13Hrs (2010)

A British Werewolf film starring Isabella Calthorpe, Gemma Atkinson and Tom Felton, it starts in a lonely farmhouse when Isabella Calthorpe playing Sarah Tyler returns home and links up with her two brothers and her best friend played by Gemma Atkinson who is now going out with her brother. They head from the party in the barn where they are drinking and smoking and head back to the house, when the power goes out and as they are trying to see what has happened they discover that there is a wild animal in the house and it then starts picking them off one by one.

The further away from the film I am the better I think it was this, is a good thing as my initial reaction was one of not very good. As I am thinking about it I really have a better opinion of it. You follow a fairly interesting cast as you have Tom Felton, famous from all of the Harry Potter films and it is good to see him in a totally different role and you can see some of his skills coming through. Gemma Atkinson, of men’s magazine fame and Hollyoaks is actually playing not to bad a character. Yes overall there are weaknesses, the acting is not great and the story is a bit clunky but overall the ending if you are paying attention is quite clever and you have a bit of an epiphany at the end that shows they were thinking about the whole thing.


Overall not a great film but then the low budget shows and really it has some interesting ideas that show hope for the future from the actors and the writes and directors, overall 6 out of 10, up from an original 4 out of 10.

Ginger Snaps (2000)

The Canadian Werewolf film from director John Fawcett and writer Karen Walton you follow Brigitte and Ginger, sisters played by Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle respectively. This film explores females reaching puberty and getting the curse and uses Lycanthropy as a metaphor on how girls may feel like when they already feel like outsiders. The film starts with Ginger being attacked in the neighbourhood and follows the girls as they try to figure out what is happening to them both as they get older and Ginger as she starts to change.


I had heard many great things about this film stating that it was the greatest werewolf film ever, while I found it entertaining and enjoyable it was not the greatest film ever. I wonder if part of my issue was hype and expectation? The film is low budget and I had a few issues with the creature effects especially later in the film, try a bit more tell don't show would have been appropriate for this film. The girls are fine and you feel the pain of Brigitte as Ginger starts to explore her changes and joins a different circle of friends.


Overall an enjoyable film and worth seeing, I give this film 6 out of 10 and say that it is well worth seeing, especially if you are in to the genre of horror or lower budget films.

The Company of Wolves (1984)

Film of 2012 #38

A film that was recommended to me as it was on TV and being about Wolves I thought that it was worth a look. With Angela Lansbury as Granny speaking to Rosaleen played by Sarah Paterson about the things to watch out for in the woods and she tells stories. I have to say that this clearly draws on the Red Riding Hood mythos and it completely lost me as to what was happening and what the whole point of the film actually was. You start in modern times and you see a sister taunting a little sister who appears to be a sleep and you seem to jump to a dream scene and I got very confused about what was going on.

The stories in themselves were very basic if actually a bit pointless and I seem to have missed something very important about this film which means that I had no enjoyment in it whatsoever. It is clearly about werewolves and it is very dreamy and at times not very coherent, a bit like this review. The acting was fine Angela Lansbury is a funny actress as she has seemed to be old forever and I always find it funny to see her in films as i best know her for Murder She Wrote. The acting and effects are fairly effective in some of the scenes, to me there is just something wrong with the story.

I am going to give this another try and watch it again in the future, will see if this makes any more sense and is really worth a watch but after this first view it is a 1 star avoid, let me know if you have seen it and liked it I am possibly wrong in my opinion.

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Film of 2012 #4
Spoilers

Finally got a chance to see this film, however I was not actually that bothered about seeing the Wolf film from the director of Twilight based upon a simple Fairy tale. Amanda Seyfried plays Red who has a Grandmother in the woods and their village is haunted by a Werewolf that everybody knows about but lives with it until it goes to far and kills a young girl.

Now it plays very strong on fairly tales with some interesting homages including the Oh Grandma what Big Eyes you have, one of the main characters is called Peter, I just kept thinking of Peter and the Wolf while it was on. Overall this is not terrible but again it is not captivating, they try and create suspense around who is the Wolf and so many red herrings I was pretty sure i figured it out and I had.

And the promise you won't tell anyone was followed by that person telling everyone so blatent and obvious it was happy when it was over. You get some good performances from Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman has a bit part and I was surprised at where his character ended up. This is not worth seeing unless you catch it on TV or are interested to see anything to do with Werewolves, a 2 star film for me.