An Intersection of Horror and Science Fiction

 If you consider the background of the stories from a certain angle, H.P. Lovecraft wrote science fiction rather than horror. The creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos, including Cthulhu himself were alien beings of unimaginable power, rather than gods or demons. The unknowable, and indifferently hostile cosmos behind his monsters is what ultimately created the bleak, existential horror of the stories, and as mankind uncovered the secrets of nature through science (because Lovecraft treated magic and science interchangeably), it unleashed forces beyond our control, and worse, often brought attention to us to predatory beings from beyond.

And that brings us to Intersect (2020). This is a very odd film. The opening scene takes place in the aftermath of .... something. The camera spins through a dizzyingly weird landscape of shadowy darkness and tendrils of blackness, as it zooms in on Dr Ryan Winrich (Jason Spisak) cradling the mortally wounded Dr Caitlin Webb (Leeann Dearing) and the two share a moment. 

Then we flash back to a few hours earlier, as the two lounge in bed together an discuss their relationship, and the project they are working on together. This is the first sign of the very odd narrative structure of this film. It is, in essence, told backwards, with pieces of it unfolding as you learn each step prior to the immediate one you re experiencing. In this first instance, we see Winrich discovers that someone has brought a bomb into the lab where he has been building a time machine at Miskatonic University. When he realizes Caitlin is in the lab, he races there and crosses the police line and heads to the lab. 

THEN, the film flashes further back, and we see the initial perfection of the Time Machine with input from a THIRD member of their team, Dr Nate Beaumont (Abe Ruthless). 

What unfolds is not exactly Lovecraftian at first. We see the three friends as inseparable throughout their lives, under the tutelage of kindly professor Bill Marshall. As each earlier segment unfolds, we learn more details. Unlike most traditional horror films, as you go along, MORE characters are added. We see the romance develop in reverse, from culmination of their story to their first meeting. We know ahead of time that their Bill has passed away, and then see the actual event later in the film. 

Its a difficult film to really understand because of this structure. For example, when we see the apparent death of Nate, in a drunkenly ill-advised test of the Time Machine, we can't really relate to it, although it obviously impacts Ryan and Caitlin deeply. Because we don't know their shared history yet... But we see it unfold through the rest of the film. Its only at the end that you understand what they have lost. This formula is repeated several times over the course of the movie. I have mixed feelings about its effectiveness, but it does leave you feeling a bit unsettled, which I suppose is sort of the point.

The initial scene seemed oddly out of place and confusing. What exactly was that weird black spiral? You see it is obviously connected to the "portal" which opens in their time travel experiments, but that seems to be about it.... at first. One very odd thing you see is a point when, as teenagers, Ryan and Caitlin are walking and turn down an alley, and see these odd, semi-organic looking pods sitting, inexplicably, in the alley ahead of them. They regard them silently for a few moments, and then casually suggest walking a different way, NEVER ADDRESSING THEM. This is a baffling moment, but its explained in a flash back further still, that this is NOT the first time they have encountered them. 

In fact, young Ryan encounters the pods, and their disturbing, spindly, monstrous occupants for the first time, mere moments before he meets Bill Marshall for the first time. Nor is it, apparently, the first time Bill has encountered them. Bill assures him that they are harmless, and just watch. 

Also you learn about a childhood bully of theirs, who, in the future, becomes a religious fanatic. You learn the final fate of Nate, who locates Ryan in his childhood with tragic results. He warns Ryan about 'The Watchers' before Ryan has any clue about them, implying that they are the ones manipulating him into the creation of the Time Machine. This is also where we start seeing a stronger Lovecraftian influence. A Weird, patient menace from somewhere outside of the known universe, manipulating our world for their own ends.

In the final scenes, we jump back to Ryan entering the lab to save Caitlin from the bomber in their midst, and we see the way the opening scene came about. However... 

However, AFTER that scene things become more confusing, as Ryan enters the portal himself, and .... ends up in a forest, where he finds the gift box Caitlin gave him as a child sitting inexplicably on a log. When he opens it there is simply a handwritten note inside saying 'Remember'... Ryan screams in anguish and seems to ... dissolve into black mist and finds himself in the portal again traveling.... somewhere? Some when? The entire ending is ambiguous. We see that the Watchers were coming though the portal before his initial jump. So... what happened to them? There was a point made earlier about the energy requirements needed to keep a time portal open for more than a few seconds.... so.... how is the portal remaining open now? 

