Title: Werewolf Rising

Special Features: None

Emma (Melissa Carnell) has moved back home to the Arkansas mountains, and she is battling with her sobriety. She just needs to get away from the pressures from the big city. Being the only single woman in the area, she catches the eye from Wayne (Brian Berry), an old friend of her dad’s whom is more like a father to her and Johnny Lee (Matt Copko) an overly friendly escaped convict that is squatting in a nearby deserted church. When Wayne finds out Johnny Lee is hanging around, he plays protective by changing her locks and giving her a gun.  He tells her to be careful because Johnny Lee escaped prison with another dangerous criminal who may be in the area. Emma’s a big city girl, she can take care of herself. She feels bad for Johnny Lee and offers to cook dinner for him one night, only to find him wounded in his home by a wolf. She takes him back to her house and nurses him back to health, only to have him freak out and start howling at the moon.  Soon she has to fend off a bloodthirsty werewolf whom is almost as dangerous as the men in the town.  After Emma runs into the forest to get away from the killer werewolf, she approaches some random chick in a red silk robe named Beatrix (Irena Murphy) by a bonfire who strips down and tells the werewolf to “take her.” When Emma nearly escapes, she is confronted by the other escaped convict Rhett (Bill Oberst Jr.), a man she’s been having dreams about, tells Emma that he knew her father and that they both had something special inside them that needs to be awakened; the wolf.

The Good: The werewolf makeup was fairly good for a low budget film.  That kind of  sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it’s not.  Boobs!… but you have to wait until the end to see them.

The Bad:  Okay here we go…When we first meet Jonnny Lee, does that motherf–er ever blink? Is that on purpose, or does he actually have a problem? Emma is automatically smitten with this weird dude. Have some standards girl! I’m not that skilled with home improvement, but I know you don’t use a socket wrench kit to change locks.  Emma is a recovering alcoholic, yet she’s pouring herself a glass of wine when she has dinner with Wayne? If you’re going to write about a recovering addict and even show us the chip, know the rules that apply to that chip.  No alcohol whatsoever. There’s some really bad ADR. Some of the dialogue sounds like they’re talking into  soup-cans. There’s some porno-style acting by both Matt Copko and Melissa Carnell when they’re supposed to be flirting, but it’s just coming off as creepy. Emma hides in a closet and finds a bottle of alcohol and downs it like Popeye…then she goes to sleep. What was the point of that? There’s a killer outside! How many times to they have to repeat that there’s no cell phone reception? We get it, you’re f—ed if you get into danger.

Werewolf Rising was all over the place. The script needed a lot of work. They could’ve whittled down the filler and broadened the story about Emma’s father instead of puking up random tidbits at the very end. Your dad was a wolf, you’re a wolf too, the end. Wait…what?

Acting: D

Reviewed by: JM Willis