In an archeological dig site, the crew unearths skeletal remains that bear a mixture of human and canine characteristics that some on the crew believe to be a skinwalker (werewolf). During a fight instigated by site supervisor Yuri (Jorge Rivero), one of the crew is scratched by the skeleton and soon becomes ill. Eventually the crewman becomes a skinwalker through Yuri's intervention and mysterious inciidents involving beasts begin to plague the surrounding area.
Werewolf is a 1996 direct to video horror film made by Iranian filmmaker Tony Zarrindast. Zarrindast's career spanned all the way back to 1962 when he began directing low budget schlock in his native Iran, but following the Iranian revolution he fled to the United States where he continued to produce exploitation films with his same seal of quality (hence why he's nicknamed the Iranian Ed Wood). Werewolf is one of Zarrindast's more well known films having been showcased on cult movie mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and were it not for its showcase on that show Werewolf might've faded into obscurity like so many other forgotten 90s direct to video genre fare. Given the nature of Tony Zarrindast's filmography, it should surprise no one that Werewolf doesn't work as a horror film as it's a sloppy mess of a movie.
To start off on a positive note, the premise behind Werewolf is intriguing at first. The nature of the werewolf in the film is tied to native American mythology involving skinwalkers (also called "yetiglanchi" according to the movie, but I wasn't able to confirm if this was a real term). The impetus of the skeletal remains of a werewolf still having the power to turn those injured with them into werewolves is an interesting concept on paper but in execution not so much.
The movie per the standards of its director plays very stiff and awkward with shots that go on too long, weird incorporation of animal sound effects that are non-diegetic, stilted deliveries from the actors many of whom seem like English may be their second language, and stiff robotic fight sequences that have the "punching tire" sound effect you may remember from every other 70s Kung Fu flick you've forgotten. Even the werewolf effects which are of paramount importance to any werewolf movie are really inconsistent with the make-up sometimes appearing as vaguely humanoid with fur around the face only to be coupled with insert close-ups that feature a puppet that has a significantly longer snout than the make-up used on the actors. The movie's also filled with confusing editing choices and obvious day for night shots that they don't even attempt to make convincing and I'd be hard pressed to tell you about the motivations of certain characters with action and reason seeing noticeable divergence.
Werewolf is a bad movie, but it's an amusingly bad movie. It has a nugget of a good idea when it comes to unique takes on werewolf lore but aside from that one point in its favor its pretty much everything a werewolf movie shouldn't do done anyway.