There are some intriguing ideas here. The acting was surprisingly good and the production values were excellent for such a low budget film. There is a surprise cameo with Richard Dawkins, of all people, voicing the computer in the lab. However, the film is difficult to follow. Its ambitious in its approach, but I think most people will be turned off by the backwards storytelling. The Lovecraftian elements are minimal, and for the longest time, I wondered why they would set the film in the iconic Miskatonic University if they were not going to delve into the weirder side of Lovecraft's fiction. But, like most of Lovecraft's stories, the idea that literally everyone in the the film, from Ryan and his team, to his mentor Bill Marshall, to childhood bully Abner Rosen were manipulated by forces from outside the universe to the end we see them all come to. 

It didn't exactly land home, thought I can appreciate the effort.

Other films this week:

Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) - Apparently also known as "Night of the Eagle" this is a loose screen adaptation of Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife. This is a lesser known film about witchcraft, but really not a bad little film. Its tightly crafted, and the scene toward the end where the main character is pursued by a gigantic stone eagle is rather interesting. This film tries to capture the magic of Night of the Demon, but doesn't quite make it. But it has a similar atmosphere, and is certainly worth a look at if you're a fan of either Fritz Leiber or movies about Witchcraft.

The Blackout (2019) - This Russian film is a curious mixture of Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse, Zombies, and Alien Invasion. The basic idea is that an event takes place, and the entire world seems to fall into a blackout except for a small area of Eastern Europe. Anyone who ventures outside the area does not return. The movie follows a military expedition out of the area, and the meaning of the Blackout. It is surprisingly philosophical, but also, incredibly bleak.

Gamera Vs Jiger (1970) - A childhood favorite, watching it with adult eyes lays plain all its many flaws. This was the 6th of the Gamera films, and the costumes were starting to look a little rough. Daiei Films evidently didn't have the budget of rival studio Toho. It is shockingly gross in one scene, where a scientist shows a film to some reporters to illustrate what he believes has happened to Gamera, and shows them a video of the dissection of an elephant infested with parasitic worms. There are some surprisingly funny moments in the film, such as the father wearily identifying his daughter's crush in spite of her denial. This is one of the infamous entries where small children prove to me more effective than either the military or scientific community. The children in question steal a minisub and use it to sneak inside Gamera's body to locate the parasite growing in it. They receive a warning about traveling into his stomach where they will be dissolved by the digestive acids. Nice children's fare here! 

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) - I am not a basketball fan (and in fact I find it the most boring, pointless sport in the world next to golf), but as a Clevelander, I am legally bound by municipal ordinance to watch and report on any media involving LeBron James, so.... I watched this. The original Space Jam was a fun Looney Tunes romp, and this one tries to recapture the magic of it. It doesn't quite succeed for a few reason... First and foremost is LeBron James doesn't quite have the same charisma as Michael Jordan. Secondly though, the Looney Tunes themselves seem almost sidelined through the course of the film. Things play out exactly as you expect. There are no real surprises here. The humor misses more often than it hits.... And yet, it isn't all bad. Don Cheadle makes for an entertaining, if predictable villain. Cameos by real actors or sports personalities are minimal, but there are a LOT of cameos of other Warner Brothers properties in the background, making it a fun movie to watch whats going on behind the main action. Everything from King Kong to DC Superheroes to Harry Potter are represented. Naturally, the villains all seem to congregate behind the "evil" team's bench, and there is something funny about seeing Agent Smith from the Matrix cheering on the team next to Voldemort and The Mask (who, seemed a little out of place). Meanwhile King Kong, The Iron Giant, and Superman are cheering of the Looney Tunes team. And while the BIG stakes are the game are supposedly that the Looney Tunes will be erased from existence, its thrown in as such an afterthought, that it hardly seems consequential. The higher stakes of the game are more personal and actually provide a genuine heart to the movie, and that is that it brings Lebron James and his son together. And really... those are better stakes. It lacks the charm of the original Space Jam, and it doesn't even reach the heights of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but its not a bad all-ages film to waste a couple hours on.

An Unexpected Turn...

 One of the problems I run into is that sometimes its actually hard to find new films. that are interesting. And this is especially true in horror films. So, when I saw a Polish film named Werewolf (2018) I thought I knew what I'd be getting into. 

I was wrong.

