Bad Moon (1996)

Better than all the "Howling" sequels combined (of course, that's not saying much is it?) "Bad Moon" is a nice entry into the werewolf sweepstakes. The film opens up in the jungle where the character of Ted and his nameless girlfriend are getting it on in a tent (you don't need names when you get bare boobs) when they are rudely interrupted by the local werewolf. Wolf kills girl, bites man, and thus creates new werewolf. Old Teddy boy heads back to the states and tries to deal with his new found lycanthropy as best as one can. Unfortunately, he does not cope to well and starts to munch on the local hikers, etc. in the woods he is camping at. Having tried every cure for werewolfitis there is, Ted hopes that the love of a family will finally cure him (?) and he decides to move in with his sister and nephew for a week or two. Once there his problems are compounded by the family dog Thor who knows what he really is and that it ain't good.

The whole flick is sort of a dog vs. werewolf idea, and I must say it was pretty interesting. Thor the dog was definitely the most interesting character in the film and the viewer really identifies with him as he tries to protect his family from the big bad werewolf. It might be a bad sign when a dog is the most interesting character in the film! Special effects wise, there were some pretty bloody wolf attacks here and there, though it seemed like some of the scenes were trimmed a tad. Still pretty bloody though, especially the opening scene and the last 15 minutes of the movie. The wolf creature looked ok at times, though the features reminded me more of a werecat than a wolf. The suit looks real clumsy and the CGI wolf transformation at the end sucked real bad. All in all, "Bad Moon" is worthy of a rental and stands out as one of the better werewolf films made in awhile.