Cry Wolf Year: 2005 Director: Jeff Wadlow Written by: Jeff Wadlow, Beau Bauman Threat: Psychopath Weapon of Choice: Gun IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
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Rish's Reviews
Tyranist was very hesitant to rent this one, preferring pretty much any of our choices for our Christmas get-together. We had both seen the trailer at the beginning of The Fog 2005, and though the trailer was largely forgettable, I wanted to see the movie. I don't know why.
I'm glad I did, though.
Not to be confused with Wolf Creek, this one tells of a group of attractive, filthy rich teens in a New England prep school, who, bored of their normal goings-on, come up with a game to play with the rest of the student body. They capitalise on a recent murder by spreading a rumour about a serial killer. What their goal is, exactly, isn't clear, but luckily enough, someone claiming to be the fictional serial killer shows up on campus and the body count begins to rise.
The film, while glossy and very much in the late Nineties post-Scream vein, was quite well written and acted, and was very enjoyable, in the way that goreless, nudity-less modern slasher films are. It did have a couple of unique moments, and made use of our even more advanced cellphone culture in clever ways. The two main leads are quite attractive, and I don't doubt we'll see a lot of them in future roles. Especially good is the red-haired Lindy Booth, sexy, smart, and maybe--vulnerable.
The film was not perfect. It did pull its punches to insure a PG-13 rating, which tends to either irritate or infuriate me, depending on how well they do it. Some of the script's logic doesn't hold together in the end, though I don't imagine they expect the target audience to do a lot of thinking. It borrows from past films, particularly April Fool's Day and the first two Screams, but doesn't come across as a ripoff.
Both tyranist and I had the ending figured out before it was revealed to us, but it played out in an entertaining, satisfying way. I may have enjoyed this one more than he did, but then, I was the one who wanted to see it.
One more thing: we sort of debated whether the title was "Cry Wolf" or "Cry-underscore-Wolf." By deciding there was no underscore, we didn't feel it deserved a Bad Title Skull. Otherwise, two, baby.
Posted: January 19, 2006

The tyranist's thoughts
This looked like the worst kind of rip-off to me when I first saw the trailer. Not only did it appear to owe huge debts to the Scream franchise and an even bigger debt to the far lesser Urban Legend franchise, but the killer wore as a mask the kind of hunting orange ski mask that is still far too prevalent in the little town I live in. Given freedom from retribution of any kind, I'd kick 95% of the guys I see walking around in those hats in the balls just to see them squirm.
I was wrong about this movie. It was far better than I expected even if Jon Bon Jovi is in it. The script is clever for the most part. The setting appropriate. The direction well conceived and executed. The cast is pretty great. Lindy Booth makes this movie and I'd love to see her do a lot more.
Perhaps my favourite scene takes place in the library. I love libraries. I spend a lot of time in them. I even have a sizeable library in my home. And yes, they scare me, but this particular library I would probably not dare venture into.
I've noticed there's an Unrated version out there and I curse the luck that caused us to only stumble upon the PG-13 version.
By the time the movie ended, I was glad Rish had insisted. It was possibly the best movie we saw on our little Christmas binge, and if it wasn't, it was close. Don't let the horrible trailer and even worse cover scare you away from this one. It's worth the effort.
Posted: January 19, 2006

Total Skulls: 14

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears		Jon Bon Jovi
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?