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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Video games and movies are usually hit or miss. Now that I think about it, they are pretty much a miss most of the time. I have a series dedicated to awful video game movies. Occasionally, more like every 1000 years, a video game movie comes along that is really freakin good and fun to watch. I recently watched Werewolves Within and enjoyed it. It came as a shock that the movie is based on a video game. I never played this game nor knew anything about it. I want everyone to watch this film because it is entertaining with horror and comedy elements.
Forest ranger Finn Wheeler (Richardson) is newly assigned to the snow-covered town of Beaverfield. I wonder if the town has beavers rolling around or why it was named that. The small town’s residents are divided over the proposed gas pipeline construction. When Finn arrives, he is introduced and befriends the beautiful and cheerful mail carrier Cecily Moore (Vayntrub). Cecily gives the drama to the residents by meeting Trisha Anderson and her unfaithful husband Pete, wealthy couple Devon and Joaquim Wolfson, country-ass white trash Gwen and Marcus, and isolationist Emerson Flint. When a severe blizzard traps the residents in the local lodge, shit goes down as the hate the residents have for each other rises, and the thought of a werewolf might be real. As the new Forest ranger, it is up to Finn to prevent everyone from tearing each other apart. Finn and the residents soon realize that someone or something is hunting them down, one by one. Will Finn be able to solve the case, or will everyone in the town die a horrible death?
I want to say that Werewolves Within is one of those films that is surprisingly funny and entertaining, and the film is nicely put together. When watching the movie, the film’s concept and storyline align with the game Clue. Out of all the residents, you try to figure out who the killer or werewolf is. You know it’s not Finn because he is way too nice and has no evil bone in his body. What the film does exceptionally well with its Clue-like story is to put everyone in one place. When that blizzard hit and everyone had to be moved to the lodge, you knew terrible things would happen. You don’t expect how funny and crazy everything happens in the film.
When Trisha’s dog gets killed, it increases the tension. Nothing like a freakin small dog to throw people over the edge. It doesn’t stop there; when Fin discovers all the generators were sabotaged, he finds Jeanine’s missing husband, Dave, underneath the lodge’s porch. Like I said, things get crazy in the lodge, and you really don’t know who the killer is. The film does a good job of creating suspense when Pete gets his hand bitten off. The dude sits on the ground, and why give people guns when they can’t hit shit. Things go off the handle when Dr. Ellis concludes that the assailant is a werewolf by doing the test. I didn’t know we had werewolf tests in the world. Is that a 23-and-me type test or whatever DNA test? Because it’s strange for her to conclude that, but funny? No matter, when Dr. Ellis announces her findings, she is straight-up killed by Parker and claims she committed suicide. Yeah, okay. We will go with suicide.
The film keeps getting crazier and funnier because you really don’t know who the werewolf is. The tension boils over when the residents start killing each other. We not talking about a little stab with a knife; we are talking about some brutal killing. What is great about this is that one second, you think it’s one person, and then NOPE, they are dead. After a while, you almost figure out who the actual person is. Maybe you don’t because I was pretty much tricked in the end.
The person who turns into a werewolf is cool-looking. I would love to be a werewolf. The person is intense, and the make-up is on point. What is lost is all the werewolf lore in this film. I don’t think silver works, and there is zero full moon in this film. I think that is why I liked it because the film really tried to stay on course with being a mystery more than a werewolf movie. The film does a great job waiting until the very end to show the werewolf. You get zero glimpses of the werewolf throughout the film. It employed what Spielberg did with Jaws by letting you know the creature is there but allowing tension to build up until the reveal.
The acting was spot-on in this film. I could talk about so many people in this film because each character was great. Sam Richardson as Finn Wheeler was fun to watch and funny. He was so nice through the whole movie and hardly ever got mad. When everyone was losing their minds, he tried to calm everyone down. When there was a crossbow pointed at him, he tried to speak to people as a friend. Then there is Milana Vayntrub as Cecily Moore. You know Vayntrub from playing Lily in the AT&T commercials. When I first saw her in this film, I was surprised because I hadn’t ever seen her perform in a movie. She was cute and cheerful in the film, and I really enjoyed her performance. Once again, these two are just some of the ones in the movie. Some people stand out more than others, but each person does their job well.
Werewolves Within is that surprise film that is made after a video game. If you have seen video game movies, you know they can be pretty bad. I’m looking at you, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Werewolves Within takes the concept of another game, Clue, and makes this film work in a horror but funny way. I might have to play the game and see what it’s all about.
