By Geno McGahee
It’s hard to beat a good werewolf horror movie when it’s done right. I suffered through the sequels to HOWLING and have dealt with the many CGI werewolves of late that have left me empty. DOG SOLDIERS was a recent highlight in werewolf horror and WOLFCOP did some positive things, although it was not much of a horror film. LATE PHASES (AKA – NIGHT OF THE LONE WOLF) is a new werewolf horror flick that does a lot of things right and displays the best looking werewolves since DOG SOLDIERS.
Ambrose (Nick Damici) is a blind veteran that moved into a retirement community with his dog. The women of the community come to visit and they get turned off right away when he makes it quite clear that he wants to be left alone. He doesn’t even want to hear from his son.
One night, the next door neighbor, an elderly woman, is screaming for help. Ambrose hears crashing sounds and he desperately tries to help but being blind and unaware of his new surroundings, he can’t do much. Suddenly, an enormous werewolf crashes into his home and it looks great. The attack leaves his dog dead and many questions. The police believe it to be a bear attack or some other sort of animal, but Ambrose starts to lean toward the idea of a werewolf.
Being blind, Ambrose has the ability to identify the werewolf by smell, but there is a bigger problem in the town. The werewolf is protected and soon, the entire town is overrun by werewolves, leading to a great conclusion. The werewolves look so great and menacing that you want to see more of them and the film does a great job with visuals and making the monsters memorable.
LATE PHASES relies on two things. One, the acting of Nick Damici and two, the look and style of the werewolves, and both excel. Damici plays the role very well. He reminded me of Clint Eastwood from GRAN TORINO with his gritty and dark performance. From the moment he’s on the screen, you can tell that he’s got a dark past just by demeanor. The werewolves look amazing. I could watch them break through walls and jump on cars all day. They really had something special here.
I highly recommend LATE PHASES. It is the best werewolf movie since DOG SOLDIERS.
Rating: 8/10
THE NEWEST HORROR COLLECTION IS UNLEASHED – ORDER NOW!
