Werewolves Within is an incredibly charming whodunnit horror comedy that offers tons of fun and it's apparently based on a video game. It's so clever, quirky, and tight. The horror and comedy elements blend together really well. The editing style feels very snappy, giving me similar vibe to Edgar Wright's work. You get nice amount of gore, suspense, and mystery. The wacky cast radiates good energy into the film and delivers zero bad performances. Sam Richardson is great as a lead performer and I really like the chemistry between him and Milana Vayntrub. I wish this film leans towards the horror elements a bit more but overall I had a really fun time. Josh Ruben continues to impress me with this film, I'm looking forward to see his upcoming project!
Think of an annoying, unfunny supernatural Knives Out and you get Werewolves Within. I was looking forward to this as I really enjoyed Josh Ruben’s Scare Me but this one needed a rewrite. I really enjoy when movies juggle gone and genre and this one goes for that but does not succeed. And please, people stop bringing up Wolf of Snow Hollow as a comparison in your reviews as it shows you had a fundamental misunderstanding of that film which is better in every way.
Woke BS sprinkled into a copy-paste script. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Because this whole woke nonsense movement seems to have been invented to ensure that incompetent people stay employed somehow, isn't it? :rofl:
Perfect flick to half watch and half day dream on Ebay
way to less werewolves and horror. its more like a cluedo movie with some funny moments and a little bit blood. trailer was way better that the actual movie.
The Plot
Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) is the new ranger in the small town of Beaverfield. Soon after meeting all of his new neighbors, each with their own quirky personalities, a snowstorm hits the small hamlet. Now that the already secluded town is even more distant from the rest of humanity, Finn and mail-person Cecily (Milana Vayntrub), must keep the peace as a suspected werewolf terrorizes the community.
My Thoughts
It doesn’t take much for me to get excited about horror movies these days. I mean, I generally will try and see almost all new genre flicks upon release, but if one has to do with creatures, or werewolves more specifically, you can bet that said flick with rise to the top of the must-see list pretty quickly. Hell, there are even times when all I’m watching is werewolf movies.
Based on the 2016 video game of the same name, Werewolves Within is a horror comedy that takes place in a small, secluded town and features an intimate cast of only about a dozen or so characters. I prefer these types of films for a few reasons.
Firstly, I don’t have to worry about getting to know too many players. A small cast makes it much easier to figure out whether you love or hate someone within the film’s allotted runtime. I either want to see you die or not. It’s as simple as that.
Secondly, the tight quarters always does a great job of heightening the level of tension and suspense. A film called Werewolves Within clearly has to do with a killer wolf… right? That is scary enough, in theory, but when your characters, the ones you both love and hate, are all trapped in one location, it just makes things that much more terrifying.
Werewolves Within, the sophomore film by writer/actor/director Josh Ruben (Scare Me) started off strong. Its brand of comedy managed to garner a few out-loud chuckles from me very early on, and since I am a sucker for any type of budding romance, I quickly became a fan of the new relationship between Cecily and Finn. Luckily, both the laughs and the love connection continued throughout the film, but at some point the threat, and therefore promise, of a werewolf took a backseat to the whodunnit mystery.
I know this was by design; It is made clear that viewers are supposed to be kept in suspense – is there a werewolf running around Beaverfield or not – but the constant teasing with a delayed payoff does hurt my final rating for the film in the end.
I enjoyed the performances of the entire cast and thought the mixed bag of characters was a fun treat. From Ranger Finn who just couldn’t seem to “man up,” constantly using phrases like “heavens to Betsy” and “co-inc-i-dinc” and Cecily, the gossip-sharing mail-carrier to the Wolfson’s, Devon (Cheyenne Jackson, “American Horror Story”) and Joaquim (Harvey Guillen, “What We Do in the Shadows”), the local same-sex yogi couple, everyone brought something entertaining to the table. All performances were on par with one another, no one becoming the weak link along the way, and it was nice seeing Milana Vayntrub in something other than another AT&T commercial!
