Werewolves (2024) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Steven C. Miller

Cast: Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera

Release Date: February 4, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10

Synopsis:

One year ago, a supermoon event triggered a global outbreak, transforming anyone exposed to moonlight into bloodthirsty werewolves for just one night. Now, as the next supermoon rises, former marine and Global Rapid Response Team Leader Wesley Marshall (Frank Grillo) teams up with scientists Dr. Aranda (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Dr. Amy Chen (Katrina Law) to find a cure before humanity is lost, but as chaos and carnage unfold, Marshall must fight off killer beasts and risk everything to protect his family.

‘Werewolves’ joins Wesley, a former Marine now working closely with talented scientists to try and save humanity one year after a supermoon caused anyone who came into contact with the moonlight to transform into deadly, bloodthirsty werewolves for one night. As the next supermoon nears, Wesley must lockdown the home of his family to ensure their protection before heading into a lab where they will test their theories and work from the previous year. But when things go horribly wrong and his family is threatened as a result of the next werewolf onslaught, he will have to risk everything including his own life and fight his way through the chaos and violence to protect them.

Directed by Steven C. Miller (Silent Night (2012), Escape Plan 2: Hades) from a screenplay written by Matthew Kennedy (Inheritance), Miller does a capable job at the helm of ‘Werewolves’ guiding along the over the top fun and action while embracing the goofiness. The film’s cast includes Frank Grillo (TV’s Tulsa King), Katrina Law (TV’s NCIS), Ilfenesh Hadera (The Bricklayer), Kamdynn Gary (TV’s One Piece), James Michael Cummings (TV’s City on a Hill), Lydia Styslinger (The War with Grandpa) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Easter Sunday), with the majority each offering decent and fitting performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘Werewolves’ is an entertaining and chaotic ride that never manages to really become a good film, while never falling to the level of bad either, instead serving up a fairly average, yet quite fun and bloody action movie that has no shortage of clever ideas and turns and is perfectly content with keeping things a bit silly and over the top, but to be fair that’s not always a bad thing. It’s jam-packed with a whole lot of action-packed excitement, some notably gory deaths that horror fans should appreciate and probably far too many uses of lens flares throughout (I can’t be the only one that was cringing due to this) but otherwise it could definitely be a whole lot worse.

While ‘Werewolves’ never really excels into something outstanding, groundbreaking or even really memorable, it wisely never tries to do so either which is one of its biggest strengths. It’s certainly a fun ride that’s worth taking if you appreciate a film that isn’t afraid to go all in with its B-Movie style and tone, while still offering some impressive looking moments and action along the way, with a solid cast led by Frank Grillo to help keep you invested for good measure. The concept is quite clever in its own right and it keeps the creatures and bloodshed coming at a fitting speed once it gets moving and then only gets wilder and goofier as it progresses, eventually leading to a showdown that’s as silly as it is enjoyable.

Overall, ‘Werewolves’ is a goofy and violent ride that’s as enjoyable as it is over the top. It never really becomes a quality film along the way but at the same time it rarely fails to keep you amused and entertained either. ‘Werewolves’ is somewhat of a mixed bag as a whole, but the film is still recommended for anyone that enjoys a silly, gory and over the top good time of an action/horror hybrid that wears its intentions on its sleeve and never attempts to be something more than it is. While many will be understandably hesitant to drop the money on a blind purchase, it’s probably worth the price of a rental for any action and horror fans who just want to shut down their mind and let go with some silly violent fun for an evening.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Werewolves’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks quite good for the most part and delivers a primarily clean, sharp and nicely detailed presentation throughout, although there are a few sequences especially early on that look almost blurry on occasion although I’m not entirely certain if it’s a result of a video encoding issue or simply the intended look. If anyone has noticed this on the digital or theatrical releases and has any insight, please feel free to jump in on the comments with any comparisons or thoughts. Detail is great for the most part and everything from characters to creatures and scenery (plus of course the lens flares) look sharp and clean, while black levels are deep, rich and largely absent of any issues. Overall, this is a solid high definition presentation that holds up well for the majority of its duration.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack is quite a bit of fun and provides a crisp, clean and fairly aggressive audio presentation throughout. It frequently takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send music, bullets, debris and vehicle activity, plus a fair bit more consistently whipping throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate, while never causing any dialogue or other audio elements to become negatively impacted or distorted along the way. Overall, this is a pretty great 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that contributes nicely to the fun and excitement throughout and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Werewolves’ includes a collection of ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 6 minutes in length altogether).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10

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‘Werewolves’ Arrives Home on Blu-ray & DVD February 4, 2025 & is Now Available on Digital from Briarcliff Entertainment & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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You can purchase ‘Werewolves’ on Blu-ray on Amazon HERE!

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