Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A reporter uncovers the story of her life when she goes to interview a serial killer.
Directed by: Joe Dante
Stars: Dee Wallace * Christopher Stone * Robert Picardo * Patrick Macnee * Dennis Dugan
Review: Aside from An American Werewolf in London (also 1981) and the seminal Wolf Man this is possibly the best werewolf movie ever made.
Reporter Karen White (Wallace) goes to interview a serial killer, Eddie Quist (Picardo). When she begins the interview Quist begins transforming in front of her - intending to transform and reveal the presence of werewolves. He's shot down by police who respond to her screams. She blanks out the memory and is haunted by nightmares until she counseled by a psychiatrist (Macnee) to go to a spiritual retreat/camp where she can recover. Accompanied by her husband (Stone), she goes to the retreat - unfortunately for her, it's a nest of werewolves.
As she slowly fears she's losing her mind from the odd goings-on at the retreat, her husband is seduced by a local and is turned - as are the only other couple at the retreat that she had befriended. She calls her friends to come and get her out of there after she realizes her husband has been cheating on her. One of her friends is killed by a returned-from-the-dead Quist, but notifies a detective (Dugan) that there are werewolves at the camp and that he should come prepared. As the detective heads to the camp, he takes silver bullets; in escaping the camp several of the werewolves are killed, including Karen's husband.
In a classic closing moment, Karen decides to reveal the presence of werewolves by transforming in front of camera screens.
The transformation effects by f/x master Rick Baker are superb. The acting is not phenomenal by any means, but that's not what you go to watch a werewolf movie for. This movie and American Werewolf set the gold standard by which all other lycanthrope movies are judged - no other film has approached these two since their appearance and the CGI versions of later films - American Werewolf in Paris, Van Helsing, etc. simply cannot compare.
Overall: Good
No comments:
Post a Comment