I talked a little bit about this, the adaptation of Wayne Smith's novel
Thor, but figured I'd give it is own entry on here just because. Even leaving aside the title, it's sufficiently different enough from Smith's novel (despite being faithful in the broad strokes) that I think it merits its own thread.
We open somewhere in South America ("the Amazon" is about as specific as it gets). Wildlife photographer, adventurer and all-around Indiana Jones wannabe Ted Harrison is on an expedition of some sort along with his girlfriend Marjorie and several native guides. The usual setup. The trip is going well and everyone's in a good mood. So much so that Ted and Marjorie sneak into their tent for some nookie while the guides stand guard outside. There's a pretty lengthy and steamy sex scene. Outside, the expedition's horses are getting antsy; someone or something is lurking in the underbrush on the perimeter of the camp. The horses break free and run off; all but one of the guides decide to follow their example. This guy is made of sterner stuff than his buddies, and has his eyes on Ted's shotgun, sitting nearby... but just out of reach. As he lunges for it, the whatever-it-is finally attacks, and the bravest of Ted and Marjorie's guides ends up as the movie's first victim. As for the amorous couple, evidently, their boinking is so good that they don't notice all the noise and indeed remain completely unaware that anything is amiss until suddenly Ted, lying down with Marjorie atop him ("riding him like a mechanical bull" is how one reviewer put it), sees a huge, lupine shadow fall across the tent behind his oblivious lover.
Even as Ted shouts a warning, huge, clawed hands shred through the tent fabric. Marjorie, naked but for her shirt, is yanked out. Ted's effort to come to her rescue is stymied by the creature, which we know see is an enormous wolf-like creature, taking a big bite out of his left shoulder before returning his attention to Marjorie, who he proceeds to begin brutally ripping apart, threatening to make her the movie's second victim. The injured (and very naked!) Ted crawls for the shotgun. The monster continues ripping into poor Marjorie before finishing her off with a brutal downward slash/smack that pretty much crushes her to the earth. Guess she ended up as victim number two after all. The naked Ted finally grabs the shotgun, and promptly blows his girlfriend's killer's head to bits like a rotten pumpkin.
We smash cut to... well, I dunno where, exactly. Somewhere in what looks like the Pacific Northwest (the movie was a Canadian-American co-production so as far as I know, it's set in Canada; I'll have to check the license plates on the cars), we're introduced to the Harrisons. If their last name wasn't enough of a clue, mom Janet is Ted's sister. The family's been whittled down from a mom and dad and two sons and a daughter in the book to just the mom and one son, Brett, although the most important family member, Thor the dog, is of course present, introduced having a grand old time playing fetch with Brett. Their fun is interrupted by door to door salesman Jerry Mills, who Thor takes an instant dislike to... and the feeling is mutual. Jerry is there to try and sell Brett's mother on some kind of Hooked-on-Phonics type reading comprehension stuff, but because he's a big stupid jerk, he keeps teasing the dog until finally Thor jumps up and knocks him down. Growling aside, though, he doesn't actually hurt Jerry. Nevertheless, the pissed off salesman threatens to sue. Fortunately, Janet, who comes outside at this point, is a lawyer and basically tells the guy to get lost. Angry, Jerry scurries off.
Once back inside, Janet gets a phone call from Ted, who is back in the country from the Amazon... and in fact
has been fact for several months, but is only just now bothering to reach out. Janet's glad to hear from him, and so she decides that she and her son (and Thor too) should come and visit sometime.
Meanwhile, in the woods somewhere, we see a forest ranger busy checking on some old growth trees when he begins hearing weird noises, strange growls out in the dark. At first he ignores them... but whatever it is is getting closer. Deciding the trees aren't going anywhere, he runs, but the thing gets the drop on him. Literally. It's up a tree he decides to stop and rest by. And his hardhat doesn't do squat; the creatures bites into - and through! - it like a candy apple. And what little we see of the thing makes it clear it looks an awful lot like the wolfish critter than attacked Ted's expedition in the Amazon.
The next day, Janet grabs Brett and the dog, piles everyone into the family's Ford Explorer, and drives the 200 miles out to the lake where her brother lives. Ted's evidently something of a nomad, as he doesn't have a house, just an Airstream trailer (and no car to pull it with, from what I can see). But his hermit-like lifestyle aside, the famed wildlife photographer seems to be doing decently for himself, though he's a little melancholy and won't say why. He's also given up smoking and taken to nervously chewing toothpicks, and is always unshaven. He needed a shave in the opening sequence, but now that he's back he really should start using a razor again, something Janet teases him about. Talk turns to Marjorie, who Janet can't help but notice is not there. Evidently the two were super in love and utterly inseparable. And we get the first inklings that something's wrong with Ted when he lies to his sister about his girlfriend's whereabouts; rather than admit she was killed by some kind of wild animal down in South America, he claims they broke up and she moved to Seattle, which Janet takes as the reason for why her brother is acting depressed. Ted prefers to steer the conversation away from Marjorie and the Amazonian expedition and talk about his sister making partner at her law firm. Smooth, Ted.
