BONEHILL ROAD

BONEHILL ROAD (2017)

Directed by Todd Sheets

Written by Todd Sheets

Starring Eli DeGeer, Ana Rojas-Plumberg, Douglas Epps, Gary Kent, Millie Milan, Dilynn Fawn Harvey, Linnea Quigley

From IMDb:

"Emily and Eden Stevens escape one violent situation only to dive headfirst into another. Terrified and alone they are stranded in the dark woods only to be chased into a horrific scene in a house of horrors. They must work together to get out alive. But what is worse? What is on the inside or out?" 

Seemed appropriate to hold this one off until Werewolf Wednesday because we have another low (okay, micro) budget, indie horror, crowdfunded werewolf film to check out with the new Todd Sheets flick, BONEHILL ROAD.

Naturally what got my attention, aside from werewolves, of course, was the plan to do it with all practical effects and not CGI so I managed to pony up a little cash for the cause myself.

As I've said before, when looking at movies made at this level, you have to use a different scale. Even the low-budget WOLFCOP was made for around a million dollars. BONEHILL ROAD was done for around fourteen thousand. My hat's off to anyone trying to make any full-length film for that kind of money, and when you add in the idea of full werewolf suits and practical effects...insane. But these guys did it.

Like the IMDb synopsis states, Emily and daughter Eden Stevens leave an abusive home with the intention of getting to Emily's dad's place and regroup from there to figure out their situation. Unfortunately, their route takes them down Bonehill Road. After a minor accident turns into a full-scale werewolf attack, they take refuge in a seemingly abandoned house and, well, the phrase "Out of the frying pan, into the fire" comes to mind.

What follows is a pretty harrowing situation for the two as they find themselves trapped by a psycho in the house while the werewolves toy with them outside, keeping them trapped.

It's a rough ride for the two, and the movie's success hinges as much on the performances of Eli DeGeer and Ana Rojas-Plumberg as Emily and Eden as it does on the werewolves. The two do a good job and work well together as mother and daughter and you want them to get away. That's something that comes as a relief to me because too many movies these days have characters that quite frankly I couldn't give two figs about. My favorite Scream Queen Linnea Quigley is also on hand in something of an extended cameo that's one of her better acting jobs. 

The werewolf and gore effects are also pretty good. The werewolves all have a distinct look, so it's not like they did one mold and made copies. You can recognize the different beasts. Some shots are easily the equal to (or better) than the stuff I've seen in more expensive films. They even take a stab at a full-on transformation which mostly works out pretty well.

Full-on, practical werewolves, blood-n-gore, even a bit of nudity. Basically everything one could want in a movie like this. If you're okay with the obvious limitations imposed by the budget, I'd say give this one a chance.

Bonus: I also really dig the haunting "Bad Moon Rising" cover used in the movie -

Two Werewolves and a Babysitter

So yes, I absolutely did take a break for Christmas. But I'm back with a triple-feature, hence the title (which now I'm afraid will show up as the title of one of those ebooks on Amazon - guess I'd better hurry and write it myself).

Anyway, read on if you like for my thoughts on WEREWOLVES OF THE THIRD REICH, CARNIVORE: WEREWOLF OF LONDON, and THE BABYSITTER.

PREDATORY MOON

PREDATORY MOON (2017)

Directed by Shiva Rodriguez 

Written by Shiva Rodriguez

Starring Chris Morrissey, Jonathan Foster, D. Duckie Rodriguez, Jeffrey Crisp, Lowrie Fawley, Mel Heflin

From IMDb:

"Kyle Reading is a zoologist who has been studying wild animal attacks across the country in hopes of finding ways to prevent them. When a young boy is allegedly killed by a bear in Florida, Kyle launches his own investigation. He quickly turns his attention to Dean Clout, the child's uncle, who somehow survived the vicious attack. Dean, infamous for being the town drunk, remembers very little about his brush with the bear. Found unconscious in the woods, he only recalls that he and the boy were left there by a friend who went to run an errand and never came back. But in the weeks following the attack, Dean begins to drop some of his bad habits and pick up some strange new ones. Kyle is convinced that Dean was actually attacked by a werewolf and wants to help him deal with his new condition while keeping the rest of his family safe. He knows that the lycanthropic disease runs in a twenty-eight day cycle and that Dean is running out of time. Unfortunately for Kyle, there is someone who has been keeping a close eye on him. Someone who sees an advantage to having a stranger in town who cries "werewolf"."

A few years back I must've been going thru a period where I had a little extra cash. I contributed a few bucks to an Indiegogo campaign for a werewolf movie because, well...werewolves.

A few weeks back I was browsing new titles available to stream with Amazon Prime when this movie caught my eye because, well...werewolves.

Lo and behold, the reason it sounded familiar is because this is the movie I ponied up some of my hard-earned cash for so they could do some practical werewolf effects.

What did my $15 get me?

LYCAN

LYCAN (2017)

Directed by Bev Land 

Written by Bev Land and Michael Mordler

Starring Dania Ramirez, Jake Lockett, Parker Croft, Rebekah Graf, and Kalia Prescott, with Vanessa Angel and Gail O'Grady

"When six college kids in a sleepy southern town are assigned a group project to rediscover a moment in history, one of them sets in motion a horrific fate when he proposes they head into the Georgia backwoods to tackle the legend of Emily Burt, the Talbot County werewolf. "Lycan" is a Hitchcockian tale of horror set in 1986 that delves into a hundred-year-old fable where our students are met with very real consequences that go beyond any classroom lessons."

Or so says the back cover of the DVD, at least.

I don't do too many 'blind buys' in this age of Netflix, but for the first time in a couple of weeks (thanks to the nutty work schedule I'm still dealing with) I went somewhere other than the grocery store and saw this. It tripped a couple of my interest triggers so I snagged it.

So how did that turn out for me?

LYCANTHROPE

LYCANTHROPE (1999)

Directed by Bob Cook 

Written by Bob Cook

Starring Robert Carradine, Christopher Mitchum, Michael Winslow, Jeffrey Alan Chase, Rebecca Holden, and Dalia Garcia

Oh, I didn't want to do this. I mean, I really didn't. But even tho I had a regular two-day weekend this time around, I've been distracted by "real life" things - Dad's fine, by the way - and haven't read or watched anything decent to natter on about. 

I did, however, watch this a few weeks back. So, in the tradition of "I watch bad movies so you don't have to," let's get this week's entry out of the way....