If you’re of the view, quite rightly, that The Purge and its attendant sequels and spin-offs were based upon the most ludicrous and unbelievably high concept in genre cinema, then here comes Werewolves, and it says, “Hold my beer.” Steven C Miller’s film is a silly, empty-headed and by-the-numbers actioner, but it’s fitfully enjoyable despite the idiocy of the whole damned thing.
It appears that the world is currently bedevilled by a ‘supermoon’ event that, the previous year, triggered a latent gene in everyone on Earth and caused anyone exposed to its light to turn into a ferocious murdering werewolf. Millions died. Twelve months later and on the eve of the next ‘event’, the military and scientific communities are trying desperately to find a cure – a spray-on vaccine they call ‘moonscreen’… think about it – to prevent similar carnage. Unfortunately, their attempts are unsuccessful, and as all Hell starts to break lose, molecular biologist (seriously) Wesley Marshall (Frank Grillo) has to battle his way out of a compromised research facility and fight his way across a besieged city to the home of his widowed sister-in-law Lucy (Ilfenesh Hadera) and her daughter Emma (Kamdynn Gary) who have battened down the hatches for the night but are surrounded by werewolves determined to break their way into their home.
That’s your lot as far as the “plot” for Werewolves goes. There’s no subtlety and no subtext and nothing much apart from grim-faced Grillo – accompanied for a while by fellow-boffin Amy (Katrina Law) – firing machine guns at men in wolf costumes, and the dialogue rarely rises above the level of Grillo’s occasional cries of “Fuck you, you hairy motherfuckers!” as he prepares to throw himself into battle. The effects are decent enough most of the time, and at least you get plenty of werewolf bang for your buck – there are quite a few of the snarling, dribbling lycanthropes wandering about, even if the budget can’t really properly depict the full-scale of the death and destruction promised by the film’s eyebrow-raisingly daft conceit. Werewolves is fun in an ‘Honestly, I don’t mind wasting my time’ sort of way, but ultimately, it’s utter twaddle and you’d probably be better off saving your pennies for Leigh Whannell’s take on Wolf Man early next year.
WEREWOLVES is on release in the US now and available on Digital Platforms on January 13th and DVD on January 20th. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.
