Skinwalkers
2007
Director- James Isaac
Cast- Rhona Mitra, Jason Behr, Elias Koteas, Natassia
Malthe, Kim Coates, Sarah Carter, Tom Jackson, Matthew Knight
This
werewolf movie takes its name from the Native American term for
lycanthropes. In this film, lycanthropy
is not cause by being bitten by a werewolf but rather is something passed down
by blood. As long as the afflicted never feeds on human flesh they are able to
control themselves, except during the full moon when they must be locked down.
However, if an afflicted person ever does feed, they are changed forever. The beast inside of them takes over and they
develop a lust for violence.
An
ancient prophecy tells of a half breed boy who, on his 13th
birthday, on a blood moon, will be able to “cure” the curse. The skinwalkers
are divided into two camps; those that want to be free of their curse and those
that revel in it.
Rhona
Mitra plays the mother of Timothy, the young boy in question. She is a mortal
and the nature of her son (and his missing father) has been hidden from her by
the in-laws. Now, on the cusp of his 13th birthday, a pack of evil ,leather
clad, gun toting, biker, werewolves have finally tracked the boy down. He is
protected by his uncle (played by Elias Koteas) and the town locals. It turns
out that the entire town is filled with pistol packing werewolves and a
shootout ensues. The truth about the boy is revealed to his mother and the
survivors must go on the run from the evil werewolves, hoping to hold out and
protect the boy until the prophecy is fulfilled.
The
movie is not perfect and has some flaws, but there is a lot to recommend it, especially
for werewolf fans. The creature effects were by Stan Winston so you know they’re
good. The werewolves were done with good old fashioned make-up and appliances
(though there are some places where it looks like the eyes were CGI). The
director James Issac knew a lot about working on special effects movies, having
worked on the effects for films like Enemy Mine, Gremlins, Deepstar Six, The
Fly and Return of the Jedi. He also directed the futuristic Friday the 13th,
Jason X. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much chance to hone his craft as a
director. He died from cancer in 2012.
There is
also a good cast full of recognizable genre favorites. Rhona Mitra starred in
Beowulf, Doomsday and fought werewolves again the third Underworld movie. Elias
Koteas was in the Sataninc detective story, Fallen and played Casey Jones in
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Jason Behr, who leads the evil
werewolves, starred in The Grudge and the TV show Roswell. Kim Coates, who
plays one of the evil werewolves, has been in about million things but horror
fans may recognize him from the brilliant horror-comedy Innocent Blood. Of
special note is Natassia Malthe as the female member of the evil pack. In human
form she’s bad ass sexy and her werewolf form has a very striking make-up.
Genre fans make recognize her from any number of lower budget movies including
the 2nd and 3rd installments of the Bloodrayne franchise.
The
script has some holes and the finale has a few silly looking Matrix jumps, but
the movie delivers entertainment and does so quickly. I can really only fault
the film in one area. For taking the name Skinwalkers, there aren’t many Native
American looking cast members. Was Wes Studi booked or something? If you want a
well thought out, subtle story, best move on to something else. If on the other
hand, you want something different, or you used to play Werewolf: The
Apocalypse, you’ll probably enjoy this film.
Fun fact- Though this is a werewolf movie, three of the
actors have played vampires in other films; Rhona Mitra, Natassia Malthe, and Kim
Coates.
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