Werewolf TalesYear: 2001 Director: Ron Ford, John Bowker, Joe Sherlock Written by: Ron Ford, Belinda Alexandra, Kevin Lindenmuth Threat: Werewolf Weapon of Choice: Claws Based upon: see Anthology Movies |
Other movies in this series:
None
The tyranist's thoughts
An anthology piece centered around--obviously--werewolves. It's low budget and sometimes feels
like something Rish would have shot with his friends as a kid, but a couple of the underlying story
ideas are interesting.
Story one is called "Bestiality" and concerns a bunch of mobsters, one of whom happens upon a
tribal ring in an antique store while shaking the guy down for protection money. Well, you can
imagine what happens when one of the tribe shows up to claim it.
This one featured what were likely the best special effects of the group, but it is also the reason
for the Bad Acting and Bad Dialogue skulls. The story is sort of interesting but poorly performed
and really, just left me wondering what it could have been.
Story two is called "Dark Bite" and relates a few incidents of one man's crumbling travels into the
realm of insanity. A loser type guy wants power and wants revenge on those who've disparaged him.
He comes upon a book, "The Book of the Beast," and tries to use it to become a werewolf so that
he may gut a particular girl who has treated him poorly.
This was perhaps the most interestingly filmed of the stories and managed to actually maintain a
modicum of suspense through to the end. There is a twist ending that is interesting and revealing
that I thought was really quite well done. This one doesn't rely on effects quite so much and so
the cheap production doesn't harm your enjoyment quite so much.
Last was a story called "No Place to Hyde." Of all the stories filmed, this one had the most
potential to be very interesting and could very likely have been made into a film by itself with
a little more imagination. Based loosely on the events from Stevenson's classic novella "Dr. Jeckyll
and Mr. Hyde," this is the least directly werewolf story, but the connection is very apparent when
you see the beast he becomes. Of them all this one is the one that I would perhaps recommend if
just because I like the direction the story took. A little effort and this could be a great production.
If you can find this one and don't mind the cheapness of the production, then you may want to
check it out. Werewolf enthusiasts will find a couple of good ideas in here, and perhaps even a
new take on things. I would also recommend it to fans of "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde." There really
isn't enough cinema based around that particular idea.
Rish's Reviews
I love werewolves. Always have. Until I am killed by one, I think I'll always love
them. This had three tales involving my favourite movie beasties, all unusual because
they didn't rely on the traditional guy-gets-bitten or family curse werewolf stories. Also
interesting is that the three stories were made independent from one another, with
different casts and crews. It was nice because you saw different styles and paces
(and different levels of quality, I suppose).
The first story, though the silliest and least-believable, was the most fun, with lots of
swearing and funny dialogue and cheap but effective gore. Tyranist was right, the
acting was worse-than-horrible, but ah well. The second story dragged far too much
(perhaps they used every bit of footage shot, like I used to do in those terrible
childhood movies tyranist referred to above), but had very nice acting by its lead.
The third story, like the man said, had the most potential, and felt rushed. The
makeup shown at the end of the third story was quite excellent, though. And I
like these no-budget indy projects, because it makes me feel like tomorrow's
Carpenters or Romeros or Cravens are out there, on their way. And that maybe
I could be one of them.
Total Skulls: 12
Sequel | ||
Sequel setup | ||
Rips off earlier film | ||
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
Future celebrity appears | ||
Former celebrity appears | ||
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 hits camera | ||
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? |