“Stephen King likes to subject midtown USA to terrors.” Kristl said when the credits started to roll, “I recall a mist filled with monsters and vampires in Salem’s lot; this time around it is a werewolf.”
“That werewolf was disappointing. I found the one in American Werewolf in London a lot more scarier.” Henry said. He turned off the beamer.”Or the ones in the underworld series. This was a bad makeup job. Perhaps they should have followed the rule that you don’t show something if you got nothing to show. And there is no reason to show the creature until the very end. The story doesn’t require it.
“The story follows a certain pattern. We get introduced to a innocent midtown, a happy community with happy families. When there is no pressure everything is ‘nice’. But when the werewolf starts ripping, that happy innocent community falls apart.. The police, representing temporal power, is unable to serve and protect. The community turns to it’s own ‘justice’ but the lynch mob proofs even less effective. And the final security falls with the priest, who represents divine power, who can not do much more then give a sermon. In some cases the priest is even in league with the evil.. in this one he is the evil.
Of course it is left to the individual, the epitome of worship in the USA, to deal with the threat.
It is a familiar pattern that is used in the Mist, Salem’s Lot and no doubt in many others.” Kristl said. It gets a bit…predictable. But maybe it is unfair because this is one of the older movies and can’t be blamed for a pattern the is followed in the decade’s after it’s appearance.”
“Yet I liked the players: the kid in the wheelchair, his sister and their Uncle Red. That actor was quite good. I even found him so ‘good’ that I thought he would turn werewolf at some point. You know when he wonders how that priest turned werewolf, it sort of gave me the idea he would turn out to be one himself. ”
“I think the actors carried the movie and certainly not the shaky plot.”
“There were great moments, like that moment the kid shoots that fireworks rocket into the werewolfs eye or he escapes that the priests wrath at the last moment on that wooden bridge..”
“Yet those good moments are offset by awkward moments. Like that sheriff investigating the priest during the night. Why did he do that? There was no reason for him to go into the house alone at night. It was also strange that somehow when the death toll rose nobody seemed to figure out it could not have been a human because it was something with claws that killed them. Nor does the FBI show up or anyone else from the federal level. And it is not like there is no time, they even wait a whole month for the next moon to rise.”
“Yet the move has a certain charm. Like that love and hate relationship between the kid in the wheelchair and his sister. Between him and his boozing uncle. Did you notice at the end he stops drinking. I like it, despite the strange story.”
“The werewolf part is perhaps the biggest flaw in the movie. There is no explanation of his motives, except for once, and perhaps you have no idea why that priest suddenly turns into a werewolf. It is just a given fact.” Kristl said, ”And it is strange that, after a few more citizens are killed, the main characters have a happy-go-lucky dinner on the porch of their house. And the kid goes of in his wheelchair in the night to set off fireworks, while people have been ripped apart..It is just strange behaviour given the circumstances.”
“Still I like it.” Henry said,“And that is the strength of this movie. It’s a likeable movie with some great moments and a good endearing cast, but the flimsy story and bad werewolf makeup water it down.”
“It lacks that bite that makes you go wow.” Kristl said.
“Wow.” said Henry..