Because he's a nosy kid, Bretty snoops in his uncle's trailer. He finds the usual stuff you'd think to associate with a guy in Ted's profession, such as a microscope, some test tubes and various preserved specimens of small animals... plus a very old leather bound book titled The Lore of Werewolves. While a confused and curious Brett is leafing through this tome, Thor is frolicking in the woods. But his fun comes to an abrupt end when he finds the ranger... or what used to be the ranger. Firstly, he's in many pieces, and apart from the torn clothes and the obvious shoe on one foot, you can't even tell the mess used to be a person. Worse, all the gore and ripped and torn clothes and general nastiness is all dangling from the branches of the tree he was killed under, like some kind of macabre Christmas decorations.
Of course, Thor, being a dog, has no way of actually telling his owners what he's found, and his whining and barking are mostly dismissed, but the grisly discovery
completely changes the dog's attitude towards Ted. He isn't sure how to react to him now. Is Ted somehow connected to the gruesome thing Thor found? Is he in danger from whatever killed the man? Thor doesn't know. Meanwhile, Brett is equally weirded out by his uncle, and hides the book about werewolves when he and Janet come inside the trailer. Ted notes Thor's changed attitude towards him, but doesn't comment on it; though he has a hell of a time persuading the dog to come to him to be pet. Soon enough, the visit is over; Janet, who doesn't like Ted living by himself way out in the middle of frickin' nowhere, especially fresh off of his breakup with Marjorie, invites him to come and live with her and Brett. He declines. For now. Then it's back into the Explorer and the Harrisons drive back home.
Not long after they've returned home, Janet gets another call from her brother, and this time he sounds a lot less cheerful than before. In fact, he sounds on the verge of tears. According to him, seeing her and Brett did him some good after breaking up with Marjorie, and he has accepted her invitation to come and stay at their house, at least for a little while. What he doesn't tell her is that the reason for this is because someone found what was left of the ranger hanging from the tree and now the lake is swarming with cops. It's not immediately clear what the matter with Ted is, but he's clearly decided the area around the lake has become too hot to hold him and it's time for a change of scenery. He brings his Airstream with him (I assume Janet tows it with the Explorer) and has it parked on a hill overlooking the Harrisons' house. His odd habits continue. He goes for nighttime runs, usually during the full moon; Janet also finds chains and handcuffs among his belongings in his trailer. Well, actually, Thor finds them, because he's discovered that Ted's stuff, especially the cuffs, smell an awful like the bad smell he detected when he found the torn apart ranger in the woods out at the lake. Janet just assumes her brother is into some kinky shit and teases him about it... but Thor knows better. More and more, he grows suspicious of Ted.
Ted also does an awful lot of talking about werewolves. Coming in for breakfast one morning, he discovers his nephew is watching
Werewolf of London (the scene where Henry Hull's character Wilfred Glendon first begins turning into a werewolf). Although Brett is enjoying the movie, his uncle seems amused by it. The two have a fun little debate about whether the movie and others like it are accurate to werewolf lore. Ted claims he's encountered real werewolves during his travels, and insists most of the stuff in the movies is bullshit. For one thing, it doesn't need to be a silver bullet or silver
anything; he's found that just about any conventional firearm will do the trick (as we saw in the opening scene), and furthermore it doesn't necessarily need to be a full moon for a werewolf to transform ("Why not
any moon?" he asks rhetorically, suggesting that in
Bad Moon, werewolves change under the light of any moon, but full ones are more potent). For Brett, the conversation is beginning to border on weird and unsettling now; he remembers that book he found in his uncle's trailer and reminds him that werewolves are make-believe. Ted ominously replies that that ain't necessarily so, then leaves to go eat, leaving his nephew to finishing watching the movie and chew over what they discussed.
Meanwhile, as she's preparing breakfast, Janet sees a news report on TV about what's been going on up at the lake. Evidently that ranger was just the
latest person to be brutally killed by some unidentified animal. Several hikers have gone missing and been found in similar condition to him. Janet understandably wants to know why Ted didn't say anything about the fact something is ripping people apart out where he used to live, especially considering he invited her and her son out there for a visit, and the fact there's some kind of wild animal on the loose that likes smearing people all over trees is information he probably should've shared. He apologizes and tries to smooth things over, and ominously warns Janet that he thinks the animal, which he says he assumes is an especially big gray wolf, might be heading further north in search of more prey, and he advises her to make sure Brett and Thor don't play out in the woods after dark. Janet thinks Thor can handle a wolf, but Ted is adamant that he'd be no match for
this wolf.
That night, Ted leaves his trailer, and this time, he takes the handcuffs and chains with him. Thor barks to go out, wanting to follow Ted. He still isn't sure if he is connected to what, in the novel, he calls the "Bad Thing" or if he is somehow in danger from it, but he doesn't wanna let the man out of his sight. Janet obliges, and soon Thor is rushing out into the nighttime forest, following Ted's scent... which he soon loses, as it is replaced by the Bad Thing's. And he finds Ted's discarded pants and sweatshirt... and his sneakers, the toes of which have been shredded, as though Ted has some really killer toenails that finally did them in. And then, finally, he finds it. The Bad Thing. It's a humanoid wolf standing at least six or seven feet tall, with a tail and everything, and is currently held captive by the cuffs and chains keeping it secured to the trunk of a particularly thick tree. As Thor cautiously approaches, the wolf notices him, and strains desperately against the chains, eager to free itself so it can attack him. Thor wisely hangs back; chained or not, the creature looks, and is acting, really mean. Then suddenly he hears Janet's voice calling him... and so does the wolf. The thing looks from Thor, to the direction of Janet's voice, then back to the dog, almost as if it recognizes the voice. Thor hastily beats feet back through the woods, leaving the wolf to continue uselessly tugging at its bonds. As before, though, he lacks the ability to tell exactly what it is he saw; all he can do is bark and whimper and try as hard as he can to get Janet to come and see the Bad Thing, but she's more interested in following her brother's advice and getting Thor safely back inside. No easy task. The dog fights like hell, but is dragged back inside all the same.
The next morning, Thor sees Ted, wearing just his pants, the only clothes that were reasonably intact, returning to the Airstream and taking the chains with him. While he doesn't entirely understand how it's possible, he realizes that Ted and the Bad Thing, the werewolf, are one and the same. And upon being let out again, he expresses his displeasure at this fact by lifting his leg and taking a piss on one of the trailer's wheels, much to Brett's boyish amusement... and Ted's intense annoyance when he re-emerges having changed into a fresh set of clothes. From here on in, things start getting tense as hell between the two. Ted doesn't seem like he's sure if Thor knows his secret, but he doesn't like the way the dog looks at him and starts following him around. Thor, for his part, is determined that Ted is not going to hurt his family. Or anyone else.
Janet and Brett also notice the growing tension between man and dog. Especially Janet. The next night, when Ted comes out of his trailer to "go for a run" as usual (read: chain himself to a tree), Thor makes a point of following him. Not wanting the dog to be around when he undergoes his transformation, Ted demands his sister get the dog off his case. She does, but this is enough to get her suspicious enough to go snooping in Ted's trailer again... and what she finds is not encouraging. She finds a photo of what's left of Marjorie after the first werewolf in South America got done with her; realizing Ted lied about Marjorie being in Seattle, Janet comes to the understandable conclusion that Ted killed her (he didn't, he just took pictures of the body). She also finds a book. Not The Lore of Werewolves, but Ted's diary containing his field notes about the expedition... and the strange affliction he began experiencing upon returning. Blackouts, waking up naked in the woods, sometimes covered in blood, the usual warning signs. He saw several doctors, but although they all identified that something was indeed clearly wrong with him, some ailment, none of them could precisely narrow it down; all those test tubes and stuff Brett found earlier are all that's left of what the diary explains as Ted's doomed efforts to cure himself after the doctors couldn't find an answer.
And despite the blood he sometimes he awoke to find himself drenched in, he didn't start suspecting that he'd actually been killing people until the ranger's remains were found. I dunno if Ted was in denial or just dumb. The diary further explains that because everything points to the disease being pseudo-spiritual, Ted thinks that love, specifically the love of family, can make his lycanthropy go away, which is why he agreed to move in with his sister and nephew. Well, that and the fact his usual hunting grounds are currently crawling with cops, hunters and search parties. A horrified Janet doesn't believe in werewolves... but she does believe her brother has lost his damn mind, thinks he's a werewolf, and killed Marjorie and all those other people, although she remains unsure of exactly what to do. Should she confront Ted? Kick him out?
