Werewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012)
Set in a 19th century Transylvanian village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.
Universal return to their Gothic roots in this fast paced, action packed tale. Coming across as a less messy version of Van Helsing (2004), this may lack the star power of Hugh Jackman but it plays out as less of a derivative cash in on the Universal legacy.
The team of bounty hunters are a rag tag bunch of actors including Ed Quinn and Scarface's Steven Bauer with Nia Peebles in the obligatory role of doom telling wise woman. Hell even Stephen Rea pops up in possibly his goriest role yet as a doctor / mortician type.
Being a Universal film the production looks great. Filmed in the Dark Country, the streets look uncannily like those from 1922's Nosferatu and give the film a realistically authentic look thankfully, whilst never shaming their legacy of monsters and mayhem. The only slight drawback being the way CGI morphs with excellent practical effects work. The creature make up is great, did they really need CGI?
As the credits roll, hopefully you'll have enjoyed this as much as i did third time around with the final thought that although not a classic by any stretch of the imagination Werewolf: The Beast Among Us is a decent 90 mins entertainment and should be lapped up by Universal completists.
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