Scream of the Wolf review.
This cycle’s Full Moon Feature takes us to the set of an independent vampire movie. Things get harry when a real werewolf crashes the production. Yeah…I couldn’t help it.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Scream of the Wolf
Directed by Dominic Brunt
Written by Joel Ferrari and Pete Wild
Starring James Fleet, John Henshaw, Jay Taylor, Nicky Evans, John May, Shaun Harrison, Thaila Zucco and Sade Malone
Scream of the Wolf Review
Scream of the Wolf (formerly titles Wolf Manor)is too low key to fully execute its vision. It carries a dismissive tone and fails to ramp it up to match the situations on screen. Entertaining it its own right…but missing the switch flip to carry it into rowdier territory. Which would be fine…if the story maintained its early aloofness in the face of unknown trouble. Once the characters understand their situation, however…the movie struggles to differentiate itself from what came before.
An independent movie crew attempting to finish a vampire movie is beset by an actual werewolf problem. The characters spend the first half of the movie unaware that something evil is afoot. This allows Scream of the Wolf to have some fun. It’s a horror movie set, after all. Nothing strange about a prop limb laying around here and there. Scream of the Wolf goes to that well a few times in the first half of the movie…and it’s good for a laugh every time.
At some point the crew that has managed to survive to that point figure out that they’re in actual danger. That’s when the movie falters. I don’t know that you could make an entire film about a drunk actor and his impatient crew trying to finish a movie while completely unaware of their surroundings. But…I do know that if you are going to switch from that to a survive the night horror story…you have to pick up the pace a bit.
Scream of the Werewolf is slow. The pacing fits fine while the story remains an aloof comedy. Set in a great shooting location for both the indie vampire flick and this actual werewolf one…Scream of the Wolf gets a lot of mileage out of its appropriately titled Crimson Manor. It’s a self-aware werewolf movie too. There is an immediate reference to the king of the werewolf movies An American Werewolf in London. Journalists from this worlds Fangoria stand in “Fantasmagoria” magazine are supposed to conduct interviews on the film set. Like the movie they know enough to reference…they fail to stick to the road.
With a real werewolf now unleashed on the production…we can dive into our usual Full Moon Feature discussions. Scream of the Wolf commits the cardinal sin of a werewolf movie. There is no transformation scene. The wolf itself looks pretty darn good, mind you. The practical effects look good…but there is a distinct lack of the wild wolf action that we love so much. The werewolf also has a strange penchant for ripping heads off. Nothing wrong with that, of course.
Even after the crew discovers that the body parts strewn around the Manor grounds are real, they want to finish shooting the movie. Which means Scream of the Wolf can go ahead and pick everyone off one by one. That sounds fun…but the back half of the movie lacks energy and momentum. The werewolf rules stop making sense by the end…but it does have a surprising ending in its favor. There’s nothing wrong with Scream of the Wolf. It simply leaves you feeling like it doesn’t achieve all that it could. A lot of space is left unfulfilled. Even if what’s there often works.
Scream of the Wolf takes a fun concept and doesn’t fully explore it. It gets a lot of mileage out of its early set-up of a frustrated film crew ignorant of what’s happening around them. When the time comes to deliver full wolf fun, however…the movie comes up very short. It never fully commits to the narrative turn in a way that differentiates it from the aloof comedy portion of the story. A fight to survive should be accompanied by a more assertive tone.
People looking for a light-hearted watch with some fun moments and characters could do well by Scream of the Wolf. Werewolf fans looking for expected wolfy fun will be disappointed in the movie’s lack of transformations, wolf action and rules that cease to make much sense. What we end up with is a decent movie built from a concept that could have delivered so much more. Or, at least, committed to the first half bit of purposely delivering so much less.
Scare Value
Scream of the Wolf is a light take on a violent story. The gore effects are great…but the tone never ramps up to match. It creates a movie that feels unique. We have to dock it a bit for the lack of transformation scenes and having its mayhem happen just off frame…but if you’re looking for a leisurely paced, kind of silly werewolf movie whose characters often seem non-plussed by their situation…Scream of the Werewolf has what you’re looking for.
2.5/5
Scream of the Wolf Links
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