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The Good and Bad of Werewolves
Image Credit: Briarcliff Entertainment
The Good and Bad of Werewolves
Werewolves, directed by Steven C. Miller, is a low-budget sci-fi action horror flick that played in movie theaters back in December of 2024. Starring the great Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, and featuring Lou Diamond Phillips, Werewolves takes place in a world where, during a super-moon (a full moon that’s also close to Earth), one billion people somehow turned into werewolves. One year later, during another super-moon, no one has come up with an explanation as to why the whole werewolf thing happened outside of people having a gene that can be activated by the super-moon, but what’s special about that gene? The government has concocted a strategy to try to research it. Led by Dr. Aranda (Lou Diamond Phillips), the government hopes to figure out how that gene turns people into werewolves. Wesley Marshall (Frank Grillo) and Amy Chen (Katrina Law) are scientists helping with the effort.
Now, before the super moon event actually happens, people all over are encouraged to prepare their homes for what will happen once the super moon appears at night. We see Wesley booby trapping his front yard, while also putting the final touches on a video surveillance system. Wesley hopes to keep his sister-in-law Lucy (Illfenesh Hadera) and his niece Emma (Kamdynn Gary) safe from the werewolves that he knows will appear. Once the werewolves appear, they hunt and attack people.
As far as the research shows, the only way to not become a werewolf is to stay out of the moonlight. The research has also led to the creation of an injectable serum, called “moonscreen,” that, when used, will block the effects of moonlight, but it doesn’t last all that long. The research that will happen once the super moon appears will, hopefully, help figure out how to make the moonscreen work longer. Another part of the research will involve examining people that turned into werewolves last year and survived the experience.
So the super moon appears, the research begins, and everything turns to shit very quickly. Multiple people doing the research end up turning into werewolves, major chaos begins, and suddenly Wesley and Amy are in major danger. They gear up with body armor and some guns, inject themselves with some serum, and head out into the world to try to find safety as the lab area has been completely destroyed. Wesley wants to try to get back to his house, as he knows that place is generally safe. But will he? Can Wesley and Amy survive the violent onslaught of the werewolves that are, once again, everywhere? That, essentially, is the plot to Werewolves.
And so, what’s good and what’s bad about Werewolves?
Warning: this review contains spoilers
The Good
–Frank Grillo is in it: I’ve been a big fan of Grillo since his turn as Leo Barnes in The Purge: Anarchy (2014) and The Purge: Election Year (2016), so I was stoked when I found out that Grillo was the star of Werewolves. I knew that, if nothing else worked in the movie, at least we’d likely get a solid performance from Grillo because Grillo never phones it in. Even if the movie he’s in is lame as hell (I’m looking at you, 2019’s Into the Ashes), at least he tries with what he’s given to do. I don’t think Werewolves would work at all without Grillo’s participation. Grillo’s Wesley Marshall is both a supreme badass and a deeply sensitive family man, and you completely believe him as both at the same time. Grillo also manages to make you believe that he’s a scientist that can help with the super-moon problem. When was the last time he got to play a character that was, in any way whatsoever, an intellectual? Damned if I know.
When the action part of the story kicks in, Grillo is on his game and makes you believe that he knows what’s going on and what his Wesley Marshall has to do now that the big research plan has gone to shit. You, the audience, may not get what’s going on (more on that later), but you know/suspect that Wesley likely does. He obviously isn’t just wandering around.
The low-budget genre cinema world needs guys like Frank Grillo to keep working and doing things, both in movies that get released in actual movie theaters, and in direct-to-video/direct-to-streaming stuff. He really is one of the best going at the moment. We can’t lose sight of that fact.
–Katrina Law does a nice job: The great Katrina Law, who seems to move back and forth between TV and movies, as well as genre stuff (like 2017’s Darkness Rising, her turn on the DC show Arrow, as well as the Hawaii Five-O reboot) and things like Hallmark Channel Christmas movies (I loved her in 2020’s Christmas with the Darlings and 2013’s Snow Bride), really does a nice job as scientist Amy Chen. Just like Grillo, Law manages to be both a badass and a sensitive human being, and she’s a terrific partner for Grillo, running through the night, avoiding the super-moon and werewolves and whatever else comes up. I am not enthused with what happens to her character (I won’t spoil exactly what happens but Amy isn’t around at the end of the movie), but I guess there’s always a chance that, if some sort of sequel is ever considered, they could bring Amy back somehow.
