Bad Moon **

 One thing I can say about this trim, tightly paced flick..in it's short running time, it certainly doesn't overstay it's welcome. If you blink, you'll be witnessing the closing credits.

Michael Paré stars as Ted, a man attacked by a werewolf as he's making love to a woman in a tent as they are on a safari. The female companion is being viciously torn apart by the creature until Ted blows it's head clean off with a shot gun. Becoming a predatory monster himself, Ted heads home to a forest region nearby where his lawyer sister Janet(Mariel Hemingway)and her son Brett(Mason Gamble)live. The only one protecting Janet and Brett from possible harm is their 100 pound guardian St. Bernard Thor. Thor knows pretty much right away something's off about Ted, but when it finds a victim torn to pieces and scattered up a massive tree the "watchdog" kicks in. When ten victims of what appears to be a giant grizzly bear are discovered with police searching all over for clues, Ted finds it difficult to hide within the forest anymore and takes up on Janet's offer to park his camper near her home. Thor will make Ted's life even harder when it finds him, in werewolf form, hand-cuffed to a tree one night. Thor's fear for his family will provide motivation for parking outside Ted's camper before he steps out to partake in "night jogging." Ted will have to rid himself of Thor and an opportunity arises when an annoying "flopsy"(con artist who tried to fake a dog attack provoking Thor early in the film)sneaks around Janet's house to kill the dog for botching up his chances at a law-suit, while also seeking revenge on the lawyer for spoiling his con-artist plans. The werewolf will destroy him and Thor becomes a possible suspect. Then Ted, seeing the opportunity to finally send Thor away for good, provokes the dog to tear into his arm. As Thor is sent off to the pound, Ted is found by Janet on the verge of hand-cuffing himself one night putting her life in peril. As the wolf emerges Janet may not be able to survive..unless Brett, who escaped out his window to rescue Thor from the pound, can bring his guardian dog home to help Janet. Thor immediately comes to her rescue sending off the battle between dog and werewolf we expected.

The werewolf is mostly filmed up close with the nasty attacks happening within quick edits showing the torn flesh and bodies being thrown around quickly. The morphing finale is rather less impressive compared to today's CGI oriented transformations, but on it's own staring down victims, it's quite a monstrous beast. There are some great make-up work in the film showing torn flesh wounds, particularly on Ted. The plot, about a dog's protective love for his family against a predator who is all too familiar worked for me even if I had to look past the silly idea that a canine could outlast such a ferocious monster.

--July 2007