Bad Moon (1996) / Additional

 I'm thinking of a werewolf week, as we approach October, watching one film with werewolves each night. My daughter had asked me in the past when we would be watching Bad Moon (1996), so I thought tonight would be just as good a time as any. We watched it on Tubi TV, so despite being 79 minutes, the film was a little longer with commercials. I used to watch it all the time on Encore (before Starz really grew into one of the big premium services on cable and satellite) in the late 90s. I want to say I remember watching this film when I was just out of high school. 

Because of its tight, slim running time, with very little fat (or, honestly, meat on the bones), "Bad Moon" is over before you know it and has this animatronic werewolf head that is awesome. And I think Michael Paré gives a solid performance as the tortured Ted, really a nice guy who was on a trip into a jungle when he's attacked by a werewolf (that brutalizes his girlfriend, bursting through their tent and tearing her apart while they were having sex), with a giant claw down his chest. Returning to where his lawyer sister lives, Ted poses a threat to Janet (Mariel Hemingway) and her son, Brett (Mason Gamble). Janet and Brett have a German Shepherd protector, Thor. So watching the film, Thor throws himself at Ted, fully formed as a ferocious, snarling, furry beast, at the end in a big heroic scene. What I was telling my daughter: you do notice how Ted gradually shifts in personality from struggling and emotionally in turmoil to sneaky, sinister, and mean. One scene at dinner has Ted insisting Brett come to him while Janet is away in the kitchen, not taking no for an answer: notice his stern voice and eyes. When Janet goes from jovial and hyperactive excitement in seeing him to fear and nervy worry just being in the same room with him, that is very noticeable. The morphing effects when Ted goes from human to werewolf as Janet sees what he is and tries to hide away into her home, I don't take the filmmakers to task too much because this was 1996. When that werewolf head growls, pops open its mouth, and bears its teeth, that is just my jam as a fan...since so few films have such an effective werewolf face, I will mark out for a really gnarly beast. And the costume is grey and furry (and tall) so it does seem to fit the monster head really well. The performance of Hemingway is very "loud friendly" and "gnuck gnuck", but she's such a sweetheart I don't really find her too difficult to watch, personally. I read that Eric Red (the director) wasn't much of a fan of Hemingway's work in the film, but because Paré is right the opposite -- always intense, even when affectionate and "huggy" -- it did sort of balance things out to me.

But the film is ultimately about a family's pet against a mighty werewolf. Thor will defend his owners until the very end while Ted is unable to stave off the beast within. And I love how Eric Red has the werewolf fully in frame, swiping at victims and Hemingway. It is pretty rad.

I do wonder if the cool nightmare sequence where Thor goes full werewolf, scaring Janet awake, would come to fruition eventually considering he was viciously mauled by the beast. Ted's final scene, back to human but just torn apart, is damned grisly...the makeup effects aren't bad at all!