30 Day Horror Challenge: Day 4

Ah. The werewolf movie. There's not too much you can do with a basic werewolf story. People are basically turning into animals that usually kill things. Full moons are involved, but nothing that you'd see at a drunken frat party. Well, not in most films. I like a lot of werewolf films, but it's a sub-genre that has never really grabbed me. That may have something to do with a later post. Right now, let's get on with it.

Day 4: Your favorite werewolf film.

Bad Moon (1996)

Sometimes I will intentionally seek out bad horror films. I see a cheesy title and read a brief description and decide that the movie could be worth a laugh or two. Usually I'm right on the money with my first vibe. On rare occasions, a film will surprise me.

I saw this title in the cable movie listings a lot. Unless I've heard of the film, that's usually a bad sign. There are so many movie stations littering the landscape right now that they fill the time by showing bad movies. Ones that would dominate the horror section at your local, likely now vanished, video rental store.

I started watching this film and thought the story sounded familiar, but I think that about the majority of low budget werewolf movies. It turns out that an unfilmable book was turned into a movie. "THOR" by Wayne Smith provided the inspiration for this movie. I had read this book around 1993 or 1994. The reason why most people, myself included, thought that no one could make a decent film out of the story is that the majority of the book is told from the point of view of a dog named Thor.

I still think the book is far superior to the film, but the fact that someone was able to make a decent film out of the story is nothing short of remarkable. Mariel Hemingway does a decent job in her role and Michael Pare's performance as the uncle turned werewolf even impressed the author, who isn't shy in his dislike of some changes deemed necessary to bring the story to film. It was an engaging enough story to survive the translation to the screen somewhat unscathed, but after you're done with the movie, do yourself a favor and read the book for a truly unique view on the werewolf story.