I really enjoyed this movie. It's professionally made, well paced, shot and edited with proper actors of decent quality. Richard Tyson as the bad guy step dad/werewolf is actually rather good as is Kimberley Brown as Sam.
I thought the story was pretty good and didn't quite go the way I was expecting it to. I imagined it was just another 'teens go to a cabin in the woods and get killed one by one' movie, but it isn't. There is actually a plot and some subtext here. The director says this film is an attempt to use the beast as a metaphor for struggling with addiction and as a representation of the id and the beast within. This is why this werewolf can talk and likes to taunt people, and why he doesn't just kill, but enjoys a spot of rape and torture - and it works just fine in the context of the film. It's also a retelling of the classic mythological story of the son having to confront the father figure to finally become a man. The director acknowledges major story elements owe a lot to the movie The Stepfather (the sheriff is named after that films director, Joe Rubin), and even Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film is also filled with homage's to great movies by Hitchcock, Spielberg and Landis. I won't say what they are, but see if you can spot them or just listen to the interesting and informative commentary.
Having said all that, there is still plenty of gratuitous nudity, humour and some nice gore. The make up and CG FX are actually quite good. The wolf is of a decent design and about as well done as you get with standard makeup FX (no animatronics - just man in suit).
What I liked most about this film was its take on the werewolf as a representation of the darkest, nastiest and innermost human desires. The villain, while always a pretty nasty guy, had been struggling to control his 'problem' and had actually been quite successful until the daft teens got involved.
This is of course a very low budget film. What makes this far superior to similar low budget efforts is that the writer/director had a clear vision of the type of story he wanted to tell and actually spent time on the script and in casting some decent actors.
Not brilliant or a classic, but much better than I expected.
I thought the story was pretty good and didn't quite go the way I was expecting it to. I imagined it was just another 'teens go to a cabin in the woods and get killed one by one' movie, but it isn't. There is actually a plot and some subtext here. The director says this film is an attempt to use the beast as a metaphor for struggling with addiction and as a representation of the id and the beast within. This is why this werewolf can talk and likes to taunt people, and why he doesn't just kill, but enjoys a spot of rape and torture - and it works just fine in the context of the film. It's also a retelling of the classic mythological story of the son having to confront the father figure to finally become a man. The director acknowledges major story elements owe a lot to the movie The Stepfather (the sheriff is named after that films director, Joe Rubin), and even Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film is also filled with homage's to great movies by Hitchcock, Spielberg and Landis. I won't say what they are, but see if you can spot them or just listen to the interesting and informative commentary.
Having said all that, there is still plenty of gratuitous nudity, humour and some nice gore. The make up and CG FX are actually quite good. The wolf is of a decent design and about as well done as you get with standard makeup FX (no animatronics - just man in suit).
What I liked most about this film was its take on the werewolf as a representation of the darkest, nastiest and innermost human desires. The villain, while always a pretty nasty guy, had been struggling to control his 'problem' and had actually been quite successful until the daft teens got involved.
This is of course a very low budget film. What makes this far superior to similar low budget efforts is that the writer/director had a clear vision of the type of story he wanted to tell and actually spent time on the script and in casting some decent actors.
Not brilliant or a classic, but much better than I expected.