DVD Release
Who woulda thunk it! Just when I go and give up all hope of seeing a werewolf film that doesn’t involve male underwear models along comes a B-movie with balls! Now that Hollywood is making horror for thirteen year old girls the chances of true horror fans getting werewolf cinema worth watching is slim to none. I know the werewolf flick Skinwalkers is on its way to theaters but the thought of a bunch of CW actors dressed in leather, sporting five o’ clock shadows, pretending to be outlaw Native American bikers just doesn’t appeal to me. I suppose I could have waited till Dog Soldiers 2 or Benicio Del Toro’s The Wolf Man comes out but I don’t hold much hope for those two either I suppose.
Seriously, somebody needs to jump start the Ginger Snaps franchise again.
Anyhow, Big Bad Wolf has been on my radar for quite some time now after it was mentioned by Robin Sydney last year during an interview I conducted with her. It sounded interesting enough but most of the low budget werewolf stuff we do see…is junk. Imagine my surprise and delight when Big Bad Wolf turned out to be entertaining! Writer/director Lance W. Dreesen has joined the slow growing ranks of low budget filmmakers that have opted to feature a “man in a suit” monster over a silly, cartoonish CG creature. If you enjoyed films like Cemetery Gates, Mexican Werewolf in Texas and Bottom Feeder you’re definitely going to dig Big Bad Wolf! That’s not all though…fans of old school Freddy-style one-liners are going to get all the quips, barbs and hardy hars they could ask for!
During a dangerous African safari hunting trip, a ferocious creature attacks and tears Scott Cowley (Andrew Bowen of Mad TV) to pieces leaving his brother Charlie (Christopher Shyer) broken and afraid. Seven years later Scott’s best friend and hunting buddy Mitchell Toblat (a play on The Wolf Man character’s surname…TALBOT) has married Scott’s widow and taken over as the head of the household. Neither Gwen Toblat (Sarah Aldrich) nor her son Derek (Trevor Duke) is all that happy though with their current situation as Mitchell is overbearing and abusive.
Derek is doing his best to follow in his father’s footsteps despite Mitchell’s belligerence by pledging to the frat his father belonged to. When Mitchell heads out of town for his regular business trip, Derek decides to offer up Mitchell’s cabin in the middle of nowhere as a place to party for the weekend. A few frat guys, a few hotties, Derek and his butchy High School “girl that’s a friend” Samantha (Kimberly J. Brown of the Halloweentown series and Stephen King’s Rose Red) all head to the cabin to get their drink and sex on but the festivities are cut short when a savage, shittalking werewolf begins tearing the vapid, over-privileged jocks and hoes to pieces leaving only Derek and Sam alive.
The two traumatized survivors deduce that the werewolf may very well have been Derek’s stepfather Mitchell as he was out of town and the cabin was his. Could Derek have been living with a monster this entire time? When Charlie, Derek’s uncle, shows up he immediately teams up with the two…their goal…get a DNA sample from Mitchell so it can be analyzed. Once they’ve got positive proof of Mitchell’s true nature they plan to kill him. There’s only one problem though…Mitchell knows what they’re up to and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep them from the truth!
Will the three fearless werewolf hunters succeed or will Mitchell lead them back to the cabin for his next meal?
Big Bad Wolf may sound a bit “After School” special-ish but it’s actually quite fun and inventive. It’s a rowdy, sexy little romp that will please hardcore B-movie fans as well as offend unsuspecting horror-lite fans hoping to see the pretty people “make it.” Trust me, a couple pretty people “get it in the end” if you know what I mean…eh? EH? EEEEHHH? HAHAHA YEAH BABY YEAH!!
Sorry.
The FX work by up-and-comers Autonomous FX Inc. was fantastic (including a Pez-style beheading) and the werewolf outfit was excellent. Richard Tyson was the perfect actor for the part of Mitchell and there’s even a passing resemblance to Lon Chaney Jr.! Now, some of you are probably figuring you’re going to get shitty, B-movie dialogue and the typical stiff amateur acting we usually get but really the dialogue, acting and story were all pretty damn solid here. Sure, the film pulls out a few tired clichés but there’s enough originality and wicked humor to propel the film forward and hold the viewers attention.
I think…no…I know the only thing viewers are going to take issue with in this film is the fact that the werewolf talks. Writer/director Dreesden does make mention of Freud’s theory of the Id which makes sense when you consider Mitchell had issues with his “curse,” alcoholism and what he perceived to be a weak, cowardly step-son and a nagging wife. One could see Mitchell redirecting all of his tendencies toward violence and uncontrollable sexual aggression through the form of the wolf, super-ego be damned! Unfortunately, most viewers won’t dig any deeper than “Dude, the werewolf talks. Stupid.”
I feel I should also warn some of you that this film does feature a rape scene in which the werewolf “takes” a hot young virgin doggystyle. I don’t know…perhaps this sounds strange but rape scenes bother me more when creatures/savages commit the atrocities. Anybody know what I mean? Films like Coppola’s Dracula, Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust and Corman’s Humanoids from the Deep are great examples of monster/savage rape and for some strange reason it always seems more offensive to me. I’m sure a psychologist would have a field day with that, right?
Folks, Big Bad Wolf is definitely worth renting…hell…I’ll probably purchase it. It’s clever, entertaining and delivers the gory goods big time.
