Werewolves (2024) review

Dir. Steven C. Miller

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★½

On paper, werewolves are a slam-dunk for any sci-fi/horror hybrid. The very thought of the creatures of the night terrorizing a town or, in the case of Steven C. Miller’s Werewolves, the world is liable to get one restless at the thought of the carnage. Even familiar narrative territory would be acceptable if the characters are compelling and the action is delightful and bloody.

Alas, Werewolves is a B-movie where the “B” stands for “bad,” or at best, “below average.” Visually drab, lifelessly plotted, and recalling The Purge without half the budget and intrigue, this is a hairbrained effort that is so consumed by its own seriousness that it forget that its primary objective was to be entertaining.

Frank Grillo is Dr. Wesley Marshall, who works for the CDC, which is in the middle of studying a new werewolf phenomenon. The goal is to create an antidote for a rapidly spreading virus that turns people into the creatures. Humans begin the transformation process once they look at the moon. A controlled experiment involving humans brave enough to look at the moon goes horribly wrong, and results in an all-out werewolf epidemic all across the region.

Wes winds up caring for his late brother’s wife (Ilfenesh Hadera) and daughter (Kamdynn Gary), but must find a way to keep them safe while fighting back against a society that’s rapidly transforming into seemingly unstoppable creatures thanks to the presence of a supermoon. Wes’ next door neighbor is a survivalist gun-nut, who paints his face red, white, and blue in anticipation of the supermoon appearing. 20 years ago, he would be an-impossible-to-believe caricature. These days, he’s probably not unlike your neighbor or relative.

Beyond an ugly visual palette defined by inky blues and blacks, Werewolves fails to establish any clear-cut world-building. The plot, coupled with Grillo’s presence, recalls The Purge series and the coast-to-coast madness that ensued when all crime was legalized and emergency services were suspended for 24 hours. It’s similar right down to Matthew Kennedy’s script doubling-down on the problem with the first film in the series in delighting us with a full-course meal only hardly to give us an appetizer. Werewolves doesn’t spend any time getting us reacclimated to a society that’s been overrun by werewolves. It doesn’t detail the experiences of residents trying to avoid moonlight, or those crazy enough to want to turn into a werewolf.

Miller and Kennedy’s focus winds up being narrow, revolving exclusively around Wes’ stoic personality and his efforts to reunite with his relatives amidst the werewolf outbreak. There’s no sense of world-building. We never get a good look at a city/country devastated by chaos and carnage. Like the first Purge movie, we are tantalized by possibilities before we find ourselves confined on the small scale.

The story is rife with “zombie outbreak but with werewolves” overtones, but Werewolves is disappointingly content with being a paint-by-numbers thriller.

Starring: Frank Grillo, Ilfenesh Hadera, Katrina Law, James Michael Cummings, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Kamdynn Gary. Directed by: Steven C. Miller.