There have certainly been some bad werewolf movies made over the years, but perhaps there have been none that have simply been lacking in so many ways as "Cry Of The Werewolf." This was a poorly acted, cliché- ridden (which was unfortunate, and I'll expand upon that in a moment) and completely atmosphere free film whose basic redeeming quality is that it's very short and therefore doesn't waste too much of your time. There were a couple of things that broke free of the usual Hollywood treatment of the subject that gave this some potential, which was largely wasted. The first was that this stayed more true to actual werewolf legends. The werewolf was actually a person who became a wolf, and not some hybrid wolf-man beast, and the werewolf was a woman - not unheard of, but unusual for the most part in the genre. There might have been some meat there; there was also the potential for atmosphere - the story revolves around a mysterious gypsy tribe and much of the action takes place in a mysterious house complete with a secret chamber and crypt. Neither was used to create much atmosphere, though, and both are admittedly part of the cliché-ridden part of the story.
Other clichés? People from Transylvania abound in this, and there's even a kind of goofy cop involved in the investigation (not central to the film thankfully and overshadowed - again thankfully - by a more competent superior.) The acting was poor to fair at best. Especially poor was the woefully lacking in passion performance of Stephen Crane, who you'd think would be a bit more passionate, given that his father has just been torn apart by some wild beast! There's nothing even remotely frightening about this, and as mysteries go - well, there wasn't much. I kept watching to see if a potential plot twist might show up in the end that would have at least come as a surprise, but no. What you see from the beginning is basically what you get. It's very disappointing, and seemed basically to be put together by people who had no idea how to make a werewolf movie work. (2/10)
Other clichés? People from Transylvania abound in this, and there's even a kind of goofy cop involved in the investigation (not central to the film thankfully and overshadowed - again thankfully - by a more competent superior.) The acting was poor to fair at best. Especially poor was the woefully lacking in passion performance of Stephen Crane, who you'd think would be a bit more passionate, given that his father has just been torn apart by some wild beast! There's nothing even remotely frightening about this, and as mysteries go - well, there wasn't much. I kept watching to see if a potential plot twist might show up in the end that would have at least come as a surprise, but no. What you see from the beginning is basically what you get. It's very disappointing, and seemed basically to be put together by people who had no idea how to make a werewolf movie work. (2/10)