It’s a new year and a new Direct to DVD Dissection here on the Freakin’ Awesome Network. This time, we go with another Syfy debut gone to DVD release in “Red: Werewolf Hunter”
Released January 3rd, 2012
The Story
The descendants of Little Red Riding Hood wage war on a violent werewolf group in the nearby town of Tanner’s River. When Virginia brings her fellow FBI agent boyfriend, Nathan, to meet the family, they are all caught in the middle of an age old struggle that threatens to affect all of them.
The Cast
- Felicia Day as Virginia Sullivan – The titular “Red”, a family nickname, she hunts Werewolves along with her two brothers Marcus and Jake. Day has made her fame online, with the web series “The Guild”, along with her voice overs in video games like Dragon Age II, Guild Wars II, and Fallout New Vegas. Considering a nerd icon of sorts, though
- Kavan Smith as Nathan, Virginia’s boyfriend who learns the truth of her family’s history of vampire hunting. He recently appeared on the Syfy series Eureka playing Sherrif Andy 2.0. Also, contrary to his name, he isn’t from New Jersey, doesn’t smoke weed, nor make movies with his friends.
- Stephen McHattie as Gabriel, the head werewolf who starts the trouble between the Sullivan family and his own group of wolves. He’s known for playing Hollis Mason in the movie adaptation of the Watchmen comic. He also played Hammerson, a villain, in the movie “Shoot Em Up”, that also featured the hero and villain cursing each other out with neon signs.
- Greg Bryk as Marcus Sullivan, the brother of Virginia who also serves as the local sheriff. He also appeared in Shoot Em Up, same as McHattie, as the Lone Man character. They also both appeared in “History of Violence” and “Immortals”. He also appeared in another movie called “Red”, which featured Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren.
The Dissection
The movie has a lot of issues right out of the game. The main problem with the movie is the pacing. The movie is 90 minutes long, but the different plots and history of the family and critters and all of the exposition is either rushed or just implied.
The plot meanwhile, needs some work. The whole story about the ancestors of Little Red Riding Hood really feels tacked on and unneeded here. There are just a few scenes like an opening references and a red hood in some scenes, but nothing that feels central to the plot at all. The plot of the family of werewolf hunters works enough to not need to drag in the reference to the fairy tale, and actually raises some questions and concerns with its inclusion.
From left to right: Marcus (Greg Byrk), Jake(David Reale) Nathan (Kavan Smith) and Virginia (Felicia Day) during a hunt. Somewhere, Van Helsing is laughing at Marcus' attempt at a Gatling Srossbow.
Acting wise, it varies. Day has some good acting chops, though she seems to have issues with keeping her eyes off the camera. Her boyfriend, though, has some issues spread over with his tone and acting and it’s noticeable. The other characters do good jobs all around, though the real standout of the film is Gabriel, the villain. He does really well in his role and resembles Peter Fonda several times in his acting style.
However, the movie really suffers in consistency in its main character. Virginia switches between timid team member giving the lead to her brothers to veteran hunter who takes charge. Switches between damsel in distress to one woman army. She changes emotion so much in this movie, it feels more like a demo tape of her abilities than a movie with a narrative and plot. It really hurts the story, as she is the main focus and her decisions during these moments do feel like
Effects wise, the movie has some practical shots or off camera effects in places, and they look good. However, a majority of the movie involves CG in order to show several werewolf transformations and monsters. The CG really resembles less like standard B-movie Cg and more like Cg they got from a video game cutscene. As the movie relies on it during the majority of the movie, it really stands out and takes the viewer out of the movie.
The actual title screen of the movie. That's all I'm going to say about it.
In all, its a movie with some good acting and not much else. It does have some interesting moments of action, even if it raises issues of character balance. The rest of the movie, though, can’t carry the slack, and the wind blows out of the sails of this movie around the time of the climax and ending.
As for the DVD extras, it’s sparse to say the least. No trailers for other movies at all and no special features to talk about, not even a trailer. There’s only one audio track, and 3 subtitle choices, of which 2 are English (close captions and regular subtitles) along with a French subtitle. That’s it. It’s basically a bare bones release. It’s disappointing, as any kind of special feature can extend the worth of a DVD in a number of ways.
A werewolf attack, during the intro. He's posing like Killer Instinct's Sabrewulf, isn't he?
The Verdict
“Red: Werewolf Hunter” is a movie that was best seen on Syfy channel. Fans of Felicia Day may like it and be satisfied with her performance, and because the movie likes to focus their shot on how her tight jeans fit over her backside. They can also find some interesting performances from the rest of the cast. However, there’s nothing, in both the movie or the DVD itself, that will keep you coming back.
Rental for Day’s fans, Skip to the rest.