Look, I know it’s all about “upping the dramatic stakes” and all that, but there is no reason why Amy couldn’t have survived until the end. Why not have her help Wesley with his sister-in-law? Why couldn’t that have happened?
I think it would be fantastic if Law got a chance to show up in more low-budget genre flicks like Werewolves. Heck, why not have Law and Grillo do a few more movies together as different characters? I don’t think anyone would complain about that. I know I wouldn’t.
–It’s cool to see Lou Diamond Phillips in a genre movie again: The great Lou Diamond Phillips doesn’t seem to get much in the way of genre movie parts anymore. Based on his IMDB page, LDP is always doing something. He’s been in movies, he’s done a bunch of TV shows, and he’s apparently doing voice work, too. But when is the last time LDP did something like The First Power (1990) or the Young Guns movies or Extreme Justice (1993), or even something like Route 666 (2001)? It’s been a while. And while LDP isn’t in Werewolves all that long, it’s still great and cool to see him appear in it. His Dr. Aranda character, a lead scientist/researcher in the search to understand the whole werewolf problem, is clearly a guy that wants to get to the bottom of the problem because he wants to save the world. You can’t hate a guy for trying to do something like that, especially when you realize that people are turning into goddamn werewolves for some unknown reason.
I would like to know what the heck happened to Dr. Aranda. Did he survive? He turns into a werewolf and participates in the destruction of the lab he’s working in (at least I think that’s what happens with him), so then what happens next? Did I miss something incredibly important with Dr. Aranda? Does the movie actually explain/show what happens to him?
–The werewolves look good and nasty: Werewolf movies tend to live and die based on their werewolves, and I’m happy to say that the werewolves in Werewolves look fantastic. They’re big and nasty, they look and act ferocious, and it looks like they’re mostly practical monsters. I didn’t see all that much in the way of CGI, outside of the transformation scenes. I’m going to assume that doing the transformation sequences via CGI was somehow cheaper than doing a full on practical transformation. But when we see the full on werewolves in action as werewolves? It appears to all be practical. And, man, you don’t want to run into these creatures anywhere. They will get you (because, let’s face it, we’re not all Frank Grillo).
–The big machine gun scene: There’s a sequence where Grillo’s Wesley character uses a gigantic machine gun to take out multiple monsters while saving Law’s Chen. And it’s amazing, because it’s Frank Grillo using a gigantic goddamn machine gun. It’s in the trailer. I’m shocked it isn’t on the movie poster or DVD cover. It’s a damn shame that there’s only one scene in the movie where Wesley uses a gigantic machine gun. If there had been more use of the gun or something similar, it certainly would have made Wesley’s trip back to his house easier and less dangerous.
The Bad
–The movie feels like a sequel to a movie that was never made: When Werewolves begins, it tries to set up its plot very quickly as the movie clearly wants to get to its main story quickly. The movie wants us to see star Frank Grillo being a badass while booby-trapping his house, for the shit to hit the fan, for the werewolves to appear, and for Grillo and Law to start fighting the werewolves. But as all of this stuff happens, it really feels like there’s another movie that we should have watched to understand why the bad stuff that’s going to happen is bad. The problem is, that movie was never made. Werewolves is the only Werewolves movie we have.
So, why the heck didn’t director Miller and company make the backstory of Werewolves first? Why not see the world completely fall apart in one night because one billion people apparently became werewolves? I mean, yeah, doing that story first sure seems like a zombie movie without zombies in it, but so what? If that had happened, we could experience what happens alongside the characters and the world. Sometimes, starting at the beginning is warranted. People suddenly turning into werewolves is a terrifying idea. That really should have been the first story.
–The plot makes no sense: You would think that, if one billion people all over the world suddenly turned into werewolves, there would be widespread, worldwide damage. Untold millions would likely either be dead or seriously injured. There would be social and economic upheaval like no one has ever seen. People suddenly turning into werewolves would might as well be the end of the world. Even if it only went on for one night and things went back to normal in the morning or whatever, the after effects would be beyond devastating. How the hell did the world get back to a sort of normal in the ensuing year?
