Cry_Wolf

There's a point in Cry_Wolf where a professor (Jon Bon Jovi) at an exclusive private school tells the lead "hero" of the film, a new transfer named Owen (Julian Morris), that he is not as smart as he thinks. I definitely agree. The film up until the closing credits presents him as a dupe. He falls for an "April Fool's Day" (I kept thinking of the '86 movie as I was watching Cry_Wolf) Keyser Sose chicanery that leaves him dumbstruck at how he'll never be able to convince the local authorities of the perpetrator of a "master crime", seemingly the perfect crime. The one responsible for how someone dies at the end of this film dupes a bunch of people but she damn near wears guilty emblazoned on her forehead. A film like this has plenty of professional flash, nicely photographed with a pretty cast but no violence or blood shed, staying true to the Scream slashers where graphic gore is not explicitly shown (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Valentine, Halloween H20, etc.) until the SAWS & Hostels come around to load the screen with lots of hacked limbs and flesh wounds. Supposedly there's a killer known in nickname as the Wolf who murdered a "townie" (local gal on the outset of the posh school or college) and threatens to strike again, possibly towards kids going to the school where this film is primarily set.

The key to this film is similar to April Fool's Day to me in that it is all in the title. If you see the irony in the title, the film gives you the punchline. Eight kids at the boarding school design a "slasher game" that will involve the school, pranked by them after orchestrating faux murders and building their own killer from the ground up. They give him the mask, name, and weapon, spread the rumor of his coming to the school to kill again, and go about to play their game. What is behind the game--the coup de grâce--is a devastating reality Owen will face and be unable to tell others about. Dodger (the stunning red head Lindy Booth) seems to be the ringleader of her rich kid posse, and Owen is rightfully smitten. But something about her just seems mysterious. She is enigmatic, appears to be hiding something, and has those in her orbit wrapped around her finger. Any time she's in danger, it doesn't quite feel like Dodger really is. Dodger always seems to know more than her co-horts. And Owen always seems to be the guy running around trying to save everyone, and usually he's a failure. When he's the victim of the practical joke, with the faculty (especially the president of the school) not particularly fond of the police getting involved, Owen should have separated himself from the gang, but yet he wants to continue the game. When it appears as if their story about how similar characters to them die at the hunting knife of The Wolf start to actually happen to them specifically, Owen and company will attempt to find him...unsuccessfully. But perhaps this is all part of a grander scheme involving someone outside their gang?



Truthfully there's one character in this film who seems to have the brains while everyone else is a pawn to be used in whatever way the person sees fit. There is a scene where this characters says they are playing checkers while this person is playing chess. That's the whole point. In SAW, characters are all part of this grand design and Jigsaw is the master of the game while the other characters always seem to act exactly as he anticipates. In Cry_Wolf, the master of the game is the same way. When the game is a success in the end, Owen is left damaged by it because, like those pawns in SAW, he has been used and left to anxiously stew in torment at how the master got away with murder; none besides him are the wiser.


Besides the elaborate game itself (which plays off conventional slasher characteristics), fast pace, and kids behaving badly due to boredom, Cry_Wolf deals the same brand of PG-13 violence and offers the same basic teen stereotypes so often seen in the slasher genre post Scream. Jared Padalecki, of the young cast, is perhaps most recognizable considering he's a horror mainstay and is a lead actor in the popular Supernatural television show. Jon Bon Jovi (in a rather sizable part as Owen's "nemesis") and Gary Cole (as Owen's wealthy and reputable father) are the recognizable faces of the adult cast.

I thought this was merely alright. I've seen better and worse. It's basically on par with something like Urban Legend (1998), mediocre but decently made. With the occasional blood smear allowed a few seconds to show as the imagined Wolf kills imagined victims (or are they?), not much else will be available to those needing their satisfaction of gore and gushing red. Lindy, though, has that seductive quality, with a nice touch of devious (I think you can sense that she could manipulate and destroy lives with ease and undaunted by conscience) and ambiguity about her true nature that she remains the more fascinating presence in the cast. The rest play their stereotypes without much dimension at all. Ultimately, though, the Owen character remains a folly for the story until the ending leaves him looking quite foolish; he is quite the patsy.