New to Me is a series here at The Nerds Templar where we discuss a film that has been out for a while. It’s most likely available on home video or streaming services, but it’s our first time seeing it. Hence, it’s “New to Me“!
Ever watch The Purge movies and think, “I love the concept of one night of chaos, but I wonder what it would be like if the humans were afflicted with lycanthropy”? If so, you’ll love Werewolves. It’s far from a perfect movie, but I had a heck of a lot of fun with it. It’s violent, kills off main characters and explains itself just enough to not break its own rules.
Like The Purge you see a community preparing for a night of destruction. Frank Grillo is at his sister-in-law’s house boarding up windows, adding fencing and other defensive contraptions to keep the werewolves out once the moon comes out. His brother has passed and he feels obligated to protect his dead brother’s wife and daughter. Grillo is also an ex-soldier who works for an an organization that is working on a possible treatment to stop people from going wolf in the moonlight.
The first half of the movie is the community taking precautions and the organization trying to see how effective their moonscreen (sunscreen, but for moonlight) is. At first the spray seems to keep the test subjects from turning, but then it all goes sideways and the film kicks into high gear. The sister-in-law needs to protect her daughter from werewolves trying to get in. Grillo along with Katrina Law’s character (a scientist with the organization) need to escape and get back to the house. They fight werewolves along the way and there is some great action set pieces during their escape.
That great action is from director Steven C. Miller, a director known for lower budget/non-blockbuster action flicks. He’s directed straight-to-video/streaming type action movies starring Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Aaron Eckhart and Dave Bautista. His 2016 film Marauders is criminally underrated and I have a feeling I’ll be saying the same thing about Werewolves in the next few years.
I wanted to watch the movie because of Frank Grillo. I’m a big fan of his, have talked with him and worked with him so I’ll watch anything he does at any level. Maybe not expecting much in the first place made me enjoy the movie more than I should have, but I can see myself watching Werewolves again. It has some solid action and the creatures are good too. The sister-in-law character and niece do a good job holding down the fort and their section of the film. Grillo and Law (Nyssa al Ghul on Arrow and lots of other projects) handle their section of the film with ease as well. Grillo is made for these types of movies, heck he’s in a couple of The Purge flicks and Law is no slouch either. You know there will be a final showdown and it doesn’t disappoint. If you are looking for a shut-your-brain-off for 90 minutes creature feature with some top-notch violence then check out Werewolves.
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