The Fuzz
Lon Chaney, Jr. is the sole reason that I became a werewolf maniac. As a child, his portrayal of Larry Talbot in 1941’s The Wolf Man captivated me. Lon Chaney, Jr. is still my favorite werewolf and while there have been plenty of other werewolves on the screen, none of them have come close to dethroning him.
I’ve watched a ton of werewolf films over the years and the majority of them are…..just okay. I enjoyed 2010’s The Wolfman for the most part, but felt that they expanded the story entirely too much and relied on excessive CGI. An American Werewolf in London (1981) is a cult classic, no doubt, but I wouldn’t put it in the same league as the 1941 film. The Howling franchise, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Dog Soldiers, Silver Bullet, Ginger Snaps, Teen Wolf, and other films worked to varying degrees, but nothing can beat Lon Chaney, Jr.
In recent years, most werewolf films find their audience in B-films and horror/comedies like Never Cry Werewolf (2008). The film borrows heavily from the vampire flick Fright Night (1985) and stars Nina Dobrev and Kevin Sorbo. It plays up the comedy big time, but is ultimately just a mildly enjoyable flick.
A couple of mild spoilers ahead.
WolfCop (2014), tonight’s Thirty-One Days O’Horror flick, is another horror/comedy that takes a much more adult turn when compared to Never Cry Werewolf. It’s funny, with werewolf and police puns running rampant on the screen. There’s also alcoholism, lots of gore, and changelings.
The film stars Leo Fafard as Lou Garou (yes, I know), a drunken loser who also happens to be a cop in the small town of Woodhaven. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Lou’s co-worker, Tina (Amy Matysio), a sergeant on the force who is reliable and trustworthy. Lou’s buddy Willie (Jonathan Cherry) is convinced that teens are holding occult rituals behind his shop. He calls in for someone to check it out and that’s when things start to get weird.
Lou ends up blacking out and waking in his own bed, not knowing how he got there. He starts to heal faster, has heightened senses, and begins to become a responsible (but still perpetually inebriated) cop. Bad guys start turning up dead, an eclipse is coming up, shapeshifters are trying to maintain control of the town, Lou drinks more alcohol, there’s a human/beast adult encounter, body parts are shown during transformations that aren’t normally shown, and things get generally messy.
Garou starts to make sense of what is going on, as does his partner, Tina. As they each get closer to the truth, more secrets are revealed about Woodhaven. More bad puns are delivered as well. There’s also a ritual sacrifice.
The film has its moments. There’s a big battle at a meth lab between Lou in wolf form and gang members. It was refreshing to see practical effects instead of CGI throughout this scene and the film as a whole. The werewolf looked excellent. It was probably the best practical werewolf that I’ve seen since Dog Soldiers. He definitely had a more classic look similar to Lon Chaney, Jr.’s werewolf, but with more hair and teeth. The acting was good for an indie flick that pokes fun at itself and the horror genre in general.
Fans of the Final Destination franchise will recognize Willie (Jonathan Cherry) and the gang’s leader (Jesse Moss), both of which lost their lives on the big screen in those films. The rest of the cast is made up of solid character actors.
I definitely enjoyed this film for what it was. The practical effects, funny transformation scene, and overall humor of the film made it worth checking out. It’s definitely one of the better horror comedies to come out in a long time. It’s much better than Little Dead Rotting Hood, which I watched a few days ago and you can read about here. It won’t win any great awards but I’ve never based my enjoyment of a film on how many trophies it wins. Just sit back and watch Wolf Cop with a few friends, a few brews, and a few steaks on the grill.
Thanks for reading. I plan on having another review up tomorrow as I continue my hike to Halloween with Thirty-One Days O’Horror! See ya next time!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 