Additionally, when the horror side of this horror comedy does rear its bloody head, it does so in impressive fashion; There isn’t much bloodshed, but a bitten off hand here and a throat ‘slicing’ there is all executed with glorious practical effects.
The Verdict
Werewolves Within is a fun monster mystery with good acting and impressive special effects. It is funny when it needs to be, while also being an effective horror film. The pacing does suffer at times and I would have loved to see the payoff a bit sooner, but overall, I have no problem recommending this film to fellow horror lovers.
I loved these quirky villagers but they deserved a better writer. And they should have thrown in a few juicy subplots. The good points are you’ll maybe claw your way through a few laughs and it will keep you guessing whodunnit…
Not as good as the trailer made it out to be, largely thanks to a convoluted script and some forced attempts at humour. However, while it’s not as howlingly funny as I expected it to be, there are still good moments in this comedy horror.
Cleverly put together, this was a refreshing look at a who done it flick. The end surprised and the timing of the elements was outstanding. Some laugh out loud moments peppered through the flick that were actually funny. Very entertaining.
A fun horror comedy I enjoyed throughout its runtime, but won't be rushing to rewatch anytime soon. The title probably reveals too much though.
After watching "After Party" (especially season 2), I can't watch anything with Sam Richardson. His onscreen persona is so terrible I wanna punch him in the face for the full 90 minutes.
It was a pretty good horror comedy.
I dont get the hate for this film. A well paced whodunit with great acting and even better delivery of jokes. I admit I had low expectations going in, but I was actually impressed with the end result.
Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub star in the horror-comedy Werewolves Within. Based on a video game, an isolated mountain town starts tearing itself apart when their generators are sabotaged and man is mauled to death by an animal, leading to suspicions of a werewolf. The writers do a good job at creating quirky characters and set up a fairly intriguing murder mystery. However, the resolution is disappointing and the characters get a little too wacky when everything blows up and people start turning on each other. Still, overall Werewolves Within is entertaining and delivers some good laughs.
It was okay. Some of the characters were very unlikible and annoying. Had a lot of potential but fell short. The white girl song scene caught me off guard, very whitty.
Predicted the lycan based off 1 line of dialogue (which never happens). Otherwise a charming film. Richardson is his usual reliable self, Vayntrub is a delight and needs more opportunities.
Like a tag-a-long younger brother: annoying, harmless and tries too hard but it's difficult not too like him regardless. Sadly, like that little bro, it gets old quick.
It feels like another whodunnit parody (Clue, Murder by Death...). Think of it as a Knives Out for werewolves, but more Out than Knives.
P.S. Milana Vayntrub (who I knew from Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show podcast) owns this movie.
Darkly humorous supernatural comedy with some great acting and a solid storyline.
I liked some of the goofy humor and how all the characters are complete idiots. Although, not so much on the social commentary that this movie tries to put in for some reason.
Werewolves Within is based on a video game, a VR video to be clear, that I have never heard of and after watching the film and then looking for clips of the game on YouTube it must be said ‘very loosely’ based on the video game. I mean I am based on the same creature as George Clooney.
The film is a mix of genres going for black murderous comedy and a trapped set of folks trying to find out who is murdering who and why. Everyone, except the two main protagonists seems to have a motive and everyone seems capable so far, so Agatha Christie. The twist is although the humans are in general obnoxious and loathsome, and capable of murder when the deaths and maiming start it appears it might be a werewolf. A werewolf whodunnit? Original and different.
Nope.
I would love to know if Mishna Wolff had ever seen or liked ‘The Beast Must Die’ a Peter Cushing Hammer Horror werewolf whodunnit from 1974? It was a straight as a horror thriller and I remember being mightily disappointed by the conclusion and the film when I first watched it, but I am pleased to say not so with Werewolves Within. The makers went the correct way with the story such as this, it is played for laughs, not guffawing, tear-inducing laughs, but chuckles and smiles throughout the running time. Certainly, from my point of view the way to go with this type of story.