The setting begins in a Nazi Concentration Camp in 1945. We see Nazi's executing prisoners and using vicious dogs to control them. Meanwhile, some child prisoners watch this, and when the Nazi's some in to check on them, they manage to distract them long enough until the Nazi's laugh and leave them. However, this is the end of the war, and so the children are liberated by the oncoming Russian Army... but largely left to their own devices. 

The children are brought to an abandoned mansion where they are to be cared for by a weary nurse until they can be returned to their homes from wherever they had been taken from. They are clearly all traumatized, and the war has devastated the entire area they are in. They have little by way of food or water. When they venture out into the grounds, they occasionally find bodies of soldiers... including one which appears to have been mauled by an animal.

The nurse soon becomes a victim herself, leaving only the oldest children in charge trying to keep them alive, they discover that the dogs from the prison camp they had been in have now formed a wild pack and they are laying siege to the children in the mansion.

It is a tense and bleak story, but not a supernatural one. The title recalls more the imaginations of children encountering something fearsome in the woods which is picking off the adults. It also calls to mind the plans of the Nazi's from after there war, with their Operation: Werewolf, which involved hiding loyalist partisans to terrorize and harass from secrecy. We also see that these children are almost feral themselves, only reclaiming their humanity again toward the end of the film. And finally, we see that one of the children is quite traumatized to the pain and horrific to the point where he secretly works against his peers out of jealousy... and learns the secret to command the formerly well trained guard dogs, thus implying that he is something of a werewolf in personality as well. There are many layers to the title.

Its a painful movie to watch, not out of gore, but because it is a chilling reminder of how horrible war is in its impact on innocents. It may not be about actual werewolves, but it is nevertheless, definitely a Horror film. 

The best scene in the film for me, is the very final one. The children finally emerge from their hiding place and move themselves out in search of food and water and safety again, complete with a new group of protectors

This film should NOT be mistaken for the 1996 film called Werewolf, which included such luminaries as Richard Lynch and Joe Estevez doing profoundly stupid things in the American Southwest. THAT particular Werewolf I recommend only watching the version riffed by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Its a personal favorite.

International Horrors!

 This weekend was all about foreign horror films, apparently. Back in the day, Saturday Afternoons and evenings would often bring the occasional foreign film, in the form of Hammer films from Britain or various Kaiju and Tokusatsu fare. It was only later, when I was able to take advantage of cable TV and video and DVD rentals, that I began to see more from other countries, such as Spain, Mexico, Italy, China, and Russia and Scandinavia.

One of the more vibrant genres I've discovered is Italian horror from the 1970s and 80s... which includes the subgenre known as 'giallo'. Its quite distinctive and unique, and seems to fuse together the sensibilities of American Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, with the splatter/slasher genre which came later in the 1980s and 90s.

There is a quality to American movies from the 1970s, especially in low budget horror genre films, which seems to try to follow a sort of "cinema verite" sort of sensibility. Everything is sort of grimy, dusty, and with an almost uniformly bland color palette used. It gives it a washed out quality, that, at least for me, sucks the vitality right out of the film. There is often a tendency to set films out in rural areas, deserts, swamps, and forests. Not so with Italian film, which revels in bright colors and often highly urbanized areas, or architecturally interesting buildings. 

For example, look at Dario Argento's 'Profondo Rosso', or 'Deep Red' from 1975. There is a scene early on in  the film where the here is in an ancient plaza in Rome, with an old fountain and statues.... and it is largely empty, EXCEPT, for the 50s style diner that is along one side of the plaza, which is done in shades of chrome and deep cobalt neon blue, which looks like it comes directly out of an Edward Hopper painting. Argento, in general, can be relied on to provide a bright and visually interesting film, but he is not alone.

Look no further than Mario Bava's 'Planet of the Vampires' (1965), which visually stunning and which influenced Ridley Scott's masterful 'Alien' in 1979. There is an artificiality which Bava acknowledges and embraces in his set design. Even without the story (which is pretty solid), Bava creates an atmosphere that unsettles the viewer, and makes the viewer uneasy. 

Also look to Bava's 1973 release 'Lisa and the Devil' which is stylishly filmed in an old villa, but with chic, modern furniture and fashions, and an unusual dream-like quality to the narrative, where everyone in the entire film seems to be artificially playing a role, like they are puppets going through the motions of life.... with the exception of Telly Savalas' butler character, Leandro. Leandro, however, may be the Devil himself, though he wouldn't admit it, unless it amused him. Leandro is the one character in the film who doesn't seem scripted in what he does... he drifts in and out with a manic sort of humor.