There’s no way that would happen. Absolutely no way. People turned into fucking werewolves. Werewolves!
They really should have made the “beginning” movie first to set the whole thing up. If that had happened, the Werewolves that we have would play better and make more sense. As it exists now, Werewolves is way too confusing for its own good and makes absolutely no sense.
–Not enough Lou Diamond Phillips: As I said earlier, I have no idea what happens to LDP’s Dr. Aranda. He becomes a werewolf, yes, and the lab he’s working in gets destroyed. But then what happens? Does he get killed in the ensuing werewolf violence? Does he essentially disappear into the night, in the hopes that he will pop up in a Werewolves sequel? Just what the heck is going on here with Dr. Aranda?
–The stuff at Wesley’s house involving his sister-in-law and niece is underdeveloped: As we see Wesley and Amy try to get to Wesley’s house, we get to see Wesley’s sister-in-law Lucy (Ilfenesh Hadera) and his niece Emma (Kamdynn Gary) deal with the growing werewolf menace outside. Lucy and Emma are alone, and while they have a gun and all sorts of cameras and sensors and whatnot to protect themselves, you know it’s only a matter of time before bad stuff is going to happen to them. It’s only a matter of time.
So, when the bad stuff starts to happens, it plays out exactly like you expect it to. Emma is terrified because she’s a kid, and Lucy is clearly in over her head. Will Lucy be able to calm Emma down and wait for either the night to be over or for Wesley to arrive to save the day? You would think this stuff would be scary and compelling. It isn’t. You like Lucy and Emma. You don’t want them attacked. But you also wish the movie narrative would get back to what Wesley is doing because what he’s doing is somehow more interesting. It shouldn’t necessarily be that way. You’d think the house siege and the race against time to get to the house would be equally as interesting and equally interesting. Again, it isn’t.
–The movie just ends: Wesley gets back to his house and ends up turning into a werewolf so he can fight off his weird as hell neighbor Cody (James Michael Cummings). Cody is the main werewolf that’s been attacking Wesley’s house and trying to kill Lucy and Emma. We suspect that Cody is going to be a big problem for everyone because of the way he acts in the run up to super-moon. Wesley clearly doesn’t like him. So werewolf Wesley fights werewolf Cody and beats him. Wesley then reunites with Lucy and Emma in the very final scene, and the movie ends. It just ends.
What? Why the hell is this movie just ending? Why don’t we get a news report about the aftermath of the second super-moon event? Why don’t we get a better final flourish with Wesley and his family together again? Why don’t we see some werewolves turn back into humans? Werewolves just freaking ends. Why?
Werewolves just ending is terrible. There needs to be more to the ending. Way more. Way, way more.
Conclusion
Werewolves is a great idea, and it looks cool and fabulous. It has all of the tools to be a good sci-fi action horror movie. It isn’t, though. At best, Werewolves is serviceable enough. It’s watchable, if you’re in the mood for a movie that makes no sense and doesn’t really ever try to make sense. It’s also a good Frank Grillo performance. I don’t think for one second that he understands what the hell is happening, but he’s committed to making the best of things. The man has more than enough charisma to keep you watching. Katrina Law, too. And the werewolves themselves are scary and nasty. But the movie makes no sense. At all. And that’s a huge problem. A real deal B-movie that gets a theatrical release should strive to make sense and actively be a better movie. Werewolves, in the end, is just not very good.
And yet, I don’t hate it. I can’t hate it. Even with its myriad problems, I still kind of like Werewolves. It doesn’t work out, but I like that it tried to do and be something. I like that someone put Frank Grillo in a movie where he plays a badass that has to fight werewolves. That fact is cool.
I just wanted a better movie. Werewolves should be a better movie.
If you’re a Grillo fan, a Lou Diamond Phillips fan, or a Katrina Law fan, Werewolves is something you’re going to want to see. If you’re a fan of werewolf movies, Werewolves is worth seeing for the werewolf lore and the special effects. I don’t know if anyone else necessarily needs to see Werewolves. Again, I kind of like the movie. But I also know and grasp that, in the end, Werewolves isn’t great. It should be. It shouldn’t be, at best, serviceable. It should be much, much more.
Werewolves should be awesome. Should be.
Phooey.
Rating: 6.0/10.0
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