At a recent horror convention in my area (the Morgue & Krypt Horror Fest) I managed to find lots of good stuff. One of these was a blue-ray of a film called Mark of the Werewolf, being promoted by some of the team and actors that made it. I pretty much bought this sight unseen, because my thought is: the best case scenario is this will be genuinely entertaining to watch, and worst case I figure I could be the proud owner of an amateur film, the likes of which often makes its way on to the Red Letter Media show.
Well, first off: this was kind of a fun movie to watch! Maybe my recent ordeal with The Old Ones has tempered my expectation, but honestly? Mark of the Werewolf, while very rough in many ways, is a markedly better film than The Old Ones. It helps that I feel like the writer, director and producer, Dennis Vincent, who also plays himself in the movie, is aware of the fact that he is making a sort of goofy, campy film that aspires to be more of an homage to the 80's era of low budget filmmaking more than anything else. Like Yellow Brick Road, it is also carried on the weight of its actors' shoulders; no one here is "good" as such, but they all manage to outdo themselves in roles befitting a schlocky, campy 80's style horror film. The "Vinny" character (basically a guy doing a Joe Pesci impersonation) is especially amusing and on the mark for the "character vs. caricature" nature of the roles, but its very on the mark and lends to the film's self-awareness.
The premise of the movie is pretty simple. Brooke, an aspiring model and wannabe actress, convinces Dennis Vincent (who appears at the beginning as a film maker with a penchant for gory FX) to let her go to remote cabin in the woods with her friends and the "Vinny" photographer. Unbeknownst to her, the house in the woods is haunted by a woman who is part of a werewolf cult that is keen on the property but mad its been turned into an airbnb, and she is instructed by the cult leader to summon the Wolfgeist, a prominently features giant werewolf suit that is clearly a labor of love. Murder and mayhem ensues!
The movie has some strong points and weak points. Strong points include the rather impressive use of a vibrant color palette, which you might not ordinarily think was a good idea in a horror movie, but I can tell there's some inspiration from the Evil Dead franchise, and the use of stark reds, yellows, blues and oranges actually creates a really interesting look that remind me a bit of Creepshow, giving it an almost comic book-like aesthetic.
Another strong point is that the gore FX are rather proficient, and generally look good. The werewolf is pretty decent, albeit in a very "classic movie monster" kind of way, and maybe is a bit too on-camera too much for its own good; if it were use more sparingly I think it would have worked better.
I wouldn't count the story as a weak point because this film knows what it is and efficiently gets to the point. It's aiming for campy, goofy spooky movie feel and it pulls it off well.
The movie fails a bit in the direction of the scenes. It vacillates between great establishing shots and then we get surprisingly unexciting "killed by the werewolf" moments. This shift in quality is quite odd.
Overall, this is a pretty fun movie. It is the kind of thing you might put on the big screen TV during a Halloween party for the crowd to enjoy, and I could see having fun with this movie as a thing to pull out each year to watch with like-minded purveyors of campy, low-budget amateur horror. A solid B+! Unfortunately I have no idea how or where you can watch this movie. Hopefully it will get a streaming release soon, maybe on Shudder or Tubi or something. That, or keep an eye out at your local convention where this sort of movie might get represented!
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