Forums
Horror Movie Reviews
When Good Werewolf Movies Go Bad.....BAD MOON That Is
Bad Moon
Michael Pare as Uncle Ted Mason Gamble
as the son Mariel Hemingway as Janet Thor
Oh boy where to begin with this one.
BAD MOON is the story of a lawyer's dog who suspects that her viting brother may be more than what he seems.
BAD MOON starts in the jungle where we meet Ted (Pare) who is a photographer and his girlfriend.
They have just concluded with a job that is never really explained and are looking to return home to the United States the following day.
They celebrate their recent success, of what I don't know, by having sex.
While the two are getting busy the camp is attacked by a werewolf.
The monster kills everyone, including Ted's girlfriend, and critically injures Ted before getting it's head blown off by a shotgun.
We cut to the U.S. where we meet Ted's ster Janet (Hemingway) and her son (Gamble) and their dog Thor.
After diffung a con man Janet gets a phonecall from Ted asking her to bring her son and the dog up for a barbecue.
When we see Ted again we don't see the same man from the beginning.
This man is now haunted and for some reason seems scared that Thor is exploring the woods.
After a nice reunion Ted quickly has his family go back home before sun down.
That night a worker in the forest is killed by another werewolf.
Ted moves to his ster's place in his Airstream because the cops have found the mutalated corpses of some vicious animal attacks in the woods.
The dog, Thor, knows something is off with Ted and decides to follow him while he goes for a run in the forest that night.
Thor finds that not only has Ted torn off all of his clothes and handcuffed himself to a tree but his has also turned into a Werewolf.
Ted returns the next day in a daze but still normal and finds it funny when Janet's son, Brent, is watching Werewolf of London and the man changes into a werewolf by the light of the full moon.
Brent says that that is how werewolves work.
There is an amung exchange about whether or not lver bullets are the only way to kill werewolves and Ted ends the discuson by saying that a shotgun blast to the head would probably also do the trick. That night Thor has decided to take matters into his own paws and delays Ted's nightly run.
This causes Ted to transform before getting locked to the tree and the werewolf is loose.
Which is unfortunate for the con man who shows up.
This time when Ted returns in the morning his behavior is a little darker.
Almost like the werewolf is taking over him as a human.
The body of the con man is found and of course the police think he was killed by Thor.
Thor is then taken to an animal shelter.Ted confronts Janet and there is a final battle between Janet and the Werewolf and Thor comes to the rescue.
BAD MOON is a hit or miss movie, I'll be honest.
Either it will work for you or it won't.
The premise is a good one and starts off really well.
The pacing is right, the monster looks great, the kills are awesome.
Michael Pare does extremely well with the dialogue and delivers a form of menace to the movie.
Hemingway does what she can and is not really believable as a lawyer.
She struggles with most of the law dialogue but as the mother protecting her son she shines.
Mason Gamble came off of Dennis the Menace to do this picture and he handles himself quite well.
His scenes with the dog show quite a lot of love between the character of the boy and his dog and you get a sense that mom hasn't always been there for him so his relationship with the dog is one of friendship and a needed companion.
The Werewolf suit looks outstanding compared to some of the other pieces of crap werewolves in the cinema.
See An American Werewolf in Paris.
Bad Moon is a film that started out good and had a good head of steam but started running out of gas at the mid point as it didn't know where it was going.
The transformation scene in a werewolf movie has become the staple in a horror film that either makes or breaks it and the one in this one is not very well done.
It would have benefitted from some puppetry and latex work instead of CGI.My final verdict on this one is **1/2 out of *****
Michael Pare as Uncle Ted Mason Gamble
as the son Mariel Hemingway as Janet Thor
Oh boy where to begin with this one.
BAD MOON is the story of a lawyer's dog who suspects that her viting brother may be more than what he seems.
BAD MOON starts in the jungle where we meet Ted (Pare) who is a photographer and his girlfriend.
They have just concluded with a job that is never really explained and are looking to return home to the United States the following day.
They celebrate their recent success, of what I don't know, by having sex.
While the two are getting busy the camp is attacked by a werewolf.
