Premise: A film about a small town being terrorized by a werewolf in hiding.
Wait, this is based on a game? Apparently, Werewolves Within is a VR party game. It sounds pretty similar to the in-person party game called Werewolf. So, that’s something I learned. I think my main reason for surprise is that I don’t think you need a game to come up with this plot. It’s essentially The Thing but with a werewolf. It’s kind of crazy there aren’t more movies like it. Take a group of eclectic characters, put them in an isolated location, and make one or more of them a killer. Done. You’ve got yourself a Clue.
I mostly liked this movie. They put together an entertaining, gettable cast of sitcom types. It was cool seeing Sam Richardson get a lead role. I like how he’s weaponized being a nice guy. His lack of complication makes him an oddity. It even lets him play against it effectively in movies like Promising Young Woman. Here it’s sincere though. I was really happy to see Milana Vayntrub show up. It’s weird to me that she’s not in more things. She’s funny, attractive, and has a clear voice. What more do you need? To be fair, she’s shown up in a lot of things over the years (Silicon Valley, This Is Us, Love), but rarely anything that plays to her comedic voice. This movie isn’t perfect, but it does let Vayntrub cut it up more than I’m used to seeing.
It’s hard to argue with the collective strength of this ensemble. In addition to Richardson and Vayntrub, there’s Sarah Burns, Michael Chernus, Harvey Guillen, Cheyenne Jackson, Michaela Watkins, and others. None of them blew me away. They’re do what they need to. The movie could be funnier, and in hindsight, knowing that it’s adapted from a game sure does explain some of the structural choices. Horror comedy is a tricky balance that this struggles with. They try to poke at some genre expectations with Vayntrub late in the movie, although that’s railing more again lazily written character types than anything horror specifically.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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