Game of Werewolves (2011)

As you can probably tell from my title, I loved this movie. People have described it as Spain's answer to Shaun of the Dead. This is fairly accurate as far as the entertainment quota goes, and its about as scary as Shaun of the Dead too (1), but the plot not a SOTD rip off. Calling it SOTD only with werewolves is lazy. It deserves to be discussed on it's own merits.The movie is subtitled which, while never being ideal, doesn't ruin the fun(2). There are a lot of laugh out laugh moments which tells you that is it a genuinely funny script. The characters are great fun and nicely rounded(3). The humour is a bit school boyish, but that never stopped The Young Ones or The Inbetweeners being a hit did it. There's even a plucky pet dog who gets a lot of action and earns a couple of belly laughs.The werewolves are possibly a tiny bit too "man in fluffy costume" but I admire the director's take on FX vs CGI. Would a CGI werewolf been any better??? No. I very much doubt they had a Lord of The Rings style CGI budget to blow on this movie. Anyway, this movie isn't really about the horror, its an "badult" comedy adventure.Another minor problem could be the lack of a sexy heroine, but to be honest there are plenty of pure comedic genius moments to take your mind of that(4) and lets face it she'd have been wasted on us non Spanish speakers because we'd be too busy reading the subtitles! All told, Lobos de Arga well worth blowing 90 minutes in front of the TV and I'm planning on getting the DVD (5) too. Enjoy yourself, this movie certainly gets my seal of approval.(1) - Shaun of the Dead was not Scary. It was a total laugh though. So is Lobos De Arga! (2) - I want to watch a movie. Not miss it while reading the script! Dubbing is an under-rated tool that allows the viewer to revel in the production values of the movie - kinda important if its a horror movie! Lobos De Arga has scenes in old churches and underground tunnels which I loved to check out the scenery but I'm stuck reading the script, admittedly a very funny script but come on! I want my cake and I wanna eat it! (3) - Look out for the hamster joke! (4) - The dutch Horror comedy Kill Zombie! did have a super sexy kick ass heroine. I quite liked Kill Zombie! BUT Lobos De Arga knocks it out of the park as far fun goes.(5) - Is there a blu ray version? Highly unlikely is my guess, more is the pity!

Assumed to be returning to his rural home-town to continue work on a new novel, a struggling writer learns that his trip was by design and intended to lift a monstrous curse on the residents of the area and must battle it's deadly effects in order to escape.This here manages to be one of the more enjoyable and entertaining efforts in the genre in a long, long time and is thus one of the newest classics to be included. One of the best aspects to this one is the utterly enjoyable plot that reeks of old-school Gothic flair updated to modern times, containing a gypsy curse on a small town, the secretive nature of the village regarding the contents of the curse, the oblivious bloodline and the village itself looking like a relic from a Hammer film out in the wilderness and provided a perfect backdrop for the settings to occur. On top of that, the film introduces a vicious and incredibly imposing villain in the main werewolf down in the crypt which is just utterly chilling and gets a stand-out sequence to introduce it in front of the man and his frightened friend. Though, the film really hits it's stride in the second half with the introduction of a second curse that results in the last third of the film and gets some incredibly fun sequences together that have more of a horror edge to it and dropping the comedy. Not that the comedy isn't good, but for once is actually a lot of fun and truly hilarious, with word-play and sight gags combined together to create several riotous scenes that mesh well together with the more serious tone in the rest of the film. Combined with truly spectacular werewolf make-up and a frenetic pace that's never really boring at all, this one is one of the all-time top werewolf films.Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and violence-against-animals.

Director Juan Martinez Morena (LOBOS DE ARGA) complains that he's tired of seeing vampires and werewolves that are 'cool and f**kable.' He wants monsters you can believe in when you go to bed at night. Not the Bugs Bunny horror of CGI that couldn't fool a five-year old. His werewolves will have maximum special effects and stunts but minimum computer graphics. With a limited budget (much of which went on hair from China), Moreno dishes up a picture that is by turns seriously scary and seriously funny. Meet Thomas, a hapless failed writer who holes up in his parental village of Galicia, Northern Spain. A hundred years ago, his great grandmother cursed the village after abducting and forcing a gypsy to procreate with her. Thomas doesn't know a werewolf is out to get him. He doesn't know the villagers are out to get him. Mayhem ensues. But with a cutting edge comedy narrative you'd better examine yourself for bruises after you leave the cinema. When you laugh that hard, it's easy to forget the damage from where you kept jumping out of your seat. Lobos de Arga is a frank and sincere homage to movies such as An American Werewolf, and swooped the audience awards at the Edinburgh Dead by Dawn horror film festival to come first in competition.

Tomas (played by Gorka Otxoa) is a writer that hasn't found many success in Madrid, so in order to get some inspiration, he decides to spend some days back to the village where did grow up, Arga, a very small town in Galicia. When he arrives there, everything seems to be peaceful and calm like it always was. However, Tomas didn't know about an old curse that haunts his family, but he will find it out on the worst way… It's a horror comedy about werewolves set in Galicia (northwest of Spain) and it's really funny, hilarious at parts. As the director (Juan Martinez Moreno) said in FANTASPORTO (film festival in Oporto) it doesn't pretend to be a satire or a parody to this kind of horror films but an homage to this cinema, especially done in the 80's. Some of the jokes are really great. Technically this movie is also well done, as it has very "decent" special effects. The plot is simple but captivating and the acting is good too. I easily score it 7/10.