Werewolves Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Werewolves Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker February 13, 2025

'Werewolves', a new horror-action film featuring a classic movie monster arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. The film stars Frank Grillo ('The Purge: Election Year'), and Katrina Law ('Spartacus (2010-2012', "Arrow (2014-2020') with Lou Diamond Phillips ('La Bamba', 'Young Guns') in a small but important role. Frequent action scenes and the extensive use of practical werewolf effects highlight the production. This release from Universal does not come with a slipcover, but a Digital Code redeemable through Movies Anywhere is included.

Werewolves opens with a series of title cards:

One year ago a supermoon
triggered a global event

Over a billion people were affected and violently
transformed into werewolves for an entire night

Tonight the supermoon returns

Intermixed with footage of Lou Diamond Phillips' Dr. Aranda, they work in tandem to quickly get viewers up to speed with the nature of the film's world. Frank Grillo's Wesly is busily working to fortify the home where his sister-in-law Lucy and niece Emma live to prepare for the global werewolf transformation event that will happen as the supermoon rises later that night. Pepper spray is rigged to deploy barbed-wire tops electrified fences, and windows are haphazardly boarded up. Momentarily disturbed in his work by a cocky, gun-enthusiast neighbor who is perhaps not taking the impending threat as seriously as he should, he finishes his work, makes sure his two, relatives are safe, and then goes to his place of work - a laboratory endeavoring to devise a cure to this pandemic characterized by fur, claws, and fangs. When the experiments fail to yield the desired results, Wesly and Amy (Katrina Law) frantically fight their way back across town as the plague of werewolves roams unchecked in a valiant attempt to return to Lucy and Emma's home to protect them for the remainder of the night.

The popularity of vampires may wax and wane, but certainly, since the 1990s they have rarely left television screens or movie theaters for long. From the literary-minded Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) to the comic book adaptation of Blade (1998), and romance-heavy Twilight film series to HBO's True Blood (2008-2014) television series they rise from the grave again and again, often with a different spin to refresh the concept. Just this past year, 2024's Nosferatu returned to the vampire's cinematic roots with a new interpretation of F. W. Murnau's 1922 classic. Vampires have been and continue to be well-represented.

Strangely, Frankenstein's monster has fared rather well, also. After the initial series of films from Universal, Hammer resurrected the monster (along with the Mummy and Dracula, for good measure) in a series of gothic horror films, most of which starred Peter Cushing who shared the screen with the likes of Kate O'Mara, Susan Denberg, and Madeline Smith. Mel Brooks would comedically dig into the monster in his Young Frankenstein (1974) with more serious treatments of the subject following in later decades. Though 1971's Lady Frankenstein starring Rosalba Neri was one of the best early examples of a female-centric Frankenstein tale, more recent entries include Lisa Frankenstein (2024) , and like Neri's film before it, the startlingly sexually frank Poor Things (2023) led by Emma Stone.

Werewolves are a different story. After the initial spate of Wolf Man movies from Universal, the creature has emerged from the mists every so often, but the films mostly failed to reach the popularity and cultural presence of vampires and Frankenstein's monster. Highlights certainly include a number of offerings from 1981, a heydey of sorts for the beasts, in films like Wolfen, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London. A few films from the 1990s and 2000s have also put their focus on the monster, but few are well-known outside the realm of dedicated horror fandom. As underutilized classic movie monsters go, werewolves seem a prime target for rediscovery.

Steven Miller's Werewolves attempts to take the monster in a different direction by increasing the number of beasts our heroes must face during the film's 93-minute runtime. As described above, one year ago over a billion people now suffer from the affliction of lycanthropy, but unlike those who transform with every full moon, these only become a threat during an annual supermoon. Making use of some easy numbers to understand the magnitude of this impact, one could assume that the world's population is approximately 8 billion, just to make the math simpler. With an event that turned 1 billion into werewolves in an instant, that's fully one-eighth of the world's population who will shapeshift during the supermoon's journey through the night sky. Assuming a completely even distribution, that would translate to approximately one million New Yorkers, 500,000 Los Angelinos, and roughly 400,000 Chicagoans, just to provide a bit of context. Basically, it's one werewolf in every other house, assuming each is home to a family of four. That's an amazing number of werewolves. Unfortunately, the math also highlights how the film's obviously small budget cannot support the overall vision for the project.

At these rates, there should be sizeable packs of the beasts roaming the streets, with numbers that should recreate scenes in zombie movies where hordes of the monsters fill the streets, overwhelming the unlucky or foolish few who venture out, and assaulting locations where the unafflicted seek to hide or defend their position. In Werewolves these hordes or packs of werewolves don't exist. As Wesley and Amy fight their way through the city to his family, they encounter werewolves most often singly or in pairs, but never really in groups larger than four or five, serving never to make the odds seem too insurmountable.