The monster kills everyone, including Ted's girlfriend, and critically injures Ted before getting it's head blown off by a shotgun.
We cut to the U.S. where we meet Ted's ster Janet (Hemingway) and her son (Gamble) and their dog Thor.
After diffung a con man Janet gets a phonecall from Ted asking her to bring her son and the dog up for a barbecue.
When we see Ted again we don't see the same man from the beginning.
This man is now haunted and for some reason seems scared that Thor is exploring the woods.
After a nice reunion Ted quickly has his family go back home before sun down.
That night a worker in the forest is killed by another werewolf.
Ted moves to his ster's place in his Airstream because the cops have found the mutalated corpses of some vicious animal attacks in the woods.
The dog, Thor, knows something is off with Ted and decides to follow him while he goes for a run in the forest that night.
Thor finds that not only has Ted torn off all of his clothes and handcuffed himself to a tree but his has also turned into a Werewolf.
Ted returns the next day in a daze but still normal and finds it funny when Janet's son, Brent, is watching Werewolf of London and the man changes into a werewolf by the light of the full moon.
Brent says that that is how werewolves work.
There is an amung exchange about whether or not lver bullets are the only way to kill werewolves and Ted ends the discuson by saying that a shotgun blast to the head would probably also do the trick. That night Thor has decided to take matters into his own paws and delays Ted's nightly run.
This causes Ted to transform before getting locked to the tree and the werewolf is loose.
Which is unfortunate for the con man who shows up.
This time when Ted returns in the morning his behavior is a little darker.
Almost like the werewolf is taking over him as a human.
The body of the con man is found and of course the police think he was killed by Thor.
Thor is then taken to an animal shelter.Ted confronts Janet and there is a final battle between Janet and the Werewolf and Thor comes to the rescue.
BAD MOON is a hit or miss movie, I'll be honest.
Either it will work for you or it won't.
The premise is a good one and starts off really well.
The pacing is right, the monster looks great, the kills are awesome.
Michael Pare does extremely well with the dialogue and delivers a form of menace to the movie.
Hemingway does what she can and is not really believable as a lawyer.
She struggles with most of the law dialogue but as the mother protecting her son she shines.
Mason Gamble came off of Dennis the Menace to do this picture and he handles himself quite well.
His scenes with the dog show quite a lot of love between the character of the boy and his dog and you get a sense that mom hasn't always been there for him so his relationship with the dog is one of friendship and a needed companion.
The Werewolf suit looks outstanding compared to some of the other pieces of crap werewolves in the cinema.
See An American Werewolf in Paris.
Bad Moon is a film that started out good and had a good head of steam but started running out of gas at the mid point as it didn't know where it was going.
The transformation scene in a werewolf movie has become the staple in a horror film that either makes or breaks it and the one in this one is not very well done.
It would have benefitted from some puppetry and latex work instead of CGI.My final verdict on this one is **1/2 out of *****
JohnCarpenterfan
Sunday 2/26/2012 at 07:20 PM | 90828
I like the movie.
I own it on DVD because I'm a fan of werewolves.
I thought the transformation itself was one of the better ones in cinema at the time.
The CGI did disconnect me from the .. dare I say reality of the transformation but at least it wasn't too cheesey or cliche.
I particularly liked the off-balance way he was turning body part by body part.
And Ted acting darker the more he turned was a nice touch!
.. Oh & Thor was probably the best actor in the whole movie!
I own it on DVD because I'm a fan of werewolves.
I thought the transformation itself was one of the better ones in cinema at the time.
The CGI did disconnect me from the .. dare I say reality of the transformation but at least it wasn't too cheesey or cliche.
I particularly liked the off-balance way he was turning body part by body part.
And Ted acting darker the more he turned was a nice touch!
.. Oh & Thor was probably the best actor in the whole movie!
attitudeinc
Sunday 2/26/2012 at 09:04 PM | 90833
I agree about how the body parts turned one by one and I did like the make up effects used on Ted when he was half transformed and told Janet about his "mistress".
This was one of the better films.
I also agree about Thor.
This was one of the better films.
I also agree about Thor.
JohnCarpenterfan
Monday 2/27/2012 at 01:24 AM | 90837
