Starring - Bryan Clark (DinoGator, The Curse of Halloween Jack), Stephani Anson (To Say Goodbye is to Die a Little, That Time of the Month), and Gio Drasconi (The Yorkie Werewolf, Stories of the American Mafia)
Release Date - 2025
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "She warned them..."
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I say this every time I review a werewolf flick but we, as horror fans, don't get enough of these damn things. Seriously. If I'm lucky, I might get one or two a year to review which is a damn shame. I'm not bitching about the other sub-genres that I get to review but I would love a lot more werewolf and occult flicks to review. A few weeks back I was contacted by Joe Demuro to review his sequel to Tales of Dracula along with the 2025 indie horror flick Mark of the Werewolf. I was looking forward to Tales of Dracula 2, but Mark of the Werewolf really caught my eye. The artwork and title made my mind race with imagination. I couldn't wait to check it out. I want to thank Joe for sending this one over for review!
The film follows model and aspiring actress Brooke who is deep in the woods for a shoot with two other beautiful models. What they don't know is that the cabin they rented for the shoot was once owned by a disciple in a cult. Now, the state rents it out to those looking for a cheap getaway. However, she refuses to sit around idly while strangers stay in her home. She uses her powers to summon a wolfgeist to kill everyone on her land.
I went into this one immediately after Tales of Dracula 2 thinking this was a sequel or something of that nature but it wasn't. Both films does feature Joe DeMuro as a werewolf and I believe both films feature effects from the same artist but that is the only connections that I could find. Mark of the Werewolf is the kind of film I would expect when I hit play on a werewolf flick. It's brutal with a fantastic looking creature and a story that makes it stand out from the others. I really enjoyed this one and can see other genre fans digging their teeth into it as well. The acting in this one very well done. The cast does a great job in front of the camera but the characters they all brought to life was very unlikeable. Most movies I review have at least one character I can associate with or want to see make it out alive. That was not the case with this one. I seriously wanted to see them all meet a gruesome end at the hand of the wolfgeist or the cult. This might be because I'm old and cranky now but I did not like a single character in the film. The story for this one is a lot of fun especially for an indie horror feature. I don't recall another werewolf film using a supernatural ritual to bring about a wolfgeist to kill people. This was a pretty cool story that leaves itself open to so many possibilities for future films especially when you consider how little the cult was used in this story. We have a lot of backstory and lore to explore and I hope we get more of it. Finally, the film has one of the best looking werewolves I've seen in film. It was menacing and looked amazing. The movie needs to be seen just for the beast alone. However, it also has several amazing kills with some top notch practical effects. Most of the kills are memorable and look great. Overall, Mark of the Werewolf is a fucking fantastic indie werewolf flick that many genre fans are going to love. While the characters are unlikable, everything else about this film is a lot of fun. Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment