Werewolf Rising (DVD)
Starring Bill Oberst, Jr., Melissa Cornell, Matt Copko, Brian Berry, Danielle Lozeau, Irena Murphy
Written and directed by BC Furtney
Distributed by RLJ/Image Entertainment
Werewolf Rising… where to begin.
To start with the positives, the filmmakers made a great move in casting Bill Oberst, Jr., to play the role of prison escapee Rhett. Also, Melissa Cornell in the female lead of Emma was another decent casting move. But that was their last one. Additionally, the werewolf used in the movie probably wouldn’t have gotten the F/X artists voted off of “Face/Off,” but it probably wouldn’t be able to win a week on the show either.
Written and directed by BC Furtney, the story behind Werewolf Rising would have probably made for a decent 15-minute short film. However, the idea of dragging the thing out over an approximately 80-minute run time leaves for a lot of dead space that needs to be filled. And, aside from Oberst’s time on-screen and a couple of unique camera angles and landscape shots, the filmmakers behind Werewolf Rising struggled to put much quality into the key moments of the movie, forget about filling in dead space.
Oberst only appears in the movie for about 10 minutes, but they are 10 solid minutes. As usual, he is completely out of his mind and fantastic to watch. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing about this picture that was entertaining for the reason intended. However, that’s not to say there aren’t some other things you might not enjoy, but it’s more out of ineptitude than planning. Brian Berry plays Wayne, and the drunker the character gets, the funnier he is. His inebriation is absolutely ridiculously over-acted, but I guess if it makes you laugh, that counts as entertaining, right?
The first full-body appearance of the werewolf is a pretty solid knee-slapper, too. Instead of leaping out from behind a tree or lurching from the darkness, he kind of just pops up from off-screen. It’s just like, bam!, there’s a werewolf. Sort of like how a Muppet can just spring up from behind a brick wall with no explanation necessary. And the werewolf head wasn’t too awfully bad – perhaps a little less direct camera time would have made it better – but the friggin’ fur full-body suit was just a little too much to handle. It would have been a really cool Halloween costume, but for a feature film, you have to bring a little more. This wolf needed a bit of a makeover.
The bottom line is Werewolf Rising is a low-budget indie that takes a shot at the werewolf genre, which is a tough field to play in. The filmmakers didn’t attempt to show an elaborate transformation scene which, although wise on their part, is usually the money shot of a sub-genre. Aside from Oberst, and to some extent Cornell, the acting is pretty rough, at some points so rough that it comes back around to being entertaining again for being so over-the-top. As far as special features go, there are none included on this DVD.
Although the run time is relatively short, it does feel like Werewolf Rising is dragged out. Don’t come into the film expecting anything like The Howling or An American Werewolf in London, but if you can dig a low-budget indie that shows it’s really trying and delivers a typically insane Bill Oberst, Jr., performance, then you might actually find something you like here. But for the average viewer, you’re probably going to want to steer clear of this lycanthropic liaison.
Special Features
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Film
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Special Features
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