnelly.
Due
for release in 2014, the comedy horror movie, ‘Crying Wolf’ starts its
tale in the small village of Deddington where prankster Andy is bitten
by a werewolf that kills his friend Charlotte. Andy tries to warn his
friends, but winds up turning them into a pack of werewolves. Enter a
pair of hapless journalists doomed to a grizzly end, then add a pair of
hard boiled vigilantes hot on the heels of the werewolf pack and before
you know it, everyone’s ‘Crying Wolf! during a bloody camping holiday in
the Cotswolds."
I got a message from the Twitterverse today about a trailer I might want to check out. It was for a film called Crying Wolf. I thought, "Sure, I'll...bite..." and clicked. I wasn't expecting anything, really. Well, the trailer that popped up was rather good. It's a little horror comedy from the U.K. and it looks like it might be well worth a viddy.
And...did I mention that Caroline Munro is in it?!?!?! ::::puuuuurrrrrr:::: :)
From IMDB: "From the Director of 'DEADTIME' and 'Zombie Harvest' comes Crying Wolf!
They're Hungry, Hairy and ready to hunt you down! The comedy horror
Crying Wolf tells the story of strange and weird goings on in a little
English village called Deddington. The gruesome death of local girl
Charlotte by a rabid monster causes alarm and revulsion - before
desperate reporters, crazy detectives and revenge seeking hunters
descend on the scene! Crying wolf is a fast paced British comedy horror
that will keep you howling for more"
From the look of the trailer, Director Tony Jopia seems to know what he's doing. Things are shot well and there's a certain quality that tends to be missing from many smaller budget genre films. Jopia has another film in the works called CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS as well - up for a 2014 release.
Sure, the film takes a bit of a hit on the financial side when it comes to some of the effects, but, with strong acting and a good plot, effects can slip a bit for sure. In the GOOD column, the humorous side of this seems to be "grin and wink" not "slip on a banana", thank goodness. I've seen far too many Yuck Yuck horror films that fall to a sad and flat sigh instead of laughs. (A HAUNTED HOUSE) They just don't cut it for me. This looks a little smarter and a little more high-brow.
The one thing that scares me a bit about this production is that news about it came rolling out around November of 2012. With distribution being what it is, this can happen - I know that. I just hope that I get to see this sooner rather than later. Maybe an October release? Of course, I'm still waiting to see ZON 261 and they were talking about that one a month before news of this came to the surface.
With an Edgar Wright-like bent, this film looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.
Yes, I'll accept a review copy if you want to send me one, Gents! ;)
For the longest time, I thought that the wondrous poem at the end of COMPANY OF WOLVES was of their own creation. Embarrassed to say that the poem is actually that of French authorCharles Perrault. He wrote Cinderella, Puss in Boots and Mother Goose to name a few, but this poem came from Little Red Riding Hood which comes up time and time again in the horror world.
Little girls, this seems to say, Never stop upon your way. Never trust a stranger-friend; No one knows how it will end. As you’re pretty, so be wise; Wolves may lurk in every guise. Handsome they may be, and kind, Gay, or charming never mind! Now, as then, ‘tis simple truth— Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth!
The are werewolf people and there are vampire people.
(http://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2012/04/werewolves-or-vampires.html)
The vampire people tend to lean towards aristocracy and the lurking monster in the darkness. The werewolf people tend to lean towards the wild side. The rough. The hidden nature of the beast in us. That's all based on information and research that I just made up.
I'm a werewolf person. I love 'em. The beast lurking below the surface. The knowledge that there's something dark and bestial under the skin. Just waiting. Ah...good stuff! Here are some fave werewolf movies of mine. Leave a comment if there's something YOU think I should check out!
The Howling
My top werewolf movie, THE HOWLING has everything. Creepy, deep dark woods moments. Crazies. The sexy beast animal moments we all know. Fun transformations. Half man, half wolf werewolves. And, the in-joke fun of director Joe Dante. Dee Wallace is a news anchor that's doing a story on a serial killer and she gets a scoop she can't resist - an interview with the man himself.
Trauma ensues, of course, and she survives an attack, but is having strange visions of the man that seem more beast-like than killer. She needs to go work things out with Patrick Macnee at his peaceful, seaside therapy center. What could possibly go wrong there?
The Howling has some of my favorite werewolf designs and the practical effects work by Rob Bottin still old up well today. Dante has a lot of fun with the subject matter and it shows. It's playful and scary and works well - putting some recent movie efforts to shame. Just stay away from everything Howling related after it - they never got the magic back.
Dog Soldiers The fun UK effort has a group of soldier doing training games out in the woods, but the game is really on when they are hunted by a group of deliciously awesome looking werewolves. Will they be able to last the night?
