Training British Special Op Soldiers in Scottish woodlands area run afoul
of intelligent and powerful pack of werewolves that proceed the whinging,
soccer-loving twits off one by one.
Hooray for on-screen gore! Oh how I missed you so! OK, so this grainy,
low-budget flick isn’t exactly the Second Coming, but you take what you
can get these days, and I’d gladly take this over ‘Jason X’ or ‘Jeepers
Creepers’ anyday.
For a man who, rather incredibly, has his insides hanging out for most of
the film, Sean Pertwee acquits himself rather well in the hardass ‘Sarge’
role Al Matthews (‘I Loooovvee The Core!’) had in ‘Aliens’, whilst
newcomer Kevin McKidd (speaking in a thick Scottish brogue that is just
plain cool- why they didn’t get Billy Connolly in there in a supporting
role is beyond me, that’d be the icing on the cake) is quite good as our
hero, a less violent and more humane character than anyone else. The rest
are just waiting to be mauled I’m afraid, including a conveniently placed
female zoologist, but that’s OK, aside from the grainy handheld look of
the film, what we’ve got here is one of the standout horror films of the
last few years.
Good FX work for a low-budget film, and an appropriately cold, dark and
rainy atmosphere help enormously. A bit of humour might’ve helped, with
the sole funny bit coming from a drunk and dazed Pertwee (who has never
impressed me this much before as an actor) remarking about his guts:
‘Sausages!’ (You had to be there, I guess).
OVERALL SUMMARY
Not ‘The Howling’, but it’s a bit more violent than most modern horror
films, something a lot of people will no doubt see importance in. More
character depth might’ve elevated it to something more than minor cult
status.
