Bad Moon Review

Bad Moon review

A full moon is rising once again. Time for another Full Moon Feature. This cycle we look back at a very basic werewolf story…elevated somewhat by one very good boy.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Bad Moon

Directed by Eric Red

Screenplay by Eric Red

Starring Mariel Hemingway, Michael Paré, Mason Gamble, Ken Pogue, Hrothgar Mathews, Johanna Lebovitz and Primo

Bad Moon Review

We cover a werewolf movie every time a full moon rises in the night’s sky. That’s not news…it’s been a staple of the site since it began. One thing that you learn pretty quickly while diving into a new werewolf story every month is how little innovation there has been in the subgenre. The formula (more or less) works…and people aren’t quick to change it. Sure, we see some bonkers takes on the rules here and there…but, mostly…if you’ve seen one werewolf movie…

Obviously, there are great werewolf movies out there. I’m talking about the majority of C-level films masquerading as B-movie fare. Even with that understanding…you rarely find a movie less interested in doing something new than 1996’s Bad Moon. This is as by the book, pain by numbers, as werewolf movies get. At least, that is, regarding its werewolf story. There is an aspect of Bad Moon that is a winner. I’d never seen this particular werewolf movie before…but it is easy to understand why it often lands on lists of people’s favorites despite not being…you know…good.

I’m speaking, of course, about Thor. Bad Moon is an average at best werewolf movie…but it’s a Hell of a dog movie. I came to Bad Moon at a very fortuitous time. There is a movie making the festival rounds as we speak called Good Boy. I haven’t seen it…but the buzz is that it is an excellent film starring a dog in a haunted house. The dog is our lead character…and his adventures drive the plot. That’s what should have happened in Bad Moon. Thor isn’t just the best character in this movie…his story is the only one interesting enough to focus on.

We’ll get back to Thor in a minute. Full Moon Features are bound by law to discuss the werewolf aspects of the movies it covers. As mentioned, Bad Moon, is as basic as they come. Ted (Michael Paré) contracts the curse in the opening scene of the film. His girlfriend is mauled to death by a werewolf…and it gets a piece of Ted before he manages to blow its head off. The scene is fun enough…but it also feels fake enough in execution that I briefly expected someone to yell “cut” and for it to be revealed that we were watching an in-film movie shoot.

The werewolves here look fine. They have a fun design…especially for the 90s. There’s some decent carnage when they let the fur start flying. Unfortunately, that is far too infrequent. Bad Moon saves its transformation scene for the end. It looks wonky. Like they used a time lapse make-up effect and distorted it with CGI for some reason. Silver bullets aren’t needed to destroy them. According to Ted…they don’t even require a full moon to transform. Honestly, I think there was a full moon in the sky for every single night shot in Bad Moon anyway.

Ted knows he’s a werewolf. He’s isolated himself in the woods, away from civilization. When the body of a man is found torn apart near his home…Ted decides to lay low with his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway) and her son Brett (Mason Gamble). Seems like a stupid choice…but there wouldn’t be a movie without it. Ted has been researching his curse and knows enough to handcuff himself to a tree at night. That’s about all there is to the werewolf story. Ted is rarely in that form. He is starting to mentally deteriorate in his human state. That’s about as interesting as Bad Moon allows that story to get.

Thankfully, we have Thor. Thor is the family dog who immediately senses the danger in Uncle Ted. He is desperate to protect them…to the point where Ted provokes Thor to attack him so that he is sent to the pound. Some kind of animal is ripping people apart, after all. Thor’s story doesn’t end there, however. Brett breaks him out of the pound in time for Thor to race to Janet’s defense after Ted turns on her in every sense of the word. There’s a brief dog vs. werewolf battle that ends with both crashing from a second story window. Ted runs off into the woods with Thor in pursuit. Thor finds Ted the next morning…in human form…and, at Ted’s request, finishes the job by ripping out his throat.

I can’t tell you how much more exciting the Thor plot in Bad Moon is than the werewolf story. Paré does a fine job with his role…the story just isn’t giving him enough to do. It isn’t just that the Thor plot is better…it’s that the Thor plot might be the only thing that works. After watching Bad Moon…I learned that the movie was adapted from a novel titled Thor…told from the dog’s perspective. I’ve rarely if ever discovered something that made more sense than that. There’s a better version of Bad Moon out there. Apparently, it’s in book form.

Scare Value

Bad Moon isn’t very good. It’s as paint by numbers as a werewolf story can be. Still…it is easy to see why it has become a somewhat beloved cult classic. While most of its efforts are forgettable…it is a surprisingly effective movie about a dog’s love and loyalty. Thor is a very good boy. Even if Bad Moon isn’t a very good movie.

2.5/5