WolfCop, 2014
Directed by Lowell Dean
Starring Leo Fafard, Amy Matysio, Jonathan Cherry, Sarah Lind, Aidan Evine, Jesse Moss, Corinne Conley, James Whittingham, Ryland Alexander
SYNOPSIS:
As a series of strange and violent events start happening, an alcoholic policeman realizes that he has been turned into a werewolf as part of a larger plan, so he investigates with the help of his partner and his friend.
A film like WolfCop should not be as good as it is. In an age where filmmakers attempt to purposely make B-Movies that are “so bad they’re good” and end up just making “bad”, WolfCop is that rare breed of b-movie horror that is genuinely so bad it’s good. In fact it’s better than good, it’s amazingly kind of brilliant.
Taking place in a small town in Canada, stereotypical ‘drunk cop who is bad at his job’ Lou Garou gets taken in by a cult group and turned into a werewolf. However, the cop inside him that he always could be takes over and he becomes a new town hero – WolfCop. Sounds pretty mental right? Well, it is.
But that’s just what makes WolfCop so fun. It’s so unashamed of its silly ideas that it just embraces the madness and rolls with it. Every single member of the cast and crew clearly showed up to set with the main goal of having a good time and that shows on screen. Even when the movie is at its most violent and gory stages, WolfCop always has a light and frothy tone. It of course ends up being bad, but that’s not the point. Lowell Dean succeeds because he wanted WolfCop to still be a good movie and not just some cheap trash looking for cheap laughs like a lot of “post-Grindhouse” efforts.
Like last year’s The Demon’s Rook, WolfCop is a film that stands out from others of its ilk because at its core they’re trying to make something people will want to watch. Like Troll 2 or The Room, Dean believes in WolfCop and knows it can be good. He’s not a director-for-hire who has been handed Sharktopus so just phones the whole thing in. But while he believes in it, he also knows that it’s a silly premise and therefore doesn’t try take himself too seriously. It’s that perfect balance of taking the subject matter seriously, but not yourself. Homages to movies like Ghostbusters (which they even copy shots from) are clear indications of how much fun Dean is having with WolfCop.
It also contains the bizarrest sex scene since Team America: World Police…
On more serious matters, over the last few years, the transformation of a man turning into a wolf have become more and more elaborate and gory with incredible visuals. Gone are they days where Lon Chaney Jr. having some fur on his face was acceptable enough to pass. Even genre-bar-setter An American Werewolf in London is seen to be outdated with the gore-fest likes of Hemlock Grove pushing the boundaries and limits of transformation scenes. But even with its meager budget of $1 million (Canadian), WolfCop can stand up tall and proud alongside its werewolf counterparts. Its gory enough, its visceral enough and it looks just as great any movie with double the budget. It probably won’t be remembered anytime soon or hailed as one of the all-time greats, but its really effective.
Let’s not beat around the bush, WolfCop is not a good movie. The acting is terrible, the script isn’t very good and the story is far too corny and clichéd to write home about. But, that’s really not the point. The point is that WolfCop is a brilliant movie that is more fun than some will get give it credit for. There will sadly be those who will look at WolfCop and see the movie as “bad”, but thankfully there will be those who see it for the brilliant fun it is.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published August 22, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
