WEREWOLF CASTLE (2021)

WEREWOLF CASTLE (2021)

Tagline: Swords Vs. Claws

(Horror, Fantasy, The Big Bad Wolves) [R]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating. I believe it would have landed a [R] due to language and violence. 

After his girlfriend or fiancé is killed in a werewolf raid on a village Thorfinn decides to go on a quest with the area's bravest Knights to see King Vortigern. They know he is brutal and treats his subjects with cruelty, but they believe he would be willing to help fight back against a werewolf horde. 

First off I always consider THE HOWLING the standard for how a werewolf should look. Yes, the transformations in that movie are second to none, but the actual final look of the main werewolf the movie is known for is pretty much how you want your werewolf to look. If anything, WEREWOLF CASTLE proves you don’t need a bajillion-dollar budget to at the very least throw a good-looking werewolf suit out there. I mean, a LOT of werewolf movies can’t even seem to give us 1 decent-looking werewolf, look at flicks like WOLF (2019) and THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD. So props to this movie for giving us dozens of great-looking werewolves. 

As far as the storyline goes this is pretty interesting and ends about the only way it could that would make any sense, but it’s also pretty haunting and doesn’t exactly leave you feeling like skipping out of the theater with a gleeful spring in your step. It’s pretty freakin brutal. We don’t get a ton of “gore” in this movie as far as gnarly guts n stuff, but there is a ton of blood, so if that isn’t your thing (and it’s not really mine) this thing isn’t going to be for you.

The acting throughout is superb and the sets are all fine for what this is.  Peter Lofsgard (THE MUMMY) only has 3 movies under his belt, but I thought he was more than adequate as Thorfinn here. Jay O'Connell is pretty solid as Hal. He is mostly known for above-average b-movies. Tim Cartwright is also good in this as Hamelin. Like O’Connell, he is also known for a lot of above-average b-movies. In fact, both O’Connell and Cartwright appear in FREEZE and VAMPIRE VIRUS. We also get a brief Megan Tremethick sighting as Inga. She is best known for DRAGON KNIGHT and several other cheese fests, but it’s never a bad idea to have her in your movie. 

If I have any complaints, it’s their side-tracking story where the group is trying to get Thomas some medical assistance and they end up in a “trap”. It seemed like a plot made mostly to just fill time and it overloaded an otherwise pretty straightforward story with some nonsense. There is also a strange plot hole that was unnecessary in this script as well. They include that one of the Knights is the son of the King, but for some reason didn’t know how to get to his own father’s castle. Does the castle move around when you aren’t looking, or what exactly is going on here? Seems like merely omitting this connection in the storyline would have fixed this issue. 

Overall I thought the story was pretty well constructed, but I do wish they had coached the people wearing the werewolf suits to walk a little more like werewolves might. I mean, you can watch 90% of werewolf movies and even the ones with bad designs don’t look like they are just puppets being whimsically moved about. It’s kind of odd. Just walk normal, you are a werewolf, not a clumsy Pinocchio.

This one gets a 4 out of 7, a few changes could have put this over the top, but it’s a pretty good werewolf flick for a Halloween Marathon. 

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