Eyes of the Werewolf

Welcome back my fine collection of oddlings! Oh not all of you but apparently some of you would like me to investigate some more Stephanie Beaton films. So, yeah I can do that. She's a pretty nice person from what I am gathering. Owner of Silver Moon Productions and more recently, an etsy shop, FromTheCauldronWitch. Yes I have no issues plugging businesses and maybe my readers will find either cool to gaze upon. So um...the premise of today's film did throw me. The title on its own is open to interpretation. This is Eyes of the Werewolf.

Lasik didn't take.

So my Dad speculated it could be mostly in POV, through the wolf's eyes. My thought was we follow his life story and the struggle to curb the beast and hunger for human flesh. Yeah it, um is neither of these.

Director Jeff Leroy (Creepies 2, Werewolf in a Women's Prison, Psychon Invaders and Giantess Attack) helms our story opens with a gaggle of hunters out in the late day for night with a superimposed moon. Moons happen. Quite a bit. Okay yes we are in Indie Horror country so let's not loose our crap. This lot is tracking a werewolf in full wolf-man form and to be fair, he did score two kills. Gored a guy's throat and lightly massaged a guy's neck to death. I realize he was clawing him but it looked like a very dainty hold. The hunters off the supernatural butt sniffer and take his head as they work for an EeeeEeevil scientist, Dr. Atwill (Tim Sullivan of Deadly Tales, Vampyre Femmes, A Passion to Kill, Camp Blood, Camp Blood 2 and Deadly Scavengers) that is harvesting organs. Good thing they went with werewolves and not vampires and zombies. Pretty sure those organs would be useless.

Rich Stevens (Mark Sawyer of Alice, Cheers, Too Smart for Strangers, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Fraiser, Math Blaster Episode I: In Search of Spot and Alien Force) has blown up his lab and well his eyes. I mean the eye thing is painful but dammit who's paying for all that mess? ME! Taxpayer! Outrageous. He is whisked to the hospital and is given eyes almost immediately. Damn no transplant waiting list or nothing. Now that is service.

Dude is missing out on this killer smile.

Nurse Sondra (Stephanie Beaton of Wicthcraft IX: Bitter Flesh, Zombie Gang Bangers, Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft, Monster in My Car, Eyes of the Werewolf, Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood and A Passion) is explaining how fortunate Rich is to have recieved these eyes that seem perfect for him. No tissue rejection and all in the green. Hey Rich! GOGGLES! You don't need a grant for those! You can pick up some solid goggles at Home Depot! They are safety rated for volatile chemicals, dude. About 50 bucks.

Also we go right into a love scene with Sondra and Rich. Now logically he has been in the hospital for some time, Sondra no doubt has fallen for this guy and he with her but this is happening from the last scene with the hunters and the werewolf. No real time in the film has lapsed so may have jumped the gun there. So that's about 3 minutes devoted to that with a weird woeful piano score. Not to mention a serious ethics breach for Sondra. You can get fired for that, lady. The sex better be damn impressive. So bliss setting in and Rich seemed to forget he's married. Awkward Coitus? Oh just a touch. Jerk. Using Sondra like that.

Exposition pillow talk elaborates wife Rita (Deborah Huber of Eyes of the Werewolf, Maniacal, Blood Sisters and The Last Ten Seconds) is kind of a bitch. Yeah doesn't visit Rich in the hospital, doesn't even call to see if the transplant went well, should she pick him up from the hospital, does he need any assistance navigating around the house. Nada. Warmth of a bed pan and just as full of it, Rita establishes this huge change in Rich's life was the last straw and beats cheeks. Yeah she is out on the town. Now normally I would be in Rich's corner but he was just sexing it up with Nurse Sondra moments earlier so really can't take the moral high ground, bro.

Rich goes to visit his best friend Craig (Lyndon Johnson of Eyes of the Werewolf, Pleasure Zone Volume – Promiscuous and Some Body), who also didn't visit him the hospital or look in on him at all. Seriously, does Rich have any friends or family that give a crap?

Wanna neck, baby?

