WEREWOLF: THE BEAST AMONG US
Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars)
More than two years ago, when a remake of the classic Universal monster movie “The Wolf Man” was announced, I was thrilled. And with Joe Johnston at the helm (whose films I have generally liked, including “Jumanji” and the much maligned “Jurassic Park 3”), I was even more excited.
Then the film came out, and that excitement failed. “The Wolf Man” was always one of my favorite monster movies in the classic Universal canon. However, Johnston’s film was a bit of a mess, needlessly grim at times and often without much focus. I didn’t hate it, and in retrospect, the extended director’s cut ended up with a better film. However, I really wished for something more in the spirit of the original 1941 “The Wolf Man.”
After a disappointing box office, Universal decided to take the franchise direct to home video, and they announced “Werewolf: The Beast Among Us” as one of their upcoming films. Originally meant to be a prequel to the 2010 film, it was broken off completely to be its own movie. I can’t say I was as excited to see this movie as I was to see “The Wolf Man” two years ago, but I was definitely interested.
“Werewolf: The Beast Among Us” tells the story of a small European village that is terrorized by mysterious creature attacks. A young villager joins up with a band of werewolf hunters to try to capture and destroy the creature wreaking havoc.
What I genuinely loved about “Werewolf: The Beast Among Us” is that it was an honest-to-god werewolf movie. There was no teen angst. There was no reworking of the mythology. There was no attempt to get the film classified as a “Romance” on sites like IMDb or BoxOfficeMojo.com. It was a traditional movie with its heart in the same place as the old “Wolf Man” films that Universal put out in the 40s.
The movie also knew its place. Like the direct-to-video sequels of “The Scorpion King” that Universal pumps out (which also has its roots in the old Universal monster movies, being spin-offs from “The Mummy”), this sequel wasn’t trying to top a theatrical release. It was modest, and it had fun within its scope.
The most enjoyable part of the film was the group of werewolf hunters, each with a colorful past an look. In particularly, me and my sons enjoyed the girl with the leather bra. Trust me, leather bras make any movie better.
Oddly similar to the godawful “Red Riding Hood” film from a couple years ago, “Werewolf: The Beast Among Us” tops that “Twilight” rip-off by giving some bloody good fun. It’s not a fantastic film, and it has its flaws in all the direct-to-video ways. However, it’s worth checking out for fans of an old-fashioned werewolf movie.
The Blu-ray comes with deleted scenes, a feature commentary and the featurettes “Making the Monster,” “Transformation: Man to Beast” and “Monster Legacy.” There’s also access to BD-Live, pocketBLU, Digital Copy and UltraViolet streaming technology.
THE RAVEN
Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars)
Back when “The Raven” came to theaters this past spring, I said that it was a movie that felt more at home on video disc. With the flavor of an old PBS “Mystery” episode, the movie seemed to be more comfortable in a more modest setting. And I stand by that statement.
The movie tells the fictionalized story of the last few days of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. Mysterious murders are happening in Baltimore, and they all seem to reflect Poe’s writings. Originally a suspect but also brought in as a consultant, Poe (John Cusack) tries to solve the mysteries. However, when his lover (Alice Eve) becomes the killer’s latest kidnapping victim, things become fiercely personal for Poe.
There’s a lot of great things about the movie, including the production design and the murky look of the entire feature. It has a grim black-and-red palate, which makes it ideal for a horror movie audience. However, even with the torturous moments in which the killer dispatches his victims, “The Raven” plays out more like a detective story than a thriller.
John Cusack is also woefully miscast in the film. It’s not that Cusack is a bad actors. He just has been employing the Jack Nicholson method for the past twenty years of so. Cusack plays Cusack, or some version of his actual personality. He’s not an actor who becomes the character; rather, the character becomes him.
This can work for the standard everyman role, which he has become most famous for playing. However, playing an icon of horror and literature, it’s hard to see anyone but John Cusack behind that goatee.
Still, for a afternoon lark, “The Raven” is enjoyable enough.
The Blu-ray comes with a nice dash of special features, including several deleted and extended scenes as well as an audio commentary by the director and producers. There’s also several featurettes: “The Raven Guts – Bringing Death to Life,” “The Madness, Miser and Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe,’ “Behind the Beauty and Horror,” “The Raven Presents John Cusack & James McTeigue” and “Music for The Raven: The Team.”
WRONG TURN 5
DVD Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars)
I’m a huge fan of horror movies. I’m also a huge fan of cheesy horror movies. Many of the various horror movie sequels over the year fall into this category. As terrible as some series will become after a really solid first film (I’m looking at you, “Hellraiser” and “The Prophecy”), there’s a certain entertainment value to these direct-to-video retreads.
Unfortunately, the “Wrong Turn” series is becoming more like the “Leprechaun” series than anything else. And the fact that it’s now casting smaller horror icons just makes things that much more sad.
This new version of “Wrong Turn 5” is a sequel or prequel. I really couldn’t tell. I really didn’t care, it was that bad. There’s a music festival happening in West Virginia every year, and the mutant inbred cannibal rednecks are using it as an opportunity to do some murdering and eating. Their ringleader (Doug Bradley, best known as Pinhead from “Hellraiser”), who is not mutated for some reason, is put in the local jail, and he’s waiting for his sons to help him escape. Caught in the middle is a zealous female sheriff and a bunch of pot-smoking college kids heading to the music festival.
Where “Wrong Turn 3” and “Wrong Turn 4” offered some fun thrills along with a new angle on the series, “Wrong Turn 5” has no substance to it whatsoever. I never quite knew if I was supposed to root for the killers or the victims. The movie itself has a nihilistic approach of despair and brutality. But there’s little sympathy for any of the victims because they are either so rock stupid or just plain incompetent that they are unable to think their way out of the simplest situations.
Part of the fun of “Wrong Turn 4,” in particular, was that it had an awareness of its own genre. It placed horror movie cliches right in front of your face and played off their history. It was actually a very meta film.
But “Wrong Turn 5” seems to think it’s telling a terrifying story. The protagonist focus never picks anyone to get behind. And the villains are just too inexplicably in control of an out-of-control situation. Rather than being opportunists, which is how it is set up, they are bizarre game masters with no real explanation of why they’re there or how they do what they do. More over, there’s no real sense of chronology with the other films, not that I was all that interested in how this epic saga fit together anyway.
Does “Wrong Turn 5” deliver on the expected elements of boobs and blood? Sure, to a degree. However, Doug Bradley stains his name by being associated with such a stupid movie, making the show even more desperate.
I’m crossing my fingers for “Wrong Turn 6,” but I’m not making any bets on it.
The DVD comes bare bones, with no special features whatsoever.
