Werewolves – Movie Review (2/5)

WEREWOLVES is a werewolf horror action movie starring Frank Grillo. It starts out all right, but that doesn’t last. The practical effects are really cool but the story is terrible. Read our full Werewolves movie review here!

WEREWOLVES is a horror action movie in the werewolf subgenre. It features a really interesting concept which results in a strong opening. Unfortunately, it won’t be long before it’s just an action with werewolves and a bad story.

This is the kind of movie where the characters are making all the wrong decisions. The further along you get, the dumber everyone seems to become. Even gorgeous practical effects and a great concept can’t save that. The runtime is just 93 minutes, but it feels much longer.

Continue reading our Werewolves movie review below. It’s already out on VOD in the US, but it’s coming to digital platforms in the UK on January 13, 2025.

The Purge but make it werewolves?!

In Werewolves, we’re in year 2 of a terrible yearly event. The previous year, a supermoon turned over 1 billion human beings into werewolves. With the expected catastrophic events of people getting slaughtered by other humans who had (temporarily) become werewolves.

When the movie begins, it’s on the day of the next supermoon and everyone is trying to prepare for what may come. Wesley Marshall (Frank Grillo) is a former marine and Global Rapid Response Team Leader trying to create a cure.

Or rather, an advanced sunscreen – well, “moonscreen” in this case.

He teams up with several scientists played by very familiar actors such as Lou Diamond Phillips and Katrina Law (Arrow). Everything he does is to protect his brother’s wife (Ilfenesh Hadera) and daughter since his brother died during the previous supermoon.

The concept of everyone potentially turning into a werewolf during a supermoon creates an atmosphere straight out of The Purge and I loved that. However, I didn’t like the original The Purge very much either, because everyone made dumb decisions in that movie as well.

The sequels were (for the most part) much more to my liking. Maybe a sequel to Werewolves could be better as well?!

Watch for practical effects, endure the story

The practical effects are really cool and lean into all the classic werewolf movies. Okay, something was off with the mouths of the werewolves (they looked more like alligators or dinosaurs), but that’s something I can easily accept. I mean, it is a fabled creature.

Even the CGI transformation scenes work surprisingly well. Well, for the most part, as a few of them do feel a bit too much like you’re suddenly in a video game. Again, I can live with that.

What I cannot accept is the awful storyline. Everything anyone says or does in the beginning is ignored later on. “Don’t hesitate” is a key advice yet everyone constantly hesitates and waits far too long before taking action.

Watch Werewolves on VOD

Werewolves is written by Matthew Kennedy (Inheritance) and directed by Steven C. Miller (Line of Duty, Margaux). This werewolf movie could have been the beginning of a new franchise that I would be a huge fan of.

Instead, it’s just one-liners galore with constant action and no brains. A damn shame really!

While I never expect too much from Steven C. Miller due to his movies usually getting average IMDb ratings of around 4, I expected more from Matthew Kennedy.

The practical effects were done by Alec Gillis & Tom Woodruff Jr. They were also the duo behind Prey‘s predator. You can check out our review of Prey (which we loved) here >

Werewolves is available on Digital Platforms in the UK on January 13 and on DVD on February 3. It is already out on VOD in the US.

Details

Director: Steven C. Miller
Writer: Matthew Kennedy
Cast: Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera, James Michael Cummings, Lou Diamond Phillips