This film is a sneaker hit with me. It resonates in the dialog and action and has a lot of great wolf shots within it. I love a film that's not afraid to show the whole monster and this has some nice shots going for sure. Check it.
Wolfen
It's been a while since I've seen this one, but I remember liking it a lot. The Native American shape shifter stylings of this one really got me. It's a great little eco-horror message film, too. Albert Finney turns in another great Albert Finney performance and the wolves are beauties. No, we're not talking a tradition werewolf film, but I'm tossing it into the mix anyway. So there. :)
Wolf
Two words: Jack Nicholson. :) The great Mike "The Graduate" Nichols directs this drama about business, mid-life crisis struggles and love with a werewolf twist. The film moves along at a lovely clip and a love triangle between Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader is something that just needs to be seen. Not your run-of-the-mill horror effort and one that a wider audience (aka Non-horror lovers) can enjoy as well.
Cursed You either love Cursedor hate it. That seems to be it. I loved it. It's a "popcorn movie" for sure, but it does entertain and manage to get a good mix of comedic elements and horror elements working well together. Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg play a brother and sister who are attacked by something. (Spoiler: A werewolf ::grin::) and they need to figure out who the werewolf is so they can break the curse. Something along those lines.
The ratings are low on this one, but the entertainment and fun was well worth not only a watch for me, but got me to actually pick it up on DVD - albeit used - for repeat viewing.
The Company of Wolves (1984) http://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2010/05/company-of-wolves.html Fairytale meets nightmare in this strange little film about coming of age, men and women and the dreamlike twisted nature of children's stories and the fairytale in general. I won't do the film justice if I try to sum it up. Let's just say that it manages to take us on a journey through a beautiful landscape and tells us tales of wolves and werewolves in an anthology storybook style.
Neil Jordan of THE CRYING GAME and INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE directs and Angela Lansbury and David Warner star. It's a beautiful film that's packed with stunning visuals.
Ginger Snaps
Another twist on coming of age, high school life and being an outsider comes at us hot and heavy in GINGER SNAPS. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle play sisters with a taste for the dark and disturbing. (The film opens with a fantastic movie they have put together with unique visions of death) When one of the sisters is attacked by a werewolf, the close nit relationship them have is put to the test as the beast takes over.
I was expecting a B list teen horror, but SNAPS delivers a fun and fresh werewolf story that I enjoy. Sure, it has it's moments of teen drama horrors worked out through wicked horrors, but it works well and doesn't come off as silly. I look at it's 70/100 metascore as a horror film win and it's well worth a viddy!
An American Werewolf in London
Do I REALLY need to mention this one? Yeah....
John Landis in his pre-exile days managed to kick so much ass with this film that I think he still walks with a limp. It's a shame that "the incident" that happened on the set of THE TWILIGHT ZONE movie took Mr. Landis out of the light for many many years. His direction is amazing. The effects work by Rick Baker - again, PRACTICAL effects, not computer effects - are still held up as the ones to beat to this day. The story, pace and acting are spot on and the wolf is grand.
This film is just brilliant on so many levels that you've probably already seen it and love it or like it a lot. Leave me a comment if you don't - I'd love to hear the reasons why.
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
This HAMMER STUDIOS entry into the werewolf realm is one to make note of for sure. Oliver Reed turns in a great performance and the "wolfman" style werewolf is a lot of fun. Heavy on story and character development. Good stuff.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Another über classic, THE WOLF MAN is one you have to watch. You just have to. Lon Chaney Jr.'s performance is spectacular. The classic Hollywood feel is fun and brings back warm memories for me. This is fun for the whole family. It holds a special place in my heart.
For what it's worth, I actually enjoyed the remake WOLFMAN in 2010. It was a stylized and visually interesting film. It did have it's weak spots, but it was well worth a watch. Just remember to breathe when the CGI unleashes it's fury. :)
Bad Moon (1996) A sister opens her home to her troubled brother. That turns out to be a massive mistake. You see, her brother is more troubled than she knows. A simple movie, but one that packs a punch still. It has some good and sloppy parts for sure. Whoof!
Silver Bullet Another adaptation of a King work, Silver Bullet holds up rather well unlike some of Kings writing. The screenplay is strong and the story worked well. In a nutshell, there are attacks being made during the full moon and a wheelchair bound boy figures out what might be shredding his town one townie at a time. It has all the classic kid v. evil elements and some great set pieces. Oh, and did I mention that Busey is in this as well? Oh yeah, Gary Busey.
Honorable Mention: Waxwork
Waxwork has some awesome monster scenes in it including a cool little werewolf section. A small group gets invited to a new Waxworks place that seemed to spring up over night. David Warner runs it and invites them in to see the sites. Well, it turns out the waxwork scenes are portals into the real scene they are portraying. When the victim enters, they face the horror that is shown in that scene and when they parish, their soul helps to open the gates of Hell or something to that effect. In short - awesome. This 80s goodness was watched over and over again and it never failed to please. So, check it out.
