Never Cry Werewolf

Mysterious Jared Martin (Peter Stebbings) moves in next door to the Loren Hansett (Nina Dobrev). Her little brother Kyle is taken with this motorcycle riding newcomer. When a prostitute goes missing, she recognizes her from his house. She suspects that he's a werewolf and her friend Angie (Melanie Leishman) calls the cops. The cops do very little about it. When Angie and her boyfriend get killed, she tries to tell the police detectives but nobody believes her. The only help is the hormone-filled Steven. She also tries to get the help of TV personality Redd Tucker (Kevin Sorbo) to battle the evil beast.

I'm a fan of Fright Night, and I love the first half of this movie. This is lower budget fare, but it dealt with that well until the action starts with Kevin Sorbo. The costume makeup is bad. The action is horrible. The CGI is passable for a TV movie. Sorbo is playing the comedic role but he's not good enough as a comedian. It is all downhill after the fight in the gun shop.

I would be lying if I said it was a great movie, but for SyFy it is tolerable and much better than it should have been. Okay, there are one too many parts of the story that are predictable and derivative of Fright Night, the editing is very fragmented, the special effects are rather cheap-looking(but I have seen far worse actually), the direction is much too straight-forward to be convincing and some of the killings are weak in thrills and over too quickly. On the other hand, the scenery and locations are actually quite spookily atmospheric, and the music is also fitting with the tone of the film with some tongue-in-cheek moments. The dialogue is never going to be nominated for an award for Best Screenplay but it is much less cheesier and stilted than most SyFy movies and there are scenes that do have at least some fun and suspense. The characters are clichéd, but are nowhere near as annoying as so many other characters in SyFy movies. The acting is better than average, I agree to some extent that Peter Stebbings is rather on the young side to convince completely as a villain, but Kevin Sorbo especially is good. So overall, mixed on the whole but it is far better than it could've been which could have been far worse. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I'm certain this will not be the only review of this film that will declare this, but this film, while enjoyable by the standards set by Sci-Fi channel movies, is one of the most unabashed rip-offs of a film I have ever seen.

To confirm what others have said, YES, this film does indeed borrow every single plot device imaginable from the 80's classic, Fright Night. It does this to such an obvious extent, that it makes the movie hard to enjoy on certain levels. First and foremost, there is no real suspense, or even curiosity when you can instantly tell that you have seen everything about this movie once before. It follows the Fright Night blueprint so closely, that anyone who remembers anything about FN will instantly be able to guess ahead as to where this movie is headed.

This may have been made as an ode to Fright Nite, but no such declaration is ever made, leaving me to believe that it is simply the result of a lack of imagination, and originality on the part of the filmmakers.

Like others have already mentioned, this straight-to-TV b-grade production (yes a Sci-fi feature) is 1985 "Fright Night" all over again… but this time for this generation the spin is it's a werewolf next door. The plot structure is rather similar, as the differences go to some certain key factors being switched about and having a witless script tagged to it. One thing though; as the down-to-earth main character comes to the realisation that she's living next to a werewolf it comes off rather forced and rashly quick, compared to obsessed horror nut protagonist in "Fright Night". Nonetheless it's very average, but I still found it rivetingly disposable, despite how derivative it happens to be and exactly how goofy (intentional or not) it plays out. Actually the mockery vibe felt more deliberate than not. What made it even more enjoyable were the three performances of (a dependably confident) Nina Dobrev (who's decked in a sports bra for the film's climax), Peter Sebbings (who's gleaming presence seems to fit) and definitely Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo amusingly sending up his TV-star based hunter character. It wasn't great acting, but they're fitting by having fun and it shows in the film's energy. Which was needed because the direction and visual styling was on the plain side, as the attempted jump scares were weakly executed and the restricted make-up effects looked quite shonky. They do throw around (that's literally) a bit of blood splatter. Fragmented editing is used around the beastie and its attacks. In some scenes you see bits of it, or a simple silhouette and shadow. However there were a few scenes were the angle of the camera placed, had me thinking it looked like a bear. Nothing special, but a decent time-waster if you can look past its been-there-done that story.

I don't get the lukewarm reviews as "Never Cry Werewolf" (2008) is a worthy addition to the werewolf genre. Yes, it rips-off the plot of a popular film from two decades earlier, "Fright Night" and, yes, it is a made-for-TV flick, but despite these factors it delivers as a half-serious/half-comedy werewolf flick.

PLOT: A mysterious man (Peter Stebbings) moves in next door to teenager Loren (Nina Dobrev) and she concludes that he's a werewolf. Of course, no one believes her so she enlists the help of a washed-up reality show actor (Kevin Sorbo).

Like I said, "Never Cry Werewolf" only plays it semi-straight, so don't expect the dead-serious vibe of, say, "wolfen" or even "Red Riding Hood."

Stebbings is reminiscent of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine here and is excellent in the role. But he's clearly at least 36 years-old and so it's a bit disturbing that he's literally sniffing around a 16 year-old girl.

Nina is good as the protagonist and has a cute look, but I prefer her friend in the story, Angie, played by Melanie Leishman. Melanie may not be as cute but she has better curves. In any event, her role is too small.

As always, Sorbo is extremely likable. He plays a reluctant hero in this one.

The film was shot in Brantford & Hamilton, Ontario, and runs 87 minutes.

FINAL WORD: Although "Never Cry Werewolf" loses points for blatantly ripping off "Fright Night," the bottom line is that it's entertaining from beginning to end. The werewolf lore is sound and the cast is solid. In addition, the werewolf looks menacing and there's a lot of goofy gore. It's just a fun film. What more do you want from a low-budget werewolf flick?

GRADE: B-