It's tense, funny, and emotionally involving; one of the better Stephen King adaptations - and there have been many; and one of the finest werewolf films ever made.
Tony Woolstencroft: Bad Moon (1996)
Bad Moon gets off to a pretty bad start with a clichéd opening which is at least set in an unusual location. Ted is a photo-journalist on an expedition in the jungles of Nepal with his girlfriend. While their native guides sit around the fire, Ted and his girlfriend slip off to their tent for the obligatory pre-gory death scene bout of sex. While they’re occupied, the rest of their party are killed off by an unseen creature. In an extreme case of coitus interruptus Ted’s girlfriend is pulled out of the tent, and savagely killed by what turns out to be a werewolf. Ted himself is bitten before putting an end to the beast by blowing its head off. (It’s always seemed to me that the jungles of Nepal is an odd location to find a werewolf in, but hey, what do I know!)
We then flash forward to Ted, having returned home, camped by a lake in his trailer. He contacts his lawyer sister Janet, and she and her son Brett drive up to see Ted along with their German Shepherd Thor. Janet invites Ted to come and stay with her, and once the police discover the mangled body of his latest victim, Ted decides to accept her invitation, and parks his Airstream behind her house (conveniently situated out in the woods).
This is where the film separates itself from the usual werewolf tale. Thor (that’s right, the dog) suspects that something is not right about Ted and follows him on one of his late night jogs into the woods. The good old family pet discovers a transformed Ted, who, fully aware of his problem, has handcuffed himself to a tree to protect his family. What follows is a tense game of cat and mouse (or should that be dog and werewolf) as Thor determines to fulfil his role as family guardian and becomes increasingly hostile towards Ted.
Directed with brisk efficiency (the film only runs for 80 minutes) by Eric Red, writer of two classic horror movies, Near Dark and The Hitcher, Bad Moon is a very entertaining entry into the werewolf genre. Red also wrote the screenplay based on Wayne Smith’s novel, Thor (which is apparently told from the dog’s point of view). There’s a wonderful score by composer Daniel Licht (who also scored Showtime’s brilliant series Dexter).
Article comments