Meanwhile, Thor's out on the prowl again... and so is Ted. This time, he didn't manage to handcuff himself to the tree in time. Thor finds his discarded clothes and the dropped chains. Realizing the monster is on the loose and his owners are in danger, he races back to the house, and just in the nick of time. There's werewolf Ted in all his glory, and a pretty brutal fight ensues between the two in the backyard. Hearing the noise, Janet activates the house's security floodlights; dazzled and confused, Werewolf!Ted beats feet into the woods and is gone from sight by the time Janet comes outside. She finds Thor bloodied and hurt, but alive; comforting him, she brings him inside.
It's at this point that Jerry Mills re-enters the story. Remember him? The jerk salesman? Evidently he's the most thin-skinned man on the planet, because he feels humiliated by Thor knocking him down, and he sneaks onto the Harrison property armed with a meat cleaver (!), intending to lure Thor out of his doghouse with a steak and then chop him to bits. Except, of course, Thor is inside having his wounds tended to. And unfortunately for Jerry, he isn't the only one with a vendetta against the dog, and Ted, returning, still in his werewolf form, decides to show him there's only room for one arch-enemy for Thor in this movie. Ted slashes him across the front, which is enough to not only disembowel him and lay open his throat, but also take off most of the fingers on his right hand. Jerry then has the dubious pleasure of remaining conscious and aware of what is happening to him as he staggers, guts falling out, blood spurting from his neck, staring is confused disbelief at what's left of his hand, before Ted finishes him off with another swipe that sends the guy flying.
The next morning, Ted's back in the Airstream... and the law is knocking on Janet's front door. Sheriff Jenson is there to inform her that what's left of a certain dog-hating salesman was found strewn all over the road leading up to the house, and considering the cleaver the cops found, Jenson is convinced that Jerry Mills came back to kill Thor... but something got him first. Because of Thor's injuries, Janet is worried that Thor killed the guy, which would mean he'd have to be put down, but the Sheriff assures her that there's no way a dog did that to Jerry Mills. It was something big. Really big. Remembering Ted's diary, Janet asks if what killed Mills could be the same animal that got those people out by the lake. Jenson is doubtful, as that's 200 miles away. Though it is rather strange that they stopped finding bodies after Ted Harrison moved. However Jenson doesn't think Ted is the culprit either, since despite Janet putting forth the (as she explains) "purely hypothetical" scenario that a human murderer is responsible, Jenson denies this, assuring her that no human being can rip, tear and pull human bodies apart like that. As for Thor, although he tells her that he won't take any action now, he does warn her that the earlier attack against Jerry Mills came dangerously close to crossing the line, and if something like that happens again, he'll be forced to undertake the unpleasant task of taking the dog away to be destroyed.
Well, who should get precisely this idea but Ted. Not long after Sheriff Jenson leaves, Ted, who still has no memories of his nocturnal activities but is certain he did indeed kill the guy the police found strewn all over the road not far from the house, has decided that the whole "cure himself with family love" thing just ain't working (nevermind his latest victim was someone who had it in for Thor, so he actually unintentionally helped the very dog who has become his enemy) and he's gonna commit to being a werewolf full time... although he still doesn't want to hurt his sister and his nephew. But Thor's gotta go. So the next time he and the dog have one of their little standoffs by the trailer, this time with Thor, who can smell the dead Jerry all over him, growling at him, Ted waits until Janet, fresh from her talk with the Sheriff, comes over to finally voice her suspicions about her brother to the horse's--I mean wolf's mouth, Ted provokes Thor into attacking him with the most smug, menacing wink you've ever seen; deciding he's had enough of this prick, Thor lunges and attacks him. And unlike with Jerry the salesman earlier, he isn't interested in simply knocking him down and sending him packing, he's going for the throat, though Ted, who due to his work has experience with wild animals, manages to throw up his arm and let Thor sink his teeth into that. Screaming, Janet forgets for a moment about her suspicions that her brother is a murderer, pulls Thor off of him, and locks him in the laundry room.
