LATE PHASES

		Review by Ken King
THANK YOU TIP JAR WOLF COP - 2014 USA Release: Feb. 17, 2015 The Coup Company, Echolands Creative Group, RLJ Entertainment, Image Entertainment Rating: USA: N/A

"Listen, man, you did seem like freakishly strong, right? And you did have those teeth and claws. Plus, you got low self-esteem, low IQ, and daddy issues."
- Willy Higgins

Ladies and gents meet Lou Garou (Leo Fafard: ANOTHER WOLFCOP, THE HUMANITY BUREAU, SUPERGRID). Not too bright on the uptake, a total slacker and a raging alcoholic. He's also a police officer.

Crimes being broken all around him and he notices absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. He's always late for work and reeking of booze when he does deign to show up. He keeps a perpetual liquor store in his desk drawer. He's everything you would want out of a model employee, so how come his fellow officer, Tina (Amy Matysio: THE RISEN, ANDROID APOCALYPSE, FEROCIOUS, STRANDED, SPACE RIDERS: DIVISION EARTH, ANOTHER WOLFCOP, SUPERGRID) keeps getting "Employee of the Month" every single month and Lou gets passed over with all of his achievements?

Somebody needs to get with HR about this.

All jocularity aside, something has been responsible for reducing the pet population in Woodhaven. Townspeople have called in reports about seeing a bear prowling about, but there have been no confirmed sightings.

That night, Lou's boss, "Chief" (Aiden Devine: OUTLANDER, SIRENS [TV], SUICIDE SQUAD, AMERICAN GOTHIC [TV], I'LL TAKE YOUR DEAD) sends the constantly inebriated cop out to investigate a disturbance in the woods not far out of town. He goes, somewhat reluctantly and wishes he hadn't.

The next morning, Lou wakes up in his bed, with no recollection of how he got there. To make matters worse, he is bloody from a pentagram being carved in his chest.

Later that day, a dude named, Terry Wallace (Ryland Alexander: A TOUCH OF MURDER, COLD CREEK MANOR, THE DARK HOURS, THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR, OUTLANDER, VICTIMS, I'LL TAKE YOUR DEAD) who is running for mayor against Mayor Bradley (Corrine Conley: THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, THE NIGHT GOD SCREAMED, WAR OF THE WORLDS [TV], NATURE OF THE BEAST, A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY) is found dead in the woods, his face nearly ripped from his skull, a used syringe and needle tracks on the man's arm.

This effectively forces the sitting mayor to cancel the annual "Drink n' Hunt" event that the entire town looks forward to year-round. When Lou arrives on the scene, he finds his senses are sharper, much sharper than humanly possible. It had begun kicking in at his house that morning when he saw some douche kick his tiny dog when taking it out for a stroll. Now it is in overdrive: Lou knows something is out of place.

Lou goes to the local watering hole belonging to a woman named Jessica (Sarah Lind: SEVERED, HIDDEN TRUTH, THE BLACKBURN ASYLUM, THE EXORCISM OF MOLLY HARTLEY, THE HUMANITY BUREAU, FATAL FRIEND REQUEST, COLD BLOOD, SHEVENGE, JAKOB'S WIFE) to get drunk and do some police work. When Jessica offers to shut down early and "take him home", Lou gratefully accepts, but then makes a mad dash to the bathroom where he is violently ill.

The moon rises full in the sky.
Lou begins to change.

Three thugs break into the bar and make their way to the bathroom. Two go in and one posts guard to prevent anyone from interrupting them. The two ruffians who burst in on Lou get a shock and surprise. It gets bloody and quick.

The remaining man reports back to his boss (Jesse Moss: GINGER SNAPS, FINAL DESTINATION 3, THE UNINVITED, TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL, METAL SHIFTERS, SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION, 13 EERIE, EXTRATERRESTRIAL, STILL/BORN, GHOST WARS [TV], THE HOLLOW [TV]) who wanted Lou taken alive for purposes yet unknown at the time. When his henchmen failed, he doesn't take it well. He, uh, doesn't see "eye-to-eye" with how the events went down at the bar and tells the dude who failed and his other companions, to double down on efforts where it comes to Lou.

Lou goes and sees his friend, Willy (Jonathan Cherry: Wes Craven's THEY, FINAL DESTINATION 2, HOUSE OF THE DEAD, THE WHITE DOG SACRIFICE, THE WRECK, KIN, SUPERGRID), and finds out just how he made it home that night. Willy is a nut of the first order, who loves his guns and anything that even resembles a conspiracy theory. He is uber excited that he has at last discovered that there is an actual "creature" that can be proven with hard evidence that is walking around. Willy wants to get it all on film, so they know the moon will be out once more in full when nightfall comes around. Lou agrees to be locked up in the jail, so he doesn't hurt anyone, and they hatch a plan for Lou to do the night shift instead of Tina. The chief is surprised, but he agrees and leaves for the evening.

WOLFCOP is a werewolf flick that wasn't meant to be taken very seriously and you can tell that right out of the gate. Being that is the case, I can let some things slide that I normally wouldn't in another film of this kind that does take itself too seriously (WOLVES, anyone?) You can tell that director Lowell Dean (ANOTHER WOLFCOP, 13 EERIE, SUPERGRID) graduated from the Sam Raimi "School of Making Horror Comedy Films" and excelled in all his courses.

This movie is funny as hell and totally off its rocker. I have to give a round of applause here for SFX artists, Casey Marcus (THE STAKELANDER, THE GRUDGE, DEVIL'S GATE, INCIDENT IN A GHOSTLAND, WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS), Wyatt Thorseth, Emerson Ziffle (VAMPIRE DOG, KRAMPUS, SILENT NIGHT, THE EDITOR, SPACE MILKSHAKE) if for nothing else, then to commit one of the best werewolf transformations to video in what seems many a' moon. The shift is pretty gnarly, wet, gooey, with skin ripping and claws sprouting ... you name it. Everything you could hope and wish for is present and accounted for. Man, is it glorious!

However, the final WolfCop creature, I would rate maybe three or four if we were able to rate the end creature design. Maybe it was supposed to be part of the joke, and it was one of them that I didn't get, but it looked for all the world like a dude in a werewolf costume, a very badass costume, but a costume, nonetheless. When you watch WOLFCOP you will immediately see what I am talking about.

In a way, WOLFCOP reminds me more than a little bit of THE TOXIC AVENGER. I'm sure the film makers watched this flick many times before they jumped up (Maybe even Lowell Dean, himself) and said,
"Hey! I got an idea! How about we make a monster film with werewolves who get into all sorts of silly shit. You know, like THE TOXIC AVENGER but with werewolves? Sounds like a plan! Let's do it!"

Seems as if.

FINAL THOUGHTS
If you try not to look too hard into it, and nitpick every little nuance, WOLFCOP is a flick you will have a lot of fun with. It's not old school AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON or THE HOWLING, or even modern GINGER SNAPS or DOG SOLDIERS, but it is its own thing and whatever that is, it's a helluva thing to behold.

Three Shriek Girls

This review copyright 2022 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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