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Another Wolfcop (DVD) Review
Loading...Another Wolfcop (DVD) Review
Leo Fafard– Lou Garou/Wolfcop
Amy Matysio– Tina Walsh
Yannick Bisson– Sydney Swallows
Jonathan Cherry– Willie Higgins
Serena Miller– Kat
Kris “The Raven” Blackwell– Number 2
Alden Adair– Frank
Devery Jacobs– Daisy
Kevin Smith– Mayor Bubba
Directed by Lowell Dean
Screenplay by Lowell Dean
Distributed by Parade Deck Films and RLJE Films
Unrated
Runtime– 79 minutes
Buy it here
Another Wolfcop, written and directed by Lowell Dean, is a difficult movie to categorize because I’m not entirely sure it’s actually a movie. It’s more like a series of scenes that, when edited together, work out to around 78 minutes. Parts of it are kind of funny, and there are some cool looking practical special effects, but as a whole Another Wolfcop is a massive wasted opportunity. At the same time, I think that’s the whole point of the endeavor. I think Another Wolfcop is supposed to be a complete waste of time. Is that part of its “brilliance?” Someone probably thinks so.
The “movie” picks up a year or so after the end of the first movie with the small Canadian town of Woodhaven about to experience a kind of revival. A sort of self-help guru millionaire/billionaire/rich guy named Sydney Swallows (Yannick Bisson) set to reopen the town’s brewery and re-establish the town’s hockey team with a new arena that is also connected to the brewery. Most of the town is all for Swallows and his revitalization plan, including the town’s dipshit mayor Bubba (Kevin Smith). The town’s police force, sort of headed by Sgt. Tina Walsh (Amy Matysio), doesn’t entirely trust Swallows and whatever the heck he is really doing, but the cops are willing to step aside and wait and see what happens. Tina, as the general head of the force, has more pressing issues to deal with, like keeping her fellow officer Lou Garou (Leo Fafard), also known as Wolfcop, inside and away from the public when he’s Wolfcop. As we see in the second opening sequence, Wolfcop is incredibly dangerous and prone to horrible acts of bloody violence. Yes, Wolfcop is really only truly dangerous to the criminal element in Woodhaven, but in order to keep public order why would the cops want Wolfcop dismembering bad guys on the streets?
Exactly. The cops wouldn’t.
So then some stuff happens, the cops clean up the crime scene, Mayor Bubba wants to know if Sgt. Garou is the Wolfcop, and Garou finds a weird beard box filled with goo and a human body that really looks like Willie Higgins (Jonathan Cherry) from the first movie. The body comes to life and steps out of the box and, holy shit, it is Willie Higgins from the first movie. Didn’t he die in the first one? Yes, but then if you’re expecting an explanation for anything you’re watching the wrong “movie.” Willie does talk about the presence of shape shifters and believing he was violated by “lizard people” at some point, but I’m still not entirely sure that any of that is actually an explanation for what the hell is happening in this movie.
So then some more stuff happens, we find out that Swallows is evil as hell (just in case you didn’t realize that after the movie’s first opening scene) and is putting nasty stuff in the beer that everyone in town drinks, and that he’s created a killer robot named Frank (Alden Adair) that he intends to use on Wolfcop. Because, I guess, Swallows thinks Wolfcop can mess up his big plans for the town.
Now, it’s at this point in the movie you’re likely to wonder if Swallows is a shape shifter monster related to the bad guys from the first movie (there’s a certain occult looking image all over the place here) or if he’s really some sort of outer space alien thing. Again, the movie never really explains what the hell is going on. The underground monster lab that Swallows and his minions work in suggests aliens because the lab looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie, but I could be wrong about that. I guess shapeshifting demons could operate a low budget science fiction movie lab if they wanted to.
It’s also at this point that Willie reveals that he has a giant penis that isn’t a penis, Frank confronts Wolfcop in a strip club, and Willie has a sister named Kat (Serena Miller) that can help with all of this madness. Kat is an occult aficionado of some sort and has a chunk of the moon that, if pulverized, can be used to help Garou summon his Wolfcop persona without booze or a full moon. Or something like that.
The rest of the movie is essentially Wolfcop, Kat, Tina, and Willie banding together to save the town and stop Swallows. There are some ridiculously funny moments (there’s an insane sex scene here that just goes on forever) and some exceptional special effects here and plenty of nasty gore. Your inner gorehound will no doubt cheer when it sees these effects. And then you’re probably going to wonder why Dean and everyone else involved in the movie didn’t spend a little more time on the script and the story. I know I’m repeating myself here but what the hell is going on in this movie? What the hell is about? It’s almost like Dean and company decided to make the movie with only half a script, or with a half-assed second draft that no one, including Dean, tried to revise into a third draft.
Goddamit, what the hell happens in the end of the movie? Where does Swallows go? Why does it seem like the movie just ends? Is it because no one could come up with an actual ending and Dean and company just decided to end it right there? At the moment, that’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense to me. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for why this movie is the way it is.
I said at the beginning that there’s a chance that the shoddy story and meaningless plot was deliberate on Dean’s part and that what he really wanted to with Another Wolfcop is make a “movie” that’s a bunch of set pieces that, if you watch them alone, are kind of cool, but as a whole don’t amount to much of anything. If that is what Dean and company were trying to do with Another Wolfcop, they succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. That doesn’t make Another Wolfcop any good, though, at least I don’t think it does. With the amount of effort that went into the creation of the special effects, why couldn’t at least an eighth of that time been used to craft a script with a coherent story?
