It’s that time of the month when the guys, girls and ghouls gather in the subterranean depths of London’s Horse Hospital. Here amongst the drainage canals that once ran red with the gore of bled beasts, we crack open a beer and settle back for a movie – Yes it’s the CUT! and tonight’s feature is Werewolf Rising. Awaaaaoooooooowl.
So bright young thing Emma (Melissa Carnell) returns to her childhood home in the backwoods of Arkansas. A recovering alcoholic she needs some time away from the city to get her head together, only convicted rapist Rhett (Bill Oberst Jr.) has escaped from prison with his cell mate Johnny Lee (Matt Copko) so hardly ideal for a bit of relaxing then. There’s no sign of Rhett just yet, but Johnny Lee turns up and Emma kind of likes him and invites him round for dinner as any girl would with a con on the run. When Johnny fails to arrive for their date, Emma gets on her quad bike and goes looking. She finds him in a pool of blood.
Johnny has been savaged by a wild beast, but thanks to Emma’s nursing he pulls through, but he develops a taste for raw meat and running around naked by the light of the full moon. Yeah, I think we know what Johnny has been bitten by and who the alpha beast will be. It’s enough to drive any girl back on the sauce.
This low budget shocker has a few well managed scares; the lycanthrope’s screen debut where we can only get a glimpse of a taloned paw is very well managed, but the movie soon degenerates into a series of episodes of Emma running around in the woods being chased by a bloke in a hairy onesie and a joke shop mask, punctuated by some hiding and whimpering in cupboards and a bit of rolling around on the ground while wrestling with a deep pile carpet.
On the minus side it does have some really annoying and loud sub-John Carpenter type incidental music and the dialogue and editing could have been a lot sharper.
That’s not to say it isn’t fun, but don’t expect too much from Werewolf Rising, Ginger Snaps or Dog Soldiers it isn’t. I give it a 333/666.
Werewolf Rising is released on DVD in the UK on 8 September.
Screenings at the CUT! include one free drink plus entry into a free draw to win all kinds of strange promotional stuff. Entry is free, but strictly limited. To get on the guest list e-mail billychainsaw@blackthorncommunications.com.
Review by Simon Ball
Connect with Simon: @RealShipsCook or here.
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