Post by StevePulaski on Jun 3, 2011 10:19:23 GMT -5
Julian Morris and Jared Padalecki.
Rating: ★★★
Cry Wolf is the outcome of Jeff Wadlow's million dollar masterpiece. Being awarded the million at the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival for his short film Living the Lie, Wadlow used the amount to self-direct and round up some people to make his very own horror film. In terms of film, not much can be done with $1,000,000, but John puts it to the test and makes Cry Wolf actually something more than one would expect.
Not splattering the viewer with gore, "Cry Wolf" is a game played by a group of friends who attend Westlake Preparatory Academy, an extremely prestigious school. Owen (Morris) is a newcomer and gets mixed in with a group of people who play this game. The object of the game is to mark someone the "wolf" leaving the other members to guess who the wolf is.
One night, a student is murdered in the woods by being dragged by a wolf. The friends decide to make up a fake serial killer by sending a mass email out to every student. They describe the killer as wearing an orange ski mask, a camouflage jacket, and carrying a hunting knife as a weapon of choice. The "wolf" character becomes real and winds up killing all the students off one by one mimicking their lie.
The film has an unexpected and slightly off the wall twist at the end I did appreciate, and also shows itself to be more engaging in the storyline than one would expect. Most horror movies now give scarce backstory to the characters leaving us asking so many questions.
For example, recently, a film called Laid To Rest was released. It was a pretty well done film, the disappointing aspect was we never really found out why the killer was killing. With films like Friday the 13th we get explicit backstory and we actually care what happens to the characters. Cry Wolf does enough to keep you guessing and keep you intrigued.
Like any horror film in the twenty-first century it is equipped with numerous, and mostly ineffective jump scares (sudden instances in the film that are shot with loud, synthy music that cause a moment of great intensity, GOTCHA!) that fail to do it any better. If horror films would realize that jump scares only work for a certain amount of time before they wear thin, maybe I'd be curious and more open to the idea of new horror films. Instead of looking at every horror film as a piece of modern crap, I'd maybe look at it as "a piece of modern curiosity." Lately, the horror market in 2011 has no attract factor. But little gems like this and Insidious shine. Cry Wolf is a worth a look. Especially to see Jon Bon Jovi.
Starring: Julian Morris, Jon Bon Jovi, Lindy Booth, and Jared Padalecki. Directed by: Jeff Wadlow.