Bad Moon (1996)

nBad Moon (1996)

nDirector: Eric Red

nCast: Michael Pare, Mariel Hemingway

nWerewolf movies are a tricky bunch, same as the charactersnin these films, the werewolf film seems to be cursed at the box office wherenthey rarely make their money back. And I’m not talking about vampire films thatninclude werewolves like the Underworld and Twilight franchises, I’m talkingnabout films where the werewolf is the central character. Hell, even when theynare actually good they fail! For example The Wolfman (2010) starring Beniciondel Toro was an excellent werewolf movie in my book, yet it bombed horribly. Innfact, if we get down to it, there hasn’t been a true blue successful werewolfnfilm since An American Werewolf in London (1981) and The Howling (1981) rippedninto theaters and wowed everyone with their excellent make up effects. Maybenthat’s the reason why we haven’t had a successful werewolf movie. Nobody hasnbeen able to top what was done in An American Werewolf in London (1981) in termsnof makeup effects. But most of the time, werewolf movies simply aren’t thatngood. For example An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), made the mistake ofnreplacing practical transformation effects with bad CGI, plus the comedy angle justnfell flat. Of course, there have been exceptions. Teen Wolf (1985) made a heftynprofit, but that was because its budget was a measly 1.4 million and it starredn80’s ‘it’ boy Michael J. Fox. There was also Silver Bullet (1985), which madenits money back because it was based on a Stephen King novel. But putting thesenexceptions aside, werewolf movies are rarely successful. The film I’ll benreviewing today, Eric Red’s Bad Moon (1996), is a good example of the werewolfncurse. Was it one of the good ones?

nI’d say that it had potential, but failed to perform. Thenmain problem I had with Bad Moon is that it was too damn simple. A photonjournalist named Ted gets scratched by a werewolf while on an expedition in Nepal.nSadly, while Ted only gets a nasty scratch on his chest, his girlfriend getsnripped to shreds! When he returns to America, he lives an isolated life in thenmiddle of the forest, trying to forget it all. That is until his sister visitsnhim and tells him that he should move in with her for a while. He agrees, becausenhe comes to the conclusion that maybe family love might cure him from thenwerewolf curse, which of course makes no sense at all! You’re putting yournsister and her son in jeopardy! But whatever, I chalked it up to wishfulnthinking. Point is that his sister has a dog named Thor, and Thor detects Ted’snwerewolf condition. Um…there really isn’t much more to say about the plot becausenthere isn’t much conflict, a quality sorely missing in this film. We needednmore complexity to the story; the movie is just too damn simple. The thing isnthat the book on which the film is based, a novel called ‘Thor’ by Wayne Smith,nactually offered an innovative concept. It tells the story from the dogs’ pointnof view. Now I realize you can’t really make an entire movie that way, but Infind the director could have exploited this angle a bit more.

nSpeaking of the dog, he’s gotta be the cutest freakingnGerman Sheppard ever. ‘Primo’ (the dogs name in real life) steals the movienfrom Michael Pare and Mariel Hemingway who offer some of the most woodennperformances ever. There’s no chemistry between them whatsoever, the wholenbrother/sister thing was not played off in a convincing manner, and I normallyndig Michael Pare’s movies! If this was meant to be a movie about family, then theynshould at least have shown a strong familial bond, which just doesn’t happennhere. In a way, this movie was supposed to be like the Poltergeist franchise,nwhere family love is at the center of the whole thing. Sadly, Michael Pare’sncharacter Ted doesn’t even come off as likable. Which of course is a hugenmistake, we’re supposed to sympathize with the guy. Eric Red should havenemphasized Ted’s despair and anguish a bit more; we needed a scene or two ofnhim in true mental and emotional anguish, the director should have given usntime to warm up to Ted and his family. As you can see, we simply needed morencharacter development, we needed to complicate things. And it’s not as if theyndidn’t have any screen time to do it, the film only runs for a measly 80nminutes.

nWhat else ails this film? Well, the big draw with werewolfnfilms are the transformations, which should try and top everything that hasnbeen done before, or at the very least be good. Here’s the thing with Bad Moon,nthe werewolf looks cool and the creature itself was pulled off rather nicely,nwhen completely transformed the werewolf looks imposing, only a little woodennand robotic with its facial movements. Eric Red obviously wanted to build upnthe suspense with the creature because we don’t see a werewolf transformation untilnwe are way into the films third half. So we’re left expecting a cool werewolf transformation,nand we kind of get it. The practical side of it actually works, sadly, somebodyndecided to include a few scenes of the worst computer generated effects in thenworld, so we get this horrible morphing transformation, by the way, I’m reallynglad they don’t use morphing anymore! Morphing works on certain situations butnnot for hairy, muscle bound creatures like the werewolf. So yeah, morphing effectsnaside, the werewolf transformation isn’t all that bad. Also, the gore effects are actually quite good on this one, gotta give it that!

nEverything builds up tona confrontation between Thor and Ted. If this film was going to be centerednaround the whole Thor vs. Ted thing, they should have built up on that a littlenmore. Sadly, the film feels a little half assed, it could have been so muchnmore. I think the film simply didn’t embrace its strengths which is a sad thingnbecause usually, Eric Red makes fantastic films with strong performances. Casenin point, the script for The Hitcher (1986), which Eric Red wrote or Jeff Faheynin Body Parts (1991), which Eric Red both wrote and directed. Hell, Eric Rednwrote freaking Near Dark (1987), one of the best vampire films from the 80’s!nNow these are films with strong characters! This is the reason why I wasnstumped that Bad Moon had such weak characters! Normally this is Eric Red’s strength!nBut whatever, every filmmaker deserves a dud in his repertoire and Bad Moon wasnEric Reds. It’s worth a watch, it’s far from being the worst werewolf movie ever made, but it’s nothing memorable either.

nRating: 3 out of 5