For other dream-like films, consider also Italian gore-master Lucio Fulci, who opted many times to forgo ordinary narrative techniques to explore suggestive visuals, and the end result is seen in such films as 'City of the Living Dead' (1980) and 'The Beyond' (1981) which often get criticized for being "disjointed" or "incoherent". While that is fair to say on a story level, stepping back and looking at the film entirely visually only, there IS a sort of cohesion. The Beyond, in particular, takes its protagonists from a very complacent, ordinary world, where they are simply restoring and repairing an old hotel, into an increasingly bizarre, supernatural half world, and finally divorces them from reality entirely in the final scenes as they move into a sort of Hell, or Purgatory where the laws of our reality no longer hold sway.

The other thing that sets these film apart are the graphic sex and violence. These are things which are central to the plots of most of these films. Take a look, for example, at Emilio Miraglio's 1971 film 'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave'. Sex and violence are, in fact, central to the plot. We see the main character, Lord Cunningham, as played by Anthony Steffen, in the opening scenes, bring a prostitute to a secluded tower on his estate, which turns out to be not only where he 'entertains' his mistresses, but also his private bondage dungeon. This character, ostensibly the 'hero' of the film, then proceeds to torture and murder his victims while he has them pose as his dead wife Evelyn. But, oddly, this is NOT the main plot of the story.... When he remarries, someone starts murdering people connected to him, and it seems to be the doing of his dead wife... and THAT is the main story. Bizarrely, the hero's own homicidal proclivities are just mostly ignored. 

Look also at Dario Argento's Tenebrae (1982), in which a killer targets people based on some sort of desire to punish 'moral deviants'. The death of a pair of lesbian prostitutes in one scene juxtaposes them wandering around the scene mostly naked before being violently dispatched with a straight razor... We see the deaths of cheating lovers in this, as well as shoplifters, and those accused of 'spying'. Petty offenses that the murderer judges worthy of execution. One of the final scenes is frankly shocking in it violence, gore, and, because this is Italian, the actual calculated BEAUTY of the scene. A woman sits by herself at a table in a stark white room. She is dressed in white, and anything else in the room is silver. She's holding a gun, anticipating the arrival of the murderer. The window next to her breaks and an axe wielded by the killer severs the arm holding the gun. In an American film of this era (Friday the 13th Part III came out the same year), you might see the limb get severed, but the rest of the scene would be lost in shadows. Not so in Tenebrae. The woman stands and the blood sprays from the stump of her arm, arcing across the bare white walls... the brilliant red contrasting with the white. The camera stays on here during this time, and there is also no DOUBT that this is a mortal wound. The actress credibly sells getting weaker and weaker as more blood pours out. Its HORRIFYING to watch. But visually, it is STUNNING, and it sort of leaves you wondering how they did it. Mind you, it is NOT a movie for the squeamish or faint of heart.

Anyhow... other films this week, with an International Flavor:

The Amazing Mr. Blunden - (Britain, 1972): A confusing film for children, involving both ghosts and time travel. Or possibly Time Traveling Ghosts. Its hard to say. It was a bit difficult to follow what was going on, and the denouement of the film is ... exciting, but not very satisfactory. Very little by way of explanation in this film makes sense. The acting is not even particularly good, and most of the characters are annoying. This might be fine for sensitive early teens and pre-teens, but overall, its a disappointing work, and worse yet, its a DULL one.

Your Vice is a Locked Room, and Only I Have the Key - (Italy, 1972): Oddly enough, this is a version of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat'.... but with a MORE than healthy dose of Italian sex and violence added into it. There are so many twists and turns in the last couple scenes, that it really only makes sense the last couple moments as they begin to kill off once conspirator after another, and you're left with the last person pulling the strings. My biggest problem with this film is the unlikability of pretty much every single character. Some start off promising, and then are revealed to be just as horrible and depraved as the others. Others seem likeable, and then are unceremoniously killed off. I had a hard time mustering sympathy for anyone except possibly the cat. 

And Now The Screaming Starts - (Britain, 1973): Amicus films was a slightly cut rate version of Hammer, but which still made effective horror films. Mainly known for their anthology films, this one was their one Feature Length effort. Its very much in the Hammer mold, as a Gothic period piece involving family secrets and curses. Peter Cushing arrives in the second half of the film to add a bit of dramatic weight to the piece, and Herbert Lom does what amounts to an extended cameo. Not a bad film, but its pacing is glacial.

