Best Horror Movies

I’ve seen a lot of werewolf movies. In fact, I’ve probably seen all of them with a few exceptions of the really old ones like Laurel and Hardy Meet the Wolfman. From the reviews, I put seeing this one off, but I was actually surprised.

If you’re looking for an in depth plot skip this. In fact, skip any werewolf movie. As much as I love them, very few are strong in the plot department.

Many werewolf movies come in 3 basic flavors. There’s the “monster among us” where the creature has to be found out. The “stranded on a snowbound hill” which is a favorite from zombies to The Alien where a group of people are stuck somewhere they can’t escape. Of course there’s always something trying to kill them, and then there’s the chase.

Skinwalkers followed the chase formula.

Pros: It kept a decent pace, and I didn’t think it was boring. They kept the chase going and since that was basically all the movie was, the action rolled pretty well. A great deal of it was shooting at each other with mundane guns and trying to stay a step ahead rather than running from werewolves under the full moon. It did keep things moving.

The acting was passable. It’s not going to win any awards, but some of these movies make you want to poke your own ears out so you don’t have to listen to the horrible acting. This wasn’t one of those.

I found it entertaining as long as you take it for what it is.

Cons: Formula plot. It had the usual violence for a horror movie, a traditional dash of sex for no apparent reason, and overall followed a very predictable path. Violence was mild for a horror movie because it was mundane – snapped necks, gunshots, werewolf crunchies and knives. There have been plenty of horror movies which came up with ways to torture and kill people to make the skin crawl. This one wasn’t any worse than your average war movie with the exception of the occasional werewolf eating someone in the dark. We were at least spared the rubber guts you see frequently in B grade werewolf movies.

Special effects were fairly pitiful. The make up wasn’t all that far beyond the 50′s and Lon Chaney Jr. They had some chest plates and a little bit more bone structure and hair, but really … haven’t we come far enough to put a muzzle on our werewolves so they can bite properly? The human mouth, no matter how many fangs you put into it, just doesn’t open far enough to rip out a throat. Leave the fangs to the vampires so they can slurp on the victims since they’re made for it. Even some of the worst B grade cheese has managed to pull off a more “wolfy” werewolf.

If you’re looking for some entertainment which happens to have some fur, a lot of chasing and action scenes then give it a try. If you’re looking for hard core plot, FX, and character development then this probably isn’t for you.

I’ve seen better werewolf movies, but I’ve also certainly seen a lot worse.