LIVE PRUDE GIRLS https://www.youtube.com/user/LivePrudeGirls
On my drive into work, I thought about how the mainstream agenda has ruined (...well, almost ruined...) my love of zombies. I've been a zombie lover for ages, but the recent rise of "zompopularity" has me crawling back into the grave when it comes to the living dead. I've taken to dipping back into the waters of DAWN OF THE DEAD, ZOMBI, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND to avoid the swell of BS zombie, low budget fair.
Then, I remembered my other loves from long ago - werewolves. WAY back, I did IRC werewolf text chat role play gaming and it was a lot of fun. Wolf lore taken to political realms, lost loves growled about and a general wild feeling that was grand. Movies like THE HOWLING, WOLF, and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON fueled the imagination and had me...howling for more. :)
Role play text turned a corner with AOL and werewolves were given up for Vampires. VAMPIRE: The Masquerade was a base for some awesome, online vampire gaming. I was a typing fiend - sometimes "playing" three different people at once as I helped to weave stories of lust, revenge and blood. Eventually, the large group of 15 or 20 on AOL became a smaller group of 5. That group fell away leaving me and a woman playing, her husband giving up because we typed too fast and had the story (CLEAN, mind you!No silly, sexting action) moving along way too fast for him to keep up. The End of the first set of stories would have made for an amazing TV show end or a wondrous trilogy wrap up. Sadly, efforts to start a second batch of vampire dramas fizzled and flailed out of being with a whimper.
With my recent sadness about zombies came a renewed interest in werewolves and vampires, though TWILIGHT has had me leaning werewolf-ly and away from the prissy vampire clans. TRUE BLOOD has not helped the cause for me remembering a love of vampires either. I may be one of five people who think the dialog and acting are something I'd think I'd see in a high school production. (Send hate mail to idontcare@void.net)
DOG SOLDIERS
NEAR DARK
UNDERWORLD (NOT Twilight) had some grand vampire on werewolf action. Big fights between the suit and tie vampire styles and the t-shirt and jeans, rough wolf crew. I've always loved that separation - vampires looked at as dapper and refined and werewolves looked at as feral and bestial. There are some fun variations on that theme, however. NEAR DARK and 30 DAYS OF NIGHT had vampires acting more like animals and it worked really well. WOLF showed how the animal nature of the wolf can be directly associated with the world of business.
People tend to take sides on the werewolf or vampire question. They generally prefer one to another, routing for one side to dominate the other. This ties in directly with the type of person you are. Do you like sipping wine in a quiet room chatting with friends as you flirt with a young lovely from across the room or sipping a cold beer in an outdoor patio setting...eating steaks...and pawing at your sexy, curvy mate?
Personally, I can't wait for werewolves to come back into fashion. At least, until it becomes SO mainstream that you start seeing titles like ATTACK OF THE STRIPPER WEREWOLVES on Netflix streaming. Then, I'm out. I was hoping the inclusion of werewolves in TRICK 'r TREAT would have pumped a little life into the werewolf movie world, but it's relatively small, cult following didn't fan the flames much.
In my searches, most of the debate articles pre-date 2011. Hmmmm...
THE HOWLING
Seeing as the awesome HOWLING came out in 1981 (JEBUS!) and the cool DOG SOLDIERS came out in 2002 , I'm hopeful that we'll see some good werewolf action in 2012! IMDB has some possible nuggets listed for a 2012 release. http://www.imdb.com/list/-Irb8XBKi7E/
GROWL is coming out in 2013 and stars BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Katee Sackhoff. We'll see - the director's (Sxv'leithan Essex) other credits are a short and "Headbangers Ball"
I, FRANKENSTEIN is also a 2013 release that I'm thinking might be VERY cool seeing as the likes of Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy and Miranda Otto are attached to it.
Sadly, DOG SOLDIERS 2 is in purgatory or development hell - erased from the world. Maybe this is actually a good thing. My rekindled love of werewolves won't go the way of the zombie loves in my life. I'll keep my wolves close, snuggling up with the classics and modern fair like THE HOWLING, GINGER SNAPS, DOG SOLDIERS, TRICK 'r TREAT, THE WOLFMAN, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, COMPANY OF WOLVES, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, WOLF and 2010's THE WOLFMAN (Yes, I liked it!) and be happy that it has not been as tainted as the zombie genre!
English accent from a time long gone?
Against a tree in the woods breathing in the night air?
What do YOU lean towards - Vamp or Wolf? And...why?
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
