Bad Moon (1996)

One man's struggle to contain the curse he hides within... and his last-ditch attempt to free himself with the love of family. But when it looks as if he is losing his battle, and endangering all he holds most dear, the family dog is the last hope for his family's survival... and the end to his Werewolf curse.The movie made many significant changes from the novel, particularly in the make-up of the family, which in the novel consisted of two parents and three children, as well as the dog, who sees the family as his pack, which must be defended at all costs. The dog's perceptions of events are treated in great detail, as is the relationship between him and his human family, and his confusion as to whether the werewolf is a threat to his family that must be eliminated, or a pack member who must be respected. These subtleties mainly did not make it into the film.This film got bad reviews and bombed at the box office. I won't say it's the greatest werewolf film, but it is far from the worst. The opening scene should have garnered it some fans... that's a rather intense gore scene. Now, allegedly a few seconds were cut out. If that's true, I can only imagine how intense that would be. (Director's cut, perhaps?) Worth checking out. If nothing else, it is better than some better-known 1990s werewolf films, like "American Werewolf in Paris".

This movie begins in a jungle near Nepal with a photo-journalist named "Ted" (Michael Pare) and his girlfriend "Marjorie" (Johanna Marlowe) in the process making love at night in a tent. Suddenly, Marjorie is snatched from the tent and ripped to shreds by a huge werewolf. Although Ted shoots and kills the werewolf, he is injured in the process. A few months later Ted is camping in the Pacific Northwest and calls his sister "Janet" (Mariel Hemingway) who invites him to stay awhile with her and her son "Brett" (Mason Gamble). Also living with them is a German Shepard named "Thor" (Primo) who after a time begins to sense something is not quite right with Ted. Meanwhile, the authorities are on the lookout for a large predatory animal that has killed several outdoorsmen and remains at large. Now rather than reveal any more of this film I will just say that it certainly had its moments. The actors all played their parts well enough and the inclusion of the German Shepard in a film of this type was especially unique. Likewise, Mariel Hemingway certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. In any case, I liked the movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

There aren't a lot of horror movies, if any, with this children's premise of having an animal be the strong, sympathetic, main lead character. No joke too, the storyline was based around the pooch, the dog having the most screen time, a defiant personality and interaction with all the characters in the movie. Although the movie feels like a kid's movie at points, it's definitely not, having a graphic sex scene and some very gory kill shots. This odd fusion of genres is probably why Bad Moon hit theaters with such moderate success.Bad Moon is also different for its incredibly short run-time of just being over eighty minutes long, it does go by quickly and scenes that are shown are meaningful. The introduction is great, starts to fall apart in the middle but eventually saves itself close to the end. What is absolutely disgusting about the film is the horrible transformation scene that is quite possibly the worst I have ever seen in a werewolf movie, it was really, really bad. Bad Moon is certainly original but by no means a great werewolf film, probably wise to skip it.

This is one of the best werewolf movies around. The always legendary Michael Pare (Eddie and the cruisers, Streets of fire) stars as Ted, a normal man by day...but by night he is a flesh craving werewolf. Ted moves in with his sister (Mariel Hemingway) and her kid, hoping to end the curse with the power of love (a pretty stupid idea). Ted's sister and nephew may be oblivious to his condition, but the family dog, Thor, is not. A deadly game of dog vs. werewolf begins and in the end...only one will live. The werewolf effects are excellent and watching Pare playing a man tormented with a deadly curse is fun to watch. There is some surprising gore and the dog vs. werewolf idea is interesting and fun. The film is just a good old monster movie with some fun twists on the legends. A solid horror film.