The budgetary constraints surface in other ways as well, most notably in the limited number of sets and the set elements as well. Lucy's home is relatively non-descript and sparsely appointed. Wesly's fortifications likewise seem rather cheaply cobbled together. The fence lining the perimeter of the property is relatively insubstantial and strangely hastily constructed, odd for an event that was easily predictable and had a one-year lead time. While boarding up the windows seems like a good idea, again it is inexpertly and cheaply done. The underground through which Wesly and Amy travel to limit their time on the streets is decked out with plastic sheeting and stylistic lighting choices in an attempt to create a sense of danger or otherworldliness. The streets themselves lack the type of set dressing one would expect to see when viewing a violence-ravaged thoroughfare, it being somehow too orderly, too lacking in debris, and, therefore, lacking realism.

Clearly, and rightfully so, the vast majority of the budget seems to have been funneled into crafting the film's practical creature effects, and it proves to be money well spent. Though the transformation scenes do utilize some digital trickery, once the werewolves are fully formed, they are clearly men in suits. The faces of the creatures are pleasantly expressive, with their growls accompanied by snarling lips and eyes narrow or widen to reflect their mood. Gaping fanged maws drip saliva or blood. The fur that covers their bodies looks suitably realistic, and hairless snouts and other body parts devoid of a furring covering look pleasingly fleshy. Adding to the danger, their large hands replete with massive claws rend flesh and other substances.

Frank Grillo, who receives top billing here, grimaces through every scene, a look of stern, humorless determination being his go-to character choice. The script does little to provide Grillo with opportunities to display his range, but he's completely capable of handling the physical demands of the role. His stature and comfort with the fight scenes make him a solid choice to lead an actioner such as Werewolves, and he possesses the qualities needed to believably best the furry beasts. I've been a fan of Katrina Law's since I first saw her Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010) and I'm always happy to see her turn up on the cast list. She does an excellent job in her scientific role here, also performing admirably when the werewolves are on the scene. Wonderfully expressive, she adds the needed emotion to the scenes she shares with Grillo, trading chores to Ilfenesh Hadera (Lucy) for her scenes with him.

Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Werewolves arrives on Blu-ray with an adequate if unremarkable 1080p presentation. Within the color palette of the film, skin tones look rather healthy unless negatively impacted by purposeful lighting choices. Fine detail is suitably high and is best appreciated when examining the film's titular creatures. Each strand of fur is defined and discernable and the costume elements worn by some of the werewolves present with tactile realism. Make- up elements are likewise on display, whether they be tastefully and reasonably applied as with Law and Hadera's characters or the chunkier and less expertly applied face paint that covers the face of Lucy's well-armed and bloodthirsty neighbor. Wood grain is plainly visible on set elements such as furniture and the boards used to cover windows and doors. Blood, was not as free-flowing as one might expect, is nicely viscous and deeply red. The largest obstacle the image has to overcome is self-inflicted. While I appreciate lens flares and similar effects from time to time Werewolves deploys them with a frequency I've not observed before. While the judicious use of lens flares can add a sense of realism and grit, how they're handled here simply feels distracting and amateurish.

Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sporting a rock solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, Werewolves wastes little time demonstrating the impact the track is intended to have. Bass is powerful and provides considerable depth to gunshots, growls, crashes, punches, and other acts of violence and destruction. After initially making it's presence known in the early scenes of the film, it consistently and impressively delivers whenever it needs to do so. Dialogue is typically front and center-focused and is always easy to understand. Viewers are often immersed in the mayhem with bullets, debris, or other objects flying about the sound field. Music is also handled quite well, with instrumentation being precisely rendered. It is a very enjoyable companion for the film.

Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While I would have loved to have seen a lengthy feature on the film's practical effects work and its development, nothing of the kind is on tap here. The on-disc supplemental material for Werewolves is limited to a small selection of deleted scenes. Several are small throwaway moments or brief comments that don't further the plot or deepen our understanding of the current situation. Only the last scene adds some additional helpful context but it isn't critical. The deleted scenes are as follows:

• Moonscreen (0.27) - The word "moonscreen" is the subject of this brief scene. The cut is unfortunate as it's Grillo's best comedic moment.

• Alpha (0.40) - The need to understand the werewolves is discussed.

• Turn on Purpose (0.46) - In this lab-bound scene, the notion of people purposefully turning into werewolves is mentioned.

• Always Ready (1.02) - Lucy and her daughter define their roles for the night. It's relatively redundant as a similar moment is included in the film.

• Entering the Underground (1.51) - Walter makes some brief social commentary as he leads Wesly and Amy into the underground.

• Downtime in the Bodega (1.45) - While stopping to catch their breath, Wesly and Amy talk about a failed experiment.

Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Werewolves puts its money where its fanged mouth is, visibly focusing the bulk of its budgetary dollars on crafting the best practical creature effects the creative team could. Admirably, this seems to have been done with the notion that if the monsters were done well, any of the film's shortcomings would be forgiven. And to a great extent, it's true. The monsters are the film's greatest asset, closely followed but Grillo and Law's work. While it's not in quite the same league as major studio efforts, fans of lower-budget horror and monster movies will find much to enjoy here. While the logic of the premise didn't quite hold up for me given the obvious budgetary constraints, a different approach was appreciated, and the film wastes no time getting to the guts of the action. For fans of 80s horror, practical effects, or Grillo and/or Law, Werewolves is recommended.