The Art of Lycanthropy
Werewolves are very tricky to pull off on film. Animation has not come far enough for fur to look authentic on the body of the wolf and guy in suit werewolves tend to have unconvincing heads if a camera dares to sit focused on a well lit one for longer than a minute or two. One of the reasons American Werewolf in London (arguably the best werewolf film of all time) worked so well was because most of the transformations were realistic animatronic puppets, while the full on werewolf was just one big animatronic puppet. Both have their limitations. Animatronics tend to move less fluidly while a man or woman in a suit doesn’t often match the anatomy and stature of a proper man wolf hybrid. This formula is the defining factor between good and bad werewolf films. Sometimes you hit the jackpot, the other times you either get a cheap Spirit Halloween prop or a big cartoonish wolf with motion blur around it’s fur. Bad Moon combines a costumed man in suit Werewolf for the arms legs and torso with an animatronic werewolf head. It almost fits the bill. The largest downside to it is moments where it’s lit up with security flood lights and the limited expressions don’t match with the loose body moments. This is a very small gripe because the lean wolf suit allows the actor to swiftly and violently pummel it’s victims to death. The fight scenes are impressive to say the least as the Werewolf attacks it’s victims like an 80’s slasher villain. The initial kill in the beginning of the movie echo’s at least a few of Jason Voorhees’ iconic moments.
The Human Story
The cast is tight with only a handful of humans getting in the way of the werewolf’s path of destruction. The isolated location of the small town turns the film into more of a home invasion movie where the invader happens to be a werewolf. The small cast of characters share the screen with their large lovable guard dog. The dog is basically 1/3 of a cast of 7 or 8 characters. This thing is in nearly every scene. This feels like a horror film made by and for dog lovers. Anyone who has a bond with a dog is going to both hate and love this film between it’s distress and triumphs. If your dog feels distressed from animals on TV, I suggest holding out until your friend is asleep or away before watching Bad Moon. The dog is excellent in every scene. Every emotion in the film comes from concern for the dog and that really works well to add the needed humanity to the human protagonists which then reaches the viewer. There is not a ton of plot to get in the way of the Werewolf story but there is enough there to keep things interesting even with no mystery involved in the proceedings.
Final Head Count
Bad Moon knows exactly what it is and doesn’t slow down to try to be anything more. The only downsides I found were the brother/sister relationship seemed off. They don’t feel like a brother and sister to me. Their relationship as brother and sister is as convincing as the close up head shots of the creature. A little more left to the imagination when it comes to the Werewolf’s facial features would have gone a long way to suspend disbelief.
I really enjoyed my time with this little tale of lycanthropy. A simple creature feature is often exactly what the doctor ordered.
