Werewolf Rising
4 Gravestones
Werewolf Rising is a very interesting low budget little movie with a small cast, few locations, and a simple story but somehow it works. Yet this low-budget feature film has a killer werewolf just as creative and cool as anything big-budget Hollywood could come up with. It seemed that all of the film's main budget went to the werewolf costume making it look fantastic under its limited resources. Take note werewolf filmmakers….your movie is only as good as your werewolf. Spend some time developing a great-looking creature…hell, that’s one of the things I loved about Dog Soldiers was how cool the creatures looked in a low-budget movie.
Werewolf Rising is a 2014 horror film and tells the story of Emma, a 28-year-old woman who after her battle with alcoholism retreats back to a family home in the mountains after living in the big city. While there, she meets a young man around her age named Johnny Lee and is the nephew of Wayne, the older man who has been taking care of the little mountain retreat house while she had been gone. Soon they discover they are not alone as some creature has been lurking around and soon attacks Johnny. He survives the creature’s assault but soon finds himself healing faster than normal and before Emma can care for him, he’s up and about like nothing has happened.
The creature looks great for the low-budget movie and it just goes to show you can do a lot with little. The story has a good enough story, different than most werewolf films which is good and has an ending you don’t see coming or expect. Werewolf Rising is currently running on YouTube for free so if you’re looking for a new take on werewolves, try this one.
Hunted
4 Gravestones
Hunted is a Canadian horror film from 2012 and tells the story of Rufus, a homeless teen boy about 15 years if age (or so he appears to be), as he is taken into a small town by the sheriff and his wife. At first, he seems like a shy young man who befriends the girl across the street named Tracy and tries to fit in. But soon we see him explore a darker side of himself as it seems this boy is a vampire…or vampire-like creature. When angered, he lashes out with fangs and claws and despite Tracy seeing this remains his friend and even sleeps with him finding his true nature to be okay it seems. Even when he kills a trucker passing through town she seems nearly fine with the whole monster thing.
Unlike most vampire films, Rufus can walk freely in daylight, casts a reflection, and drinking blood is not of his number one things to do, however as the story goes on we learn from a man who has been tracking him that the boy may indeed be more than 100’s of years old. So the story plays loose with the vampire angle or he’s some other creature but has vampire traits. The movie is well shot although it moves slowly with only a few vampire outbreaks as we mostly see the kid as a normal boy. This film will give you vibes of the movie Let The Right One In or the U.S. remake Let Me In because of its take on the vampire lore. Only here we see the vampire being a teen boy befriending a teen girl instead of a pre-teen girl making friends with a pre-teen boy.
This movie also goes under the title of Rufus as well as Hunted and be found on YouTube for free for anyone looking for something new in the vampire myth.
Pounce
4 Gravestones
Pounce is a 2019 monster movie with bite that looks and plays out well despite it being a really short movie. What do I mean by short? Hell, this thing is less than one hour and 15 minutes short and hardly a feature film and yet a lot is put into this short run time. Pounce or Silverhide as it is also known as tells the story of three conspiracy theorist watchers who sneak onto a top-secret military base in Wales to expose a new fighter jet and report back to their magazine but jets are not what this compound is testing.
While one girl is in an underground bunker, two more wait outside in a tent they set up to act as their home base. As she talks to the other girl by two-way radio, the girl hears something lurking on the compound grounds and is soon attacked and killed by something big, strong, and mainly invisible. Soon after the boy of the young man of the group is killed by the unknown creature and next it's hunting the young woman in the bunker. Turns out the Welsh military has been testing this creature in hopes to use it as a living weapon and discover how and why it can turn invisible under the light of a full moon.
When not under the moon’s light, this creature is visible and looks very much like a four-legged werewolf. The effects here are a little weak where you can clearly tell this thing is a hand puppet or Spirit Halloween mask but I give the film an (A) for trying. I’ve seen worse….seen better….but seen worse. Like I’ve said this is a short movie but it really puts a lot into it. The creature kill scenes are well shot and good and bloody and the story holds up even within its short run time. This feature/short film can be found on YouTube for free and more than worth a watch for any horror werewolf fan.
