Crying Wolf (2015)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Best movie ever!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

CRYING WOLF is a somewhat lamentable zero-budget British comedy horror film about a group of travelling werewolves laying waste to the British countryside. The setting is rural little village in which the werewolves a busy claiming victims while some others hunt them for the purpose of revenge. It's a very random affair that features extremely cheesy CGI gore effects and a killer in a scarecrow mask ripped off from BATMAN BEGINS.The film's concession to classic horror fans lies in the casting of scream queen Caroline Munro in a cameo role at the opening; this is probably the best moment of the film. It's all downhill from there and the acting is quite atrocious. One scene features extensive nudity in a bid to keep the viewer's attention, but it's a forlorn hope. The stilted delivery and overacting of the cast members is probably the worst thing about this. The ludicrously unfunny dancing clip footage that accompanies the closing credits says it all.

This movie begins with an unnamed "Private Detective" (played by Gary Martin) going into a bookstore and asking the "Shopkeeper" (Caroline Munroe) how much a certain book would cost. Although she tells him that it isn't for sale he persists and eventually emerges from the bookstore with it. He then ventures into a nearby pub and after ordering a pint of brown ale begins to read the book in its entirety. What he reads is transmitted to the audience in film. Unfortunately, although the movie is unmistakably British, the viewer should be warned that this clearly bears no resemblance to Shakespeare. Quite frankly, this movie is awful. There's just no other way to describe it. The acting was second-rate, the special effects consisted of people running around in werewolf costumes most typically reserved for Halloween and the humor was almost painful. As a matter of fact, about the only thing going for this movie was the presence of a few fairly attractive actresses in Rosie Pearson (as "Emma"), Kimberly Jaraj ("Kim") and Gabriella Hersham (as "Milly"). But that's it. I wish it were otherwise.

There are a couple things I should mention before I get to my review of Crying Wolf 3D. First, I am not a huge fan of gory horror films, so I am sure this impacted my enjoyment of this film. Second, although the film apparently is in 3-D, the copy I saw was not and perhaps seeing it in its intended form might have improved the film.The setting for the film is in the Cotswolds in England. For you non-Brits, that's west-northwest of London in the countryside. It's the pretty and peaceful part of England where Shakespeare lived....though it's not all that pretty or peaceful in this film, that's for sure! It begins with a private eye buying a book from a strange lady...one she keeps refusing to sell him. Then, he reads what is the story you then see. In this story, a group of werewolves are going on a little vacation--to frolic in the countryside, camp out, sing a few songs and kill folks for kicks. You see, unlike the typical movie werefolk, these werewolves like to travel in packs and are not tormented by their evil desires...in fact, they revel in them. As they're out doing what werewolves do best, they don't realize that one of their past victims which somehow escaped has returned with a friend to hunt down the hunters. The end is a giant gore-fest--with exploding bits and blood flying here and there.For me, one of the only things I liked about the film was seeing Caroline Munro (a former Bond girl and cast member of the Dr. Phibes movies) playing the strange bookstore owner. The basic plot ideas also weren't bad and could have worked. However, the execution of the story was seriously flawed. There's a lot of gratuitous blood and breasts, but there's no finesse to the story at all...it's just breasts and blood. For some people, that might just be enough to warrant watching the movie. But the characters and dialog were so poor and I simply didn't care about anyone and that's the real shame in Crying Wolf. Had they chosen to make it more of a comedy and made the dialog at least somewhat believable, I could have enjoyed the picture much more than I did. Or, had they made it a serious drama with real tension and decent characters, I could have also enjoyed it more. Instead, it's just another cheap horror film with little to distinguish it.

Jopia's story is a fun, quick-witted twist to the Werewolf tale. The movie places the beast as unsuspecting prey against the vengeful. "Crying Wolf" has some colorful and interesting characters that are well developed. Some more so than others. The film is more comedy than horror, but with plenty of spooky nicely shot scenes offering the creature in all its costumey glory. I enjoyed the beast- visually and characteristically in "Crying Wolf". Plus the cast give nice performances as the individuals in the pack.The special effects are a mixed bag of cool, gory practical effects, and weak disappointing CGI. Jopia does choose the moments for CGI very wisely and frames the scenes in a creative way that make watching the CGI easier for those of us who find the computer animation a turn-off in horror. Oddly enough the thing that makes " Crying Wolf" fall a bit flat is the hokey way the story is set up as comedic schtick, vignettes and flashbacks combined with a cheesy soundtrack more reminiscent of soap operas and webseries.Overall "Crying Wolf" falls somewhere in the middle of good and bad. There are some quality moments where story and character really entertain and thrill, then there are those pesky times when CGI and dialog fail to sell the story. As a werewolf story this one is weak at beast, as a Brit horror/Comedy it is mediocre, but as for creative , Indie story- "Crying Wolf manages a decent and sometimes amusing tale. The creature design and wittiness are the best aspects for sure!