Steven C Miller may have just directed the best movie of his career thus far, that is written by Matthew Kennedy who punches up the cheesiness and chaos in these practical effects delight that is just pure chaotic magic. There is a text overlay, similar to The Purge, at the beginning of the movie stating that there was a supermoon the year prior and people turned into werewolves and chaos has erupted. Absolutely throwing out werewolf mythology out the widow as supermoon’s don’t create vampires – but nonetheless it is absolutely delightfully chaotically insane erupting off the ground by over the top brutal performances making one of the years most chaotically fun outings.
The film focuses on two sets of characters, we have Wesley (Frank Grillo) Amy (Katrina Law) and Lucy (Ilfenesh Hadera) who are trying to stay safe during the next supermoon (only a year later) and bunker down for the night in a Purge like style. While on the other hand we have Dr. Aranda (Lou Diamond Phillips) who is studying people who have become werewolves the year before and trying to understand how to resolve this epidemic and ensure the survival of the human race is secured. While Wesley Amy and Lucy are hunkered down trying to stay safe, avoiding their annoying neighbour Cody (James Michael Cummings) Dr. Aranda has a lot more on his hands than he anticipated – a werewolf gets lose, attacks the scientists and a new rampage of werewolves are now on the loose wrecking havoc. Wesley decides to take it upon himself to stop the werewolf epidemic, and soon his secrets are revealed and the battle for dominance is truly a sight to be hold.
Before we dive into the performances for Werewolves, it is really important to discuss the look and aesthetic of Werewolves. This movie feels entirely movie magic with practical effects and make up, and it is outstanding. It is refreshing to not see a monster movie with too much CGI (but rather one completely stripped down from it entirely) and let the practical effects shine and let the costumes speak for themselves. It brings it to another level of entertainment and immersion that allows the audience to get fully lost in the world and characters. Lou Diamond Phillips whose always fantastic, never ceases to amaze and prove that he’s incredible yet again in Werewolves. While his screentime is short, he makes the most out of it and shines bright throughout the role. On the other hand Katrina Law is also entertaining, but it is Frank Grillo who takes centre stage in his performance and shows off his gritty attitude and build to take down these werewolves and delivers one of the most fun monster fights that isn’t over the top but rather grounded.
Overall, Werewolves is an undeniable entertainment fest filled with practical effects and entertaining performances. Steven C Miller directing Matthew Kennedy’s script with Grillo and Phillips bringing together some great gritty performances and letting the audience enjoy the monster fun proves to be a winning combination. While the script itself may not be a hundred percent original, the execution and effects are loaded to the brim for a winning outing of endless entertainment.
