The low budget Werewolf Rising hits the home video market this week.
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| "Yo, girl! Wanna make out?" |
Werewolf Rising feels like a misfired tribute to old school horror that didn't get the script treatment it needed, a believable cast, or decent creature design.
Sometimes smaller budget features have a lot of heart and sometimes they feature dire werewolf costumes that take the viewer out of the whole experience. Werewolf Rising is an independent feature that starts out strong with a creepy throwback to old school horror but ends up confusing audiences with a script that wasn't really hashed out or given any creative love. That's not to mention the obvious lack of any direction or focus on making this "horror" movie anywhere near scary.
While the film isn't a total failure, it doesn't really do anything that hasn't been done before and features some barely believable performances from three obviously inexperienced lead actors. However, there is one saving grace. His name is Bill Oberst Jr.. Oberst is quite honestly the only convincing actor here and feels like he's totally in to what he's doing. He has a long history of horror films on his resume and definitely steals the horrific spotlight from everyone else in Werewolf Rising. Every time he's on screen, he does what all the other stars of Werewolf Rising can't. He puts his nose to the grindstone despite the scripting flaws and ends up adding a little gusto to this otherwise corny horror flick.
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| "My name is Bill. Worship my acting talents!" |
If you're looking for an enthralling movie experience to highlight Halloween month, Werewolf Rising is not it. It's an amateurish effort that has little to offer other than a good performance from Oberst and a John Carpenter-esque score. The movie has an extremely basic plot that should have been punched up to make it more interesting and not so typical. If you're into the low budget horror features of the '80s, this might be your cup of tea. For me it was below average.
-CG