Evidently,
werewolves can be as snobby as anyone. Sure, some humans are turned through
bites, but hereditary lycanthropes look down their snouts at then. You will
find a large concentration of pure-bred wolves in Lupine Ridge. It might look
like hill country, but it is the Philadelphia Main Line for werewolves. It is
there that Cayden Richards will go searching for answers in David Hayter’s Wolves (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
Richards
never knew he was adopted until he heard it on the TV news. Having discovered
his parents ripped apart wolf-style after an inconvenient black-out, it is now too
late for him to ask them any questions. Resigned to live as a fugitive from
justice, Richards simply roams the highways, trying to keep his inner beast in
check. However, a chance encounter with Wild Joe, a fellow pure-bred werewolf
outcast, points him towards Lupine Ridge.
As
soon as he blows into town, he seems to rub Connor, the town’s
alpha-male-alpha-wolf, the wrong way. However, a wiry old farmer by the name of
John Tollerman offers to take him on as a farmhand, no questions asked. Even the
television reports about Richards’ previous misadventures do not seem to throw
the good-hearted Tollermans. Nor does it scare off Angelina Timmons, who ought
to be too young to tend the bar she inherited if she roughly as old as
Richards, the high school senior-dropout. Of course, the authorities never come
to Lupine Ridge, because aside from a few humans like Mrs. Tollerman, they are
all werewolves.
In
terms of tone, Wolves aims to be
something like the lycanthropic equivalent of The Lost Boys, with hit-or-miss results. On the plus side, Jason Momoa’s
Connor makes a terrific hairy heavy and Stephen McHattie has the perfect Lance
Henriksen-esque weather-beaten gravitas for Tollerson. Both come into Wolves with genre cred that they only
further burnish.
The
problem is Lucas Till is horribly dull and awkwardly light weight as Richards.
It is hard to see him as a high school quarterback—drama club president, maybe.
Hayter had to notice how much verve Momoa and McHattie brought to the table
(which they then proceeded to chew) and how slight Till’s presence is in
contrast. Granted, dull horror movie heroes are a tradition dating back to mild
David Manners in the original Dracula.
However, in this case, the film depends on Richards’ fierceness, but it isn’t
happening.