The 8th Night - (South Korea, 2021): This is an engaging and action packed horror story about an ancient evil which has awakened, and one reclusive monk must stop it from reuniting with its mate. Its a pretty fun movie, and surprisingly tense in places. The demon needs to follow 'stepping stones' until it reaches its final destination, and the trick is that if you remove one of the stepping stones, it stops the demon... which sounds easy until you realize that the 'stepping stones' are in fact the people it must possess on its bloody mission, and the only way to 'remove' them is to kill them. So, it becomes a 3 way hunt, with the demon, the monk, and the police all searching for each other. The odd couple pairing of world weary Park Jin-soo with naive, happy young monk Cheong-seok leads to a lot of comedy. Actually the character of Cheong-seok is played rather endearingly by actor Nam Da-reum, who provides a lot of the laughs as the monk who has taken a vow of silence... but once the vow is broken, he simply won't shut up. Keep paying attention... there are secrets inside of secrets in this film, and it unfolds beautifully.... until a climax that makes me scratch my head and want to watch it again to figure out exactly what happened.

The Enchanting Phantom - (China, 2020): This is yet another version of the classic Chinese ghost story about the scholar and the ghost that has been filmed a number of time previously, most notably in the Tsui Hark production from 1987 called A Chinese Ghost Story. This is really a beautiful production, atmospheric and fun, and Eleanor Lee as Nie Xiaoqian is completely charming and lovely. However, if you've seen A Chinese Ghost Story, there are no real surprises here. I don't feel I wasted the time I watched this, but its all very familiar. Its fight scenes are not as hyperactive as those in the Tsui Hark version, but they are well done and satisfying. And one part to this I don't actually remember from the older version is the Coda, where the scholar Ning Cai Chen, having achieved his ambitions, is walking through a market some 20 years later, and encounters the reborn Nie Xiaoqian. Its a really sweet moment, and gives the opportunity for a long delayed happy ending. It reminded me in some ways of the ending of the animated Chinese Ghost Story from 1997. 

Queen of Spades - The Dark Rite - (Russia, 2016): This is an odd one....A Russian production that feels very much like a typical low budget American horror film. There are a few differences. Notably, the teenagers who unleash the evil Queen of Spades are ACTUALLY teenagers, and not "Hollywood teenagers"... you know, 20 or 30 year olds trying to pass for anywhere from 15-19. At least, they look it. This makes it perhaps a little more shocking when they start getting killed off. Another difference is that these kids are NOT left to fend for themselves, with actual adult caregivers trying to be supportive and helping them. The story holds together well, except for a few odd moments. I find it inexplicable, for example, when Valeriya Dmitrieva's character Katya seems to fall victim to the Queen, who has killed 2 other boys already. Then inexplicably, she shows up again, with no explanation as to what actually happened or why she isn't dead. But this is minor. Overall, its as effective as any low budget Hollywood horror film.

Queen of Black Magic - (Indonesia, 1981): I wasn't sure what to make of this one. However it proved more interesting than I thought. The setting is a small Indonesian village where an important man is getting married, much to the dismay of his jilted lover Murni. However, when weird supernatural events disrupt the proceedings, the locals are quick to decide Murni is a witch and attack her. Murni is left for dead, and she's rescued by a real witch who teaches her how to use magic to exact her revenge. Meanwhile, a young man who is a devout Muslim has returned to the village and sets about trying to restore the faith of the inhabitants. Its actually pretty interesting to watch. The actress playing Murni is named Suzzanna, and she turns in a remarkably nuanced role, where she ranges from weak and ineffectual to confident, sexy, and dangerous. Her internal conflicts are effectively portrayed, and the ending comes with a bit of a twist that I wasn't really expecting, and which, while not earth shattering, did create something of an effective ending with some closure not just for Murni, but the village as well. Its worth a look.

Werewolves on my mind

 So, among the films of this last week was somewhat generic werewolf movie, that nevertheless had some points of interest to it. When I was growing up, there seemed to be a limited number of werewolf movies that got shown. Typically you'd see Universal's The Wolf Man (1941) most regularly, and occasionally, the Werewolf of London (1935) or I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957). On the evening movies I seem to remember Hammer's Curse of the Werewolf (1961), and I have vague memories of Moon of the Wolf (1972) as a TV movie of the Week, and at some point I remember staying up late to see The Werewolf of Washington (1973). But overall, werewolves were scarce. Later on I would discover more, such as the enormously fun The Beast Must Die! (1974) or the largely forgotten Cry of the Werewolf (1944) with Nina Foch, or Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky movies from Spain (1967 -2004).

