I like the concept as it felt like a mixture of Clue meets Ten Little Indians but there really is no pay off or moment where you go “Ah ha, that’s why ___” As you said when we were watching the movie, it was a guessing game that just didn’t make sense as to who this werewolf was.

Travis

You just kind of have to roll with it.  Like how exactly is the lead a millionaire, or is it a billionaire given his estate, private helicopter, flying in multiple people just based on some tenuously established connections to cannibalism or murder?  He mentions a “boardroom” once, and that’s it.  Ok, I guess he’s good at business?  We know he has amazing choices of 70s clothing.  His smoking jacket and hunting outfits are completely ridiculous and don’t match the country estate manor lifestyle at all.

Speaking of, we know he’s a great hunter from all the trophies on display in his house. I thought that would really get into him actively hunting down a werewolf for sport, sort of a supernatural Most Dangerous Game.  The first 10 or so minutes are spent establishing this extravagant security and tracking system, only for it to just get dropped about halfway through.  Kind of pointless. Instead it’s just a standard gather people in a room and guess who-done-it.

Jamie

How did you like that 70’s music? I loved it and I want that soundtrack. It may not have fit in with the movie so much but damn was that some sweet 70’s goodness.

Travis

I agree it was 70s as hell, but disagree it didn’t fit. I go back to my thoughts on trying to modernize old horror concepts, and what better way that funky beats yo?  It fit the costumes and men’s hair fashion perfectly.

Jamie

I did like the lead in this role who you think is going to be Peter Cushing since he starred in a lot of Amicus pictures but in this film he takes a back role and the film falls on the shoulders of Calvin Lockhart (Predator 2) who I thought was quite good. Listening to the interview with the director that was on the disc he was primarily cast to cash in on the popularity of blaxploitation films as it was suppose to be Robert Quarry in the lead role. The rest of the cast is fine, no complaints there although not a lot of the characters really stuck out for me.

Travis

Overall it could have been executed much better since the idea is pretty unique and there are decent actors around to pull it off.  But like the day for night shooting, it just doesn’t work.  It doesn’t help that the movie also wastes time with a tepid car chase scene that is more a commercial for off roading capability.  Added nothing but padding to the runtime.

Jamie

How did you like the concept in the film where the movie literally stops for 30 seconds and allows viewers to guess who the werewolf was? Without giving away anything, you and I were both right and I admit I just guessed.

Travis

You mention the werewolf itself, which frankly needs to be the centerpiece in a horror movie.

First off it doesn’t help that the poster art shows more of your mentioned two-legged type werewolf, obviously a human face done up in werewolf make up. So once the “werewolf” does show up in the movie itself, I actually thought it was a red herring.  No way is this dog running around supposed to be the it.  But no, unfortunately that is what they went with.  You see way too much of it too, where it might have been better to edit around the fact it’s just a dog with some fake extra fur attached.  This also undermines any real attempts to actually be scary.  The logic doesn’t get any better from there, since the movie cheats quite a bit with the mystery.  The werewolf attacks, then seconds later everyone is back in the house fully dressed.

Jamie

The werewolf sucked, we both admit that. It was just a dog in a fluffier costume to make it look big and burley. I know the film was low budget but come on. I’d rather see a two legged creature running around like Michael Landon from I Was a Teenage Werewolf than a dog in a costume running around. And speaking of low budget, how many times were they going to use that shitty day for night filter? As you said last night (when we watched it) it never has looked good.

Travis

Now not surprisingly it may sound like I’m being overly harsh with my assessment. But I swear I did like it a bit.  It’s not great and has some misfires, but I appreciated the attempt at mashing up a few different genres and trying something different.  Audiences I’m sure may have wanted something more modern, so this was a decent attempt to update older horror with 1970s sensibilities.  Of course Peter Cushing is always worth watching.  I enjoyed his underhand sideways cigar smoking method.  On that note, I enjoy watching older movies where it seems half of people’s lives were spent smoking and drinking.  There are also allusions of the novella Who Goes There? (later adapted into The Thing) which helps try to keep this in the horror realm.

Jamie

How was the blu ray transfer? The older Severin blu ray in the Amicus box set had some print damage and little specs at times so I was wondering how the new blu ray disc looked.

Travis

The Blu Ray picture was pretty good, but I don’t have the older box set to compare.  Good details, uniform solids, and I didn’t notice any print damage that you saw on the earlier release.  I might wonder if the transfer might have been corrected differently to try to address our jabs at the day-for-night shots?  I’d hate to blame the filmmakers for what someone mastered decades later.  There are a good amount of extras on this. It might be worth rewatching with the audio commentary to hear more of how this came about.  This actually is the first time I’ve seen a movie run long after the end credits so there is a black screen with text telling you they are still chatting on the commentary.  So that’s a good sign versus the commentaries filled with awkward dead air.  The “archival” (something shot on video in the last few years versus the 1970s considered archival now?) interview with the director wasn’t exactly making me a fan of him.  He talks like he did a great job, and brushes aside criticism of the wolf by basically saying all werewolves sucked until CGI.  I pretty much discounted his opinion after that.

Jamie

I probably wouldn’t revisit this one. It’s got some interesting ideas but the execution isn’t on the mark and the low budget really hurt this film between the dog / werewolf, day for night, and subpar screenplay.

Travis

While I was picking at a lot of stuff during the movie, I was still into it.  I think the gimmick worked perfectly.