The Plot

Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) is the new ranger in the small town of Beaverfield. Soon after meeting all of his new neighbors, each with their own quirky personalities, a snowstorm hits the small hamlet. Now that the already secluded town is even more distant from the rest of humanity, Finn and mail-person Cecily (Milana Vayntrub), must keep the peace as a suspected werewolf terrorizes the community.

My Thoughts

It doesn’t take much for me to get excited about horror movies these days. I mean, I generally will try and see almost all new genre flicks upon release, but if one has to do with creatures, or werewolves more specifically, you can bet that said flick with rise to the top of the must-see list pretty quickly. Hell, there are even times when all I’m watching is werewolf movies.

Based on the 2016 video game of the same name, Werewolves Within is a horror comedy that takes place in a small, secluded town and features an intimate cast of only about a dozen or so characters. I prefer these types of films for a few reasons.

Firstly, I don’t have to worry about getting to know too many players. A small cast makes it much easier to figure out whether you love or hate someone within the film’s allotted runtime. I either want to see you die or not. It’s as simple as that.

Secondly, the tight quarters always does a great job of heightening the level of tension and suspense. A film called Werewolves Within clearly has to do with a killer wolf… right? That is scary enough, in theory, but when your characters, the ones you both love and hate, are all trapped in one location, it just makes things that much more terrifying.

Werewolves Within, the sophomore film by writer/actor/director Josh Ruben (Scare Me) started off strong. Its brand of comedy managed to garner a few out-loud chuckles from me very early on, and since I am a sucker for any type of budding romance, I quickly became a fan of the new relationship between Cecily and Finn. Luckily, both the laughs and the love connection continued throughout the film, but at some point the threat, and therefore promise, of a werewolf took a backseat to the whodunnit mystery.

I know this was by design; It is made clear that viewers are supposed to be kept in suspense – is there a werewolf running around Beaverfield or not – but the constant teasing with a delayed payoff does hurt my final rating for the film in the end.

I enjoyed the performances of the entire cast and thought the mixed bag of characters was a fun treat. From Ranger Finn who just couldn’t seem to “man up,” constantly using phrases like “heavens to Betsy” and “co-inc-i-dinc” and Cecily, the gossip-sharing mail-carrier to the Wolfson’s, Devon (Cheyenne Jackson, “American Horror Story”) and Joaquim (Harvey Guillen, “What We Do in the Shadows”), the local same-sex yogi couple, everyone brought something entertaining to the table. All performances were on par with one another, no one becoming the weak link along the way, and it was nice seeing Milana Vayntrub in something other than another AT&T commercial!

Additionally, when the horror side of this horror comedy does rear its bloody head, it does so in impressive fashion; There isn’t much bloodshed, but a bitten off hand here and a throat ‘slicing’ there is all executed with glorious practical effects.


The Verdict

Werewolves Within is a fun monster mystery with good acting and impressive special effects. It is funny when it needs to be, while also being an effective horror film. The pacing does suffer at times and I would have loved to see the payoff a bit sooner, but overall, I have no problem recommending this film to fellow horror lovers.

Werewolves Within is based on a video game, a VR video to be clear, that I have never heard of and after watching the film and then looking for clips of the game on YouTube it must be said ‘very loosely’ based on the video game. I mean I am based on the same creature as George Clooney.

The film is a mix of genres going for black murderous comedy and a trapped set of folks trying to find out who is murdering who and why. Everyone, except the two main protagonists seems to have a motive and everyone seems capable so far, so Agatha Christie. The twist is although the humans are in general obnoxious and loathsome, and capable of murder when the deaths and maiming start it appears it might be a werewolf. A werewolf whodunnit? Original and different.

Nope.

I would love to know if Mishna Wolff had ever seen or liked ‘The Beast Must Die’ a Peter Cushing Hammer Horror werewolf whodunnit from 1974? It was a straight as a horror thriller and I remember being mightily disappointed by the conclusion and the film when I first watched it, but I am pleased to say not so with Werewolves Within. The makers went the correct way with the story such as this, it is played for laughs, not guffawing, tear-inducing laughs, but chuckles and smiles throughout the running time. Certainly, from my point of view the way to go with this type of story.

It helps that Sam Richardson plays to his strengths as an actor, a friendly, harmless, almost avuncular character that the audience can both laugh at but like and sympathise with from the start. Then pair him, or sort of pair him up with the attractive Milana Vayntrub who is pitch-perfect as a sub-manic-pixie-dream girl, cute and fun but with enough agency to not be ‘Finn’s love interest’ and you have a hook that should hold much of your audience.

I cannot reveal any of the story because things happen to characters and situations arrive that if described or even hinted at will ruin the film for anyone who has not seen it.

The horror in the film, much like the comedy, is very much lukewarm and herein this is the film’s greatest weakness, it tries hard to not be fish nor fowl, but a tweak with the horror or with the comedy would have definitely helped give the film a stronger identity. When you see ‘horror-comedy’ as a descriptor do not expect An American Werewolf in London, which for a lot of people was terrifying when it came out or Shaun of the Dead which was hilarious, to me and others, on viewing, mind you those are lofty heights to attain to be fair.

The cast is comedic in slant and despite my misgivings they put in good shows, with everything writ large, clearly this is on purpose, so if you run with this and have fun throughout the run time, you will enjoy the film.

Werewolves Within is a fun Saturday night’s viewing when you want to stay in, if you listen to dialogue early in the film and about two-thirds in you will be told who the werewolf is but at this point, after shifting my opinion between a couple of characters I had already settled on who it was and the script underlined it for me. I would not go out of my way to watch the film again and I will have forgotten it within a few months but there are worse films to watch when you are in the mood for a bit harmless fun to watch.

_Werewolves Within_ is a film where a bunch of weirdos in some-little-nowhere-town are forcibly crammed into a lodge during a snowstorm and proceed to irritate one another to semi-humorous results as a werewolf hides among them. The film is essentially a wolf in a person’s clothing, as while _Werewolves Within_ is fine for what it is and features some great performances here and a couple laugh-out-loud moments, its potential seems to be far greater than what we received.

Ultimately, _Werewolves Within_ leaves horror fans starving and salivating for more.

Full review: https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/07/05/werewolves-within-review-a-sleepover-with-guns/