An American Werewolf in London (1981) and The Howling (1981) seemed to bring werewolves back into the spotlight, and of those two, I always preferred The Howling. People around me always raved about An American Werewolf in London, and while I can appreciate Rick Baker's creature design and the groundbreaking transformation sequence, the film itself always seemed to have very little story or plot, and the humor just really failed to engage me. 

More recently still there have been other interesting takes on the Werewolf, with things like the Ginger Snaps series (2000 - 2004) reinventing the subtext of the werewolf story, or films like Silver Bullet (1985) and Late Phases (2014)examining lycanthropy from the perspective of other physical disabilities. Dog Soldiers (2002) finally answered the question as to who would win in a fight between werewolves and heavily armed and well-trained and disciplined soldiers in a tense, funny, and high energy piece that belongs on every werewolf fan's shelf. 

But for every one of those, there are ones that slip between the cracks, and this week's werewolf films were of those varieties; Bad Moon (1996) and Werewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012).

Both of these films are somewhat low budget, forgettable pieces, but they have points of interest. Of the two, Werewolf: The Beast Among Us is the fluffier movie, placing a werewolf mystery into a steampunk Victorian setting not unlike the disappointing Van Helsing (2004). Say what you will though, it gives a nice visual aesthetic if nothing else. Apparently, Europe in this film universe is overrun by enough lycanthropes to warrant the need for wandering bands of werewolf hunters living off the bounties their prey brings. Lets face it, that's a LOT of werewolves. It upends the usual mythology of using werewolves as the servants of vampires, and has the victims of werewolves rise as zombie-like undead known as wurdelacs. Wurdelacs may, or may not, evolve into something more akin to the traditional vampire, but which are immune to sunlight. Its an interesting take on monster ecology, really. The actors are largely one note, but they are competent enough, and though the "mystery" of the piece is solved a bit early, its got enough twist remaining to keep it interesting. Its a fine popcorn flick, and a good way to while away a couple hours.

The other film, Bad Moon, is a more traditional movie in a lot of ways, with some solid B-list actors in its cast. Its headed by Mariel Hemingway and Michael Pare. Pare in particular has been in some favorite B-Movies, ranging from Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) to genre pieces like The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) and Moon 44 (1990). Its not really a spoiler to let you know that Michael Pare's character is infected by a werewolf in the opening scene, and the film unfolds from there. There isn't much mystery in this piece, and in a lot of ways, its a predictable story. What makes it more interesting is that Pare's main nemesis in the film is NOT Mariel Hemingway (who plays his character's sister) but rather her dog, Thor. Of all the characters in the film, Thor is the one who is instantly aware of the werewolf in their midst, and does what he can to protect his family from it. However, being a dog, it can't exactly point out the monster or explain its actions, and so it becomes a sort of odd battle of wills between Thor and Pare. Its an unusual choice, and one I can respect. 

What I also respect is Pare's performance here. His character, Ted Hamilton, comes across as uneven... sometimes seeming to fight against the lycanthropic curse, and other times, seeming to willingly give in to it. This uneven response must have made it difficult for Pare as an actor to understand his motivations. They seem to shift from scene to scene. So... at one point, Ted is crying about his curse, and in the next scene, he seems to be subtly menacing and carefully choosing his next victim. Or, later, after successfully framing the dog Thor for an attack, he watches with satisfaction as animal control takes the dog away, even mockingly waving goodbye to the dog when no one is looking... but in the next scene he's trying to chain himself to a tree to prevent himself from attacking the family now that their protector is gone. 

Werewolf movies typically depict the curse as either being something that the victim of is ALWAYS at odds with, or that they have totally given themselves over to the evil nature of the curse... but this is one of the few films I think that show the gradual corruption of the victim. Ted Hamilton is a good man, but he is slowly losing the battle against his cursed nature, and we are seeing his last, desperate attempts to rally his good side, but we also see him willingly giving in to the evil as well. When Pare is onscreen in this film, your attention is on HIM. It works in an odd way that really shouldn't. Its a subtle split personality performance in a place you wouldn't necessarily expect. Its not a major film, but you could do worse.

If you're still looking for werewolf films and the ones I've mentioned in this article aren't enough for you, take a look at Howl (2015), Cursed (2005), The Beast of Bray Road (2005), and for the romantics in you, Blood and Chocolate (2007).