Movie Review: SCREAM OF THE WOLF

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 23rd, 2023 / 02:45 AM

SCREAM OF THE WOLF movie poster | @2023 Uncork’d Entertainment

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: James Fleet, Jay Taylor, Thalia Zucchi, Rupert Procter, Stephen Mapes, Sade Malone, Martin Portlock, John May, Morgan Rees-Davies, John Henshaw, Nicky Evans, Damien Mathews, Rula Lenska
Writers: Joel Ferrari & Pete Wild
Director: Dominic Brunt
Distributor: Uncork’d Entertainment
Release Date: June 13, 2023 (digital, DVD)

At the start of SCREAM OF THE WOLF, we might imagine we’re watching the making of a Hammer-type horror film. We see opening credits for a feature from “Francis-Castle Pictures,” CRIMSON MANOR, and even an onscreen certificate from the British Board of Film Censors.

But we quickly learn we’re in the midst of the making of CRIMSON MANOR, not the movie itself. It stars Oliver Lawrence (James Fleet), an elderly British actor who has done Shakespeare on stage, but whose film career has been highlighted by playing the same vampire in a series of films.

By now, Oliver has retreated into alcoholism, which makes him hard to wrangle. The film company is holed up in a manor house, doing an extra day of pick-up shots, even though they were supposed to be out the day before. The significance of the fact that they’re now working on the night of the full moon is lost on everyone.

Director Derek Francis (Rupert Procter) is unhappy with the script, despite assurances by producer Peter Castle (Stephen Mapes) that “Blood and gore will always sell.”

Reporters Simeon (Damien Mathews) and Trevor (Nicky Evans) from Fantasmagoria Magazine arrive in the small town and head to the Blue Moon pub. Simeon thinks that Peter has set this up for their benefit, noting that he’s surprised the establishment isn’t called the Slaughtered Lamb.

For fans of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, this tells us a few things. Simeon and Trevor, at least, are aware of horror movie conventions. From the reference, we know the year is at least post-1981. Later, we see mobile phones, which indicate that we’re more or less in the present.

We also soon deduce that SCREAM OF THE WOLF director Dominic Brunt and writers Joel Ferrari & Pete Wild really, really want to honor AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. There are dialogue quotes and even recreated sequences, albeit that play out differently. We also get a few nods to other films (like JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING).

The desire to riff on a classic is entirely understandable, but AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON proves to be a weird juxtaposition with SCREAM OF THE WOLF.

For starters, there is no “stranger in a strange land” here. Everybody is British, albeit the main characters are outsiders to this particular town. More pertinent is the fact that none of the filmmaker characters are horror-aware.

Finally, and this is crucial, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON made us love its characters and their bonds. In SCREAM OF THE WOLF, with the exception of diligent first assistant director Fiona (Thalia Zucchi), everyone is so self-serving that we’re inclined to root against them.

There are some gently amusing notions here, as when Oliver becomes creatively uncooperative. There’s also plenty of that saleable blood and gore.

But the filmmakers don’t find too many ways to get the most out of combining a real werewolf with a make-believe vampire. Soon enough, it turns into a surviving a monster story that could have any number of backgrounds, with (hoped-for) humor coming from how cowardly most of these people are. Also, the werewolf growls a lot, but doesn’t utter the impressive, bone-chilling howl that seems like it ought to go with the title.

Fleet, however, demonstrates that he can go from confusion to terror to Shakespearean conviction with force. Zucchi conveys the sense of someone who is put-upon but gets on with her job no matter what.

There is a lengthy post-credits sequence in black-and-white, with great period art direction and costuming, that pays homage to 1941’s THE WOLF MAN. Rula Lenska finds honest laughs as a grouchy Maria Ouspenskaya type.

This suggests that SCREAM OF THE WOLF might have worked better if its makers hadn’t tried toggling between such diverse elements. As it is, fans of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (this reviewer raises her hand) will be intrigued to see certain sequences reimagined. For people who generally like movies about filmmaking on a shoestring budget contending with unnatural interruptions, SCREAM OF THE WOLF fills the bill.

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