Werewolves (2024) Review

Werewolves (2024) Review

Humanity is about to discover that its bite is far worse than its bark in this action horror. One year ago, a supermoon event triggered a global outbreak, transforming anyone exposed to moonlight into bloodthirsty werewolves for just one night. Now, as the next supermoon rises, former marine and Global Rapid Response Team Leader Wesley Marshall teams up with scientists Dr. Aranda and Dr. Amy Chen to find a cure before humanity is lost, but as chaos and carnage unfold, Marshall must fight off killer beasts and risk everything to protect his family.

Starring Frank Grillo (THE GREY), Katrina Law (ARROW), Ilfenesh Hadera (BAYWATCH), James Michael Cummings (CITY ON A HILL), and Lou Diamond Phillips (COURAGE UNDER FIRE). Practical FX by Alec Gillis & Tom Woodruff Jr. the duo behind Prey’s predator, WEREWOLVES is written by Matthew Kennedy (INHERITANCE) and directed by Steven C. Miller (LINE OF DUTY).

WEREWOLVES is THE PURGE with lycanthropes in place of grudge-bearing locals. It even has once of THE PURGE franchise’s stars headlining, Frank Grillo, here playing scientist Dr Wesley Marshall – perhaps the surname is a reference to the director of DOG SOLDIERS? Leaning into that assumption and having enjoyed Marshall’s ‘soldiers vs werewolves’ horror-comedy, I felt that I would be on to another winner with WEREWOLVES given their similarities.

However, where DOG SOLDIERS, and other influences on this film such as THE PURGE and James Cameron’s ALIENS, took time to establish both the situation and the characters allowing a build-up of suspense before unleashing hell, director Steven C. Miller’s movie dispenses with both and unleashes hell from the start. For a short while I remained engaged, but it soon became clear that this was nothing else but one scene after another of bullets firing off at the furry beasts. It became too samey too quickly and was akin to sitting in an amusement arcade being bombarded by the sound of loud gun artillery rattling off for ninety minutes.

Werewolves is available on Digital Platforms 13 January and DVD 3 February . Distributed by Signature Entertainment