Film Review: DIRE WOLF (2009)

I’m not a big fan of director Fred Olen Ray but he has a lot of films behind him of which Dire Wolf (2009) is just one of them.  I wasn’t expecting much from this film but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.   The film is written by Dan Golden and Patrick Moran and for the most part is a solid-monster-escapes-laboratory-and-wreaks-havoc-on-small-town film.  In this case science has decided to splice the human DNA with that of a dire wolf.  When the creature awakens from its sleep it escapes the lab into the open world and kills just about everyone in its path.  The only person that can stop it is Sheriff Parker (a superb Maxwell Caulfield) and his son and several special agents who were sent in to capture the science-gone-amok creature alive.

The monster kills and a lot of people die in gruesome fashion as fitting a good horror film.  Horror fans will delight in the chaos and bloodshed on display in the film despite the very familiar storyline but it is Caulfield as the Sheriff who really shines.  He runs his police office like something out of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks adding a bit of originality and humor to the film.  By the end of the film I was wishing for the Sheriff to get his own TV series from the same town where bad things just always happen but the Sheriff will get to it in his own time.

This being said the rest of the film is pretty standard stuff but its standard stuff done very well and therefore will entertain you from beginning to end.  Now if you can’t stand the cliché monster film then this is definitely not the film for you but if you enjoy a good cup of coffee with your monster movie then this film just might be what you’re looking for.

Film Review: THE SUPERNATURALS (1986)

I love zombie movies and stories (long before AMC’s The Walking Dead made it popular to) and The Supernaturals (1986) is a film that’s always been on my list of films to look out for but with the demise of the video store it was nearly impossible to find (unless you wanted to pay top dollar for VHS copy).  I finally came across a copy of the film and to my delight I actually enjoyed the film (but not necessarily for the reasons that you might think). 

After a brief intro during Civil War era, we cut to modern day times with a group of soldiers during military games in the exact location of the opening of the film.  Lead by Sgt. Hawkins (Nichelle Nichols), the soldiers are given live ammo and tasked with surviving the weekend as if in real combat.  Unbeknownst to them the place is under a curse and dead union soldiers begin to rise turning the games into real life combat.  The black sheep of Sgt. Hawkins’ group Pvt. Ray Ellis (Maxwell Caulfield) soon discovers a connection to a strange woman that just shows up amidst the chaos.  Now he must discover how he fits into what is going on while also trying to save his friends before they are all killed.

This is a very bare bones zombie film as the zombies don’t really show up until the last third of the film.  This film is more concerned with the soldiers’ story and their desecration of the cursed land not to mention their inadequacies as actual soldiers.  There is nothing truly horrifying or suspenseful in the film (even for a film in the late ‘80s) and for the most part it trudges along at a very slow pace.

What truly interests me about the film is that it has an early appearance by future Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton!  So this is a film with two Star Trek Hall of Famers!  The film is also co-written by Joel Soisson (who would go on to write a slew of crappy sequels like The Prophesy 3: The Ascent, Highlander: Endgame, Mimic 2, Hellraiser: Hellworld, Hollow Man II, Pulse 2: Afterlife, Children of the Corn: Genesis, and Piranha 3DD, to name a small few) & Michael S. Murphy and directed by Armand Mastroianni .  Other than that the film is easily forgettable and has little else to recommend (so much for finally seeing a classic cult film).