Judging by the cover of this film thoughts of 'Van Helsing' and 'Underworld' spring instantly to mind...and your not far wrong with that.This is pretty much a copy and mix of both of those films, chock full of lovely clichéd characters and everything you've ever seen before in a werewolf movie.Bunch of crazy hardass werewolf hunters come to a small village to purge them of the wolf horror. A young man from the village volunteers to help them do so but there are twists to come, many predictable twists that aren't too well hidden.The film looks quite good with that typically bleak, dark, murky, 19th century, forest set, Eastern European village look. The characters are basically rips from many other films and include your obligatory Hudson from 'Aliens' type, the cool calm Clint Eastwood-esque leader, the sexy ninja like female and a well spoken, smartly dressed toff who throws lots of little knives. A kind of quirky 'League of Extraordinary Gentleman' type looking gang. The dialog is all the right kind of hero spouting fluff you have heard before, tight little one liners throughout the action just to emphasise these guys are cool and tough etc..The reason I watched the film (apart from being a werewolf fan) was down to the reasonable looking effects. It swings from good to bad really, some shots of the werewolf's claws, eyes or silhouettes against the darkness are pretty neat and work well. The transformation sequences are fully CGI and a bit hokey but I've seen worse, whilst in full CGI motion the creature doesn't look that bad. Put it this way its no worse than the first 'Underworld' flick which had a much bigger budget.Unknown cast accept for previous vampire player Stephen Rea, none of which are much to shout about although Guy Wilson who plays the young man from the village looks perfect for his character. Honestly for a straight to DVD film this isn't too bad and offers some nice visuals and claret soaked action, just don't expect anything original at tall.5/10

Interesting and entertaining werewolf motion picture, better than what the general video consumers say, with a fine introduction "a la Hammer", which evokes Guy Endore's "The Werewolf of Paris", and gives a new twist to the old tale of the man-wolf monster. Partially damaged by a too melodramatic plot point that triggers the final act (not the revelation of the werewolf's identity, but of those behind its evolution), by actors who deliver their English lines with a slangy American diction that clash with the European tale and locations, and a very bad performance by Ed Quinn, the plot was handled with a firm hand and a fine visual sense by director Louis Morneau, balancing the development of the horror story and the action scenes. Maybe the special effects reveal the small budget of a B film (according to standards --it must be said-- exclusive to massive productions in which a big part of the money is spent in expensive stimulants), but in general the production values are considerable high. Apart from all this, producers should start reflecting on what they have turned the werewolf film into… Now the creature simply looks like a big, bad wolf with great strength, and it has been deprived of its essential monstrosity: the mixture of man and animal features in a body beyond description. From the Lon Chaney Jr. creature, it did not develop in that direction, but evolved into a four-legged thing with big teeth.

I really don't understand the latest craze with classic beasts of horror. For some reason, they feel they have to sex it up; that's not a problem in and of itself, but it's usually done with zero substance. This film is a prime example of such a laissez-faire approach. Still, even film-makers have to pay the bills, I suppose.Furthermore, this film doesn't even bother to excuse itself. Within the first fifteen minutes, you will know exactly what is going on, and there will be no mystery as to who the beast is among them.What this film does have is a lot of action; so if you can turn a deaf ear to the crass dialogue and a storyline that randomly darts about, it's not a bad ride.Unfortunately, I was paying attention, so I gave this film a 3/10.

This film was actually recommended to me by a friend who said it was awesome. I did see the film myself and I wouldn't use the word awesome to describe it but it is one of the better werewolf movies that I have seen in a while. During the first half it had the usual genre clichés that were in a way painfully obvious but later it pulls out a few very clever plot twist that actually manages to surprise.Also, given that this is a made for TV movie the quality and production value as well as the special effects will certainly leave you thinking otherwise. The cast has a few familiar faces among them including Ed Quinn, Nia Peeples. Stephen Rea and Steven Bauer and all of them including the supporting cast give good performances.Overall, awesome might not be the word I'd use to describe this film but in the end I did like it and I'd recommend it to fans of the genre.