It helps that Sam Richardson plays to his strengths as an actor, a friendly, harmless, almost avuncular character that the audience can both laugh at but like and sympathise with from the start. Then pair him, or sort of pair him up with the attractive Milana Vayntrub who is pitch-perfect as a sub-manic-pixie-dream girl, cute and fun but with enough agency to not be ‘Finn’s love interest’ and you have a hook that should hold much of your audience.
I cannot reveal any of the story because things happen to characters and situations arrive that if described or even hinted at will ruin the film for anyone who has not seen it.
The horror in the film, much like the comedy, is very much lukewarm and herein this is the film’s greatest weakness, it tries hard to not be fish nor fowl, but a tweak with the horror or with the comedy would have definitely helped give the film a stronger identity. When you see ‘horror-comedy’ as a descriptor do not expect An American Werewolf in London, which for a lot of people was terrifying when it came out or Shaun of the Dead which was hilarious, to me and others, on viewing, mind you those are lofty heights to attain to be fair.
The cast is comedic in slant and despite my misgivings they put in good shows, with everything writ large, clearly this is on purpose, so if you run with this and have fun throughout the run time, you will enjoy the film.
Werewolves Within is a fun Saturday night’s viewing when you want to stay in, if you listen to dialogue early in the film and about two-thirds in you will be told who the werewolf is but at this point, after shifting my opinion between a couple of characters I had already settled on who it was and the script underlined it for me. I would not go out of my way to watch the film again and I will have forgotten it within a few months but there are worse films to watch when you are in the mood for a bit harmless fun to watch.
i mean it's mediocre, if you go in this think you're gonna see something amazing you're gonna be disappointed, but if you want some cheap fun then it's not bad.
[Sitges FF/Amazon] A whodunit mystery game mixed with lycanthropy that works best in its cinephile references. The director brings a good pace to the histrionic narration, and the script by Misha Wolff introduces more script twists than the film can handle. But that also makes it doubly entertaining, full of black humor when the initial stability of the small town gives way to the outbreak of latent conflicts.
Great movie, good acting. This movie was fast paced and funny with just the right amount of scary moments mixed with humor !
Verdict: Thumbs up !
This film sucks! Only funny bits were in the trailer. Wish I could get my money back since I was dumb enough to buy it
Exactly what is says on the box.
More fun than expected.
This movie has high ambitions but sadly falls short. It's humorous, but not really all that funny. It is still worth watching just because Lilly, the AT&T girl is in it.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Skipping.... skippingggg.... skipppping some more! okay that's just a waste of time.
Werewolves Within is a fun whodunit story and one of the better examples of a video game adaptation. There are many humorous moments throughout the movie, but nothing extending beyond chuckle territory. The horror elements lack tension, and the narrative lacks a little in its second half. There were some great performances. A fun movie with a brilliant premise.
Total and utter waste of time. Not a single minute in this "movie" was worth watching.
Meh!!! Nothing else to say.
Wow. This is terrible. The main guy is great and provides a silly narrative but everything else is just not funny. I've only watched half of it and not sure if I can sit through the rest.
Shout by SkinnyFilmBuffVIP 8BlockedParent2021-12-29T23:43:01Z
Was looking for a comedy and chose this based on its good reviews and the fact that it features some actors that I've enjoyed in other comedies (Sam Richardson in Veep, Michael Chernus in Patriot, and George Basil in Crashing). Unfortunately, I came away quite disappointed. The movie embraces its clichéd setup a bit too much for my liking, with the various twists/reversals in the final half hour feeling very predictable. The goofy small town characters feel too much like caricatures. The humor is more hit than miss. Although the primary genre is different, I can't help but compare this to Knives Out, which was significantly more successful, both in terms of establishing an interesting ensemble cast, and crafting a clever story. All of that said, the movie isn't awful, or even bad. As my rating suggests, it's just sort of meh. There's a handful of funny moments and Sam Richardson has the comedic chops to sell even some of the weaker jokes, but it's not enough to recommend.