A Howling Good Time
Summary
Werewolves delivers anything you could want from it with Frank Grillo at his badass best, some gruesome kills and an awesome score from The New Ton Brothers. It’s an action packed 90 minutes and something I will happily revisit again.
Plot: Two scientists try to stop a mutation that turns people into werewolves after being touched by a super-moon the year before.
Review: I was always more of a werewolf guy than a vampire fan and hearing that there was a new movie with Frank Grillo versus lycanthropes I was there on day one.
Directed by Steven C. Miller, Werewolves is the kind of movie that delivers everything you could want from it. The practical effects are fantastic, Frank Grillo is badass, there are some gory kills and it’s a tight 90 minutes; none of this 2 hours and 30 minutes nonsense that plagues so many bigger budgeted pictures these days. This is essentially The Purge with werewolves with everyone battening down the hatches before a supermoon when everyone turns into a werewolf. Grillo plays scientist Wesley who teams up with Amy (Katrina Law) to make it through a town overrun with lycans so he can protect his late brother’s family.
Also, I need to mention that I think he should be known as Frank “The Tank” Grillo as this dude was jacked in this movie; I’d believe he could take on an army of werewolves with his bare hands so you’re never in any doubt that this character is a survivor.
It gets quite intense at times and I found I genuinely cared for the supporting cast as there was a real sense of threat. The werewolves look terrifying and are the best I’ve seen since Dog Soldiers. It’s not much of a surprise considering the involvement of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. who are legends in that department.
Any movie which has a mini-gun sequence is an instant winner in my book and I really hope this gets a 4K release.
The Newton Brothers provided the score, and I remember they did a fantastic job with Escape Plan 2 and they once again knocked it out of the park here giving us an exciting and bombastic soundtrack to all the carnage.
In terms of flaws, the overuse of lens-flare is really distracting where in several scenes that’s nearly all you can see. I’m hoping that it was just in the screener I saw and that when it hits home video it will be cleaned up.
Overall, Werewolves is a howling good time (I’m not sorry) with Frank Grillo at his badass best, some good kills and an awesome music score. This is out this weekend in theatres and I suggest seeing it on the big screen for maximum enjoyment as I imagine watching it with a crowd would be an absolute blast.