With a bit of lipstick faux pas, Rich concludes best buddy and wifeypoo are doing the deed behind his back. Rich gets defensive, flails a cowboy roundhouse and gets knocked on his ass. Yup, he has not been in a fight since Star Trek aired when he was a boy. Full moon occurs and guess who is Rich's first victim? Man, he is going to need some fiber to pass Craig.

With the police hot on the case...like since maybe 9 that morning. Late start I think. Pilates, coffee and bran muffins ain't gonna happen before a homicide investigation, people. That's just science. Lt. Evers (Tarri Markel of Air Marshal, Unstoppable, Criminal Minds, My Mom's New Boyfriend, Intervention and Flu Bird Horror) is hot on the track of the homicide and technically this would probably be written off as animal attack. Cougars, coyotes, mountain lions. They are pretty common, folks. Nope, gotta be murder. By the way, Rich ended up in a field next to a dwarf's house and no that is not a lead in to a Dungeons & Dragons joke. Androse (Kurt Levi of Eyes of the Werewolf) is an expert on the occult and not the tyrannical enemy in Star Fox. He tries to help Rich figure out why his shirt's all torn up and for some reason still has shoes. I mean the feet would expand or bulge, right? Always happened to Dr. Banner via Hulk transformation.

Rich also has an unusual neighbor lurking in his backyard with the name...brace yourselves. Siodmak. Yes that is his name. He seems to be an writer on the occult and supernatural happenings and thank God for that. You want your taxes done or your tires changed by Siodmak? Sounds like a Final Fantasy villain or possibly, Secret of Mana boss. Siodmak claims he saw Rich roaming around as the werewolf and Rich just dismisses him. Gotta say, I agree with Rich. Not the ignorance of wondering if he was a werewolf but the sheer factor a dude named Siodmak gets outside much at all.

Naturally wife is back to be one dimensional bitch again. Yup that always goes well. Just drop her ass off to Crystal Lake, Rich. As a movie monster, you are practically an alumni and Jason will make her death memorable. Most likely impale on a tree stump. With another wolfing out, Androse speculates Rich may be a werewolf.

Will Rich come to terms with his late night murderous ways?? Can he and Sondra have a life together??

Okay typically my readers are expecting me to crucify this film. Something about micro budgets mean start thrashing it. Well, I am not doing that. Instead I will point out some of the highlights.

In spite how we didn't really have alloted time for Rich and Sondra to have a relationship, Stephanie and Mark have good chemistry together. Stephanie can emote and she's got a helluva reaction and scream for crazy werewolf shenanigans. There was a random potential lesbian subplot where Lt. Evers is hitting on Sondra...during the homicide investigation. But it's cool, she said it would be highly unorthodox and unprofessional to make these advances. Yeah it came out of left field leaving me to raise a Spock like eyebrow in utter confusion. The wolf costume isn't bad. A damn sight better than I thought it would be. The blocking around wolf attacks actually worked and it is feasible.

The locations could have tried a bit more. I guess they couldn't film crucial scenes in the hospital, like say an office for some but I scratched my head at that. Borrow an office from a dentist, tax accountant, run down detective agency and just block and don't reveal where you are shooting.

Ultimately I don't what this film is trying to be. Sure Horror but normally a werewolf film is about a victim making victims, the struggle of the two natures: humanity and the beast and well most of these kills were more vengeful than horrific. Is it a tragic tale? Is this a creature feature? Am I putting too much thought into this?

Car trouble?

Rich isn't an interesting enough character to feel more than pity because well the life of a chemist is a loney one. His wife and best friend were total jackasses and he could have a good relationship with Sondra if not for the curse and Lt. Evers trying to butt in with awkward lesbian hints.

Loving the transplant idea and makes you wonder how many lycanthropes the doctor has made by his bumblesome hunters. There are some interesting ideas but not enough screen time to establish all these associations or even causal acquaintances. Still there was story, characters and plot happening. Overall, Stephanie is the name to be watching this for as she busts butt and gives a pretty damn good performance. No, she is not looming over me as I write this with a gun to my head.