But Another Wolfcop is just a ridiculous B-movie sequel to a ridiculous movie with a ridiculous premise! Shouldn’t I just accept what the movie has to offer and enjoy myself? I don’t think so, no. Being a “B-movie” doesn’t exempt you from not at least trying to have a good story or script, and there’s no evidence presented during Another Wolfcop’s running time that anyone tried to do that. And that’s a shame because I thought the first one was pretty good. The ending sucked but the movie was enjoyable and fun. The only real saving grace for Another Wolfcop is that it’s never boring. There’s always something bizarre happening and that makes it sort of watchable. It should be better, though. Much, much better.
The cast is generally game for all of the nonsense that it engages in. Leo Fafard does a decent job as Garou and the Wolfcop. He is game for some truly messed up stuff, including the big sex scene with Kat. And his Wolfcop scenes, where he’s in full makeup, are more elaborate than the first movie. I just wish he had a better story to act in.
The same goes for Amy Matysio as Sgt. Tina Walsh. She tends to act as the movie’s straight man and tries to ground the action in some sort of reality. She isn’t as successful as she should be since the movie openly acts against her. Matysio, just like Fafard, deserves better.
Jonathan Cherry does an okay job as the wacked out Willie Higgins. Some of his one-liners are pretty good and he, on his own, seems to have a natural comedic aura surrounding him, but he spends most of the movie interacting with his gigantic mutant penis. It isn’t as funny as it sounds. Serena Miller also does an okay job as her character Kat. Kat has the potential to be an interesting companion/partner for Wolfcop as they are similar in their afflictions, but why don’t we ever find out who and what she is? How did she become the creature that she is? Perhaps that’s being saved for the next one?
Yannick Bisson is charismatic as the villain Swallows. He just oozes sleaze and his performance is one of the movie’s highlights. I just wish I had a better understanding of who and what he is supposed to be. Is he a demon or an alien or something else? And what the hell happens to him at the end? Where does he go? He just disappears. What the hell? Kris “The Raven” Blackwell appears as the main henchperson for Swallows and has a few nice scenes towards the end. She should have had more to do.
And then there’s Kevin Smith as the Woodhaven mayor Bubba. Why is he in the movie? Why doesn’t his name appear in the credits? I don’t get it.
Another Wolfcop isn’t very good. It has some good stuff in it, but none of it works as a whole piece. The movie has no story. Is that lack of story deliberate? It sure seems so. The movie is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the first one. If you’re not a fan, I’m not sure why you would want to bother with it.
Only see Another Wolfcop if you absolutely feel the need to. Otherwise, you’re not missing much. If only had a real story.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: Lots.
Explosions: Several.
Nudity?: Yes.
Doobage: Self-help guru hooey, people making a TV commercial, microphone through the head, a van chase, LAWS rocket attack, exploding police car, total van destruction, eye eating, decapitation, serious donut eating, wolf arm through the back and out through the chesty, double severed heads, a gigantic penis, destroying the evidence, a box full of goo, face punching, shoplifter beating, people watching TV in a convenience store, boobs, serious arm breaking plunger to the head, snowmobile hooey, double gun attack, Molotov cocktail hooey, full on animal sex, beer chugging, some serious farting, a big hockey game, a massive crowd attack, an ass injection, mass barfing, total hockey team destruction, back skin removal, serious bloody entrails, major cocaine snorting, scythe hooey, tank hooey, a beating, a massive explosion, and an end credits scene that only makes sense if you’ve seen the first movie and remember the character.
Kim Richards?: Not really.
Gratuitous: Self-help guru hooey, chicken milk beer, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” radio show banter, Kevin Smith, a strip club, Wolfcop riding a snowmobile, a penis monster smoking weed, animal sex, sock removal, an evil hockey team, the Canadian national anthem, and the threat of a third one.
Best lines: “You’re a loser. It’s just a fact,” “Our existence hinges on the next 48 hours,” “So, chief, think we’re going to see any action tonight?,” “Wipers aren’t working,” “Looks like I brought a knife to a wolf fight,” “Ah! No! My fucking Wolfcop!,” “Oh, for fuck’s sake! Someone stole our donuts! That’s a new low,” “I’m still trying to get the image of your dick out of my head,” “Slam a cold cock!,” “I’m a black gal guy,” “How do we know it’s really Willie?,” “You also have AIDS,” “Would you say that this is a bad thing?,” “I don’t want to die. Not on my birthday,” “Lou? You’re a Wolfcop,” “Oh, you really like your beer, don’t you?,” “Did it shit itself?,” “So that happened,” “The Dark Stars. I don’t think they’re human,” “I recognize you. I’m the one who probed you,” “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Hairy fucking Ballsac himself!,” “I will not lose to a motherfucking werewolf!,” “It’s that dude!,” “Merry Christmas, bitches!,” The horror! The paperwork!,” and “See? This is why we can’t have nice things.”
Movie rating: 5.5/10.0
DVD Info
Audio/Visual Info: Another Wolfcop is presented in 1.78:1 Widescreen. It has Dolby Digital sound and an English subtitles option.
Special Features
-“The making of Another Wolfcop”: This is a short documentary on the making of the movie. I wish it was longer and had a more in-depth interview with writer/director Lowell Dean, but it’s decent for what it is.
-“Friends & Foes: Meet the Cast”: This is a series of interviews with the cast. This is slightly longer than the “making of” special feature.
-“The Monster Shop: Special FX”: A look at the special effects created by Emmerson Ziffle. This is pretty interesting. I definitely would have liked to see more about this aspect of the movie. Ziffle and his team are incredibly talented and create some nifty, gory special effects.
-“Shoot or Die: Surviving on Set”: This is sort of another look at the cast. This should have been included with the “Meet the Cast” special feature.
-“Barn Burner” music video by Shooting Guns”. I liked the song.
-Trailers for Wolfcop, Mayhem, All Cheerleaders Die, and A Christmas Horror Story.