The next time the laundry room door opens, it's so Janet can lead Thor into the waiting arms of some white-suited animal control guys. Thor freaks. Brett screams and cries. Even the dog catchers don't really seem like they're relishing having to confiscate these people's dog as poor Thor squeals in terror and desperate, fighting against the nooses the men are using to try and get him under control. In fact, the only person who remains calm throughout the entire ordeal is Ted, who gives the most halfhearted wave goodbye as Thor is finally wrangled into the animal control van... and then, given his own canine nature, repays Thor for pissing on his trailer by going and relieving himself on Thor's doghouse. Yeah, at this point, Ted is a flat-out villain. The ensuing dinner scene is awkward and tense. Ted begins asserting himself in a very threatening way, and generally providing no comfort to his family over the loss of their dog. And when Janet leaves the room to clear away the dishes, there's a disturbing moment where he wants Brett to come sit on his knee, and when Brett refuses, Ted repeats himself more sternly; the terrified boy finally obeys, and all for his uncle to basically tell him to forget about Thor and he'll get him a new dog. Janet, returning, orders Brett to bed... and then finally (kinda) confronts Ted about all the weird shit. She asks him if he'd ever lie to her. When he says he wouldn't, she asks him for the second time where Marjorie is, knowing full well she's dead... and Ted just repeats that she went back to Seattle. Now, finally, Janet knows her brother is lying and must be the killer.
That night, Brett sneaks out to go to the dog pound and free Thor. Back at the Harrsion residence, Ted once again sneaks out "for a run," and this time Janet sees him. She contemplates grabbing the Rossi 971 snub nose revolver she keeps in the kitchen, but (and this really annoyed me) for some reason elects not to take it when she follows Ted. I can only assume that it's due to what little bit of lingering affection she has for her brother, but still. Armed with nothing but a flashlight, she follows Ted into the woods and comes upon already in a somewhat wolfish state preparing to chain himself to the tree like usual. Though upon seeing her, he elects not to; he's decided he can't let her live, considering her suspicions... and what she's about to witness. A pretty decent werewolf transformation follows, with Ted's body morphing and warping into weird shapes that are neither human nor wolf (some more effective-looking than others). Even as he's finishing his change, Janet races back to the house to get the gun. But it's a revolver and it's unloaded, meaning she's going to have to put each individual bullet into the cylinder, something her brother the werewolf, now fully transformed, isn't keen on letting her do. He smashes through the kitchen window and attacks her. To her credit, Janet manages to kept ahold of both the gun and the loose bullets, but like in every horror movie she chooses to run upstairs rather than out the front door, though to be fair, anywhere's as safe as anywhere else when Werewolf!Ted is on the prowl, and she does manage to brain him with the grandfather clock on the landing in a nice bit, though he quickly recovers.
She locks herself in her son's room. Werewolf!Ted promptly busts down the door. Janet drops the gun finally (still unloaded!) and it seems like she's a goner when Brett returns with Thor, who he sprung from the pound. Dog and werewolf hate each other on sight. Ted decides to abandon killing his sister in favor of kicking the crap out of the stupid dog that's caused him so much trouble, but Thor is a fighter. This fight is even more brutal than the one they had in the backyard earlier, and pretty much everything poor Brett owns is either smashed to bits or gets blood all over it. In particular, his desk and computer are toast. Thor rips, bites and claws at Ted, and the werewolf flings Thor around like a doggy rag doll. But Thor keeps getting back up for more. As for Janet, she isn't just sitting there doing nothing; with trembling fingers, she loads the Rossi, but can't fire just yet because Thor is in the way, but after the werewolf knocks him down, seemingly killing him, Janet unloads all six shots into the thing that used to be her brother. Although badly injured, Ted sustains mostly chest and shoulder wounds from the bullets, and then decides to try and kill Brett, grabbing his nephew by the throat and yanking him up off of his feet brutally. Suddenly Thor springs back up. The second Brett is dropped to the floor and out of harm's way, Thor leaps at the monster, sinking his teeth into his throat, and the force of him hitting Ted in the chest sends them both staggering backwards and through the bedroom window; they fall to the ground outside.
As Janet comforts her terrified son, Thor lies unmoving on he lawn. Beside him, Ted, his throat torn open, manages to lurch to his feet and stagger away into the woods. Groggy and badly injured himself, Thor manages to get up and follows him. It's daylight by the time he finally catches up to him, finding a naked, bloodied and dying Ted struggling just to remain standing, leaning against a tree for support. He's not gone yet, but the state his throat is in means it's only a matter of time. Seeming to come to his senses, he has one final stare down with the dog, before whispering "Do it." Whether he understands or not, Thor springs forward, leaping offscreen, and something very wet and messy happens to Ted (the only clean offscreen kill in the entire movie). The monster dealt with, Thor limps back home to his grateful family... and apart from a stupid (but effective) jump scare in which Janet has a nightmare about Ted's lycanthropy being passed on to Thor (we get a hilarious "werewolf-dog" puppet), the movie has a thoroughly happy ending in which a bandaged Thor plays with his family, with praise heaped upon him for saving them all.
The End.
And that, I daresay, is quite possibly the best werewolf movie I've seen in a good long while!