I was satisfied with two out of three with this selection from my Prime watchlist, so let’s find out which ones.
WEREWOLF CASTLE (2021)
I’m always there when director Charlie Steeds makes a new horror flick, and considering I purchased his last flick, A Werewolf in England, on DVD, I was psyched to discover his latest is another werewolf film.
Werewolf Castle is more of a medieval action horror flick, with a young man becoming the unlikely hero when his village is attacked by a pack of werewolves.
No CGI here—these are awesome, old school werewolf costumes and bloody effects. And there’s no cloaking these werewolves in shadows or dark; many of the action scenes take place in broad daylight.
After a village massacre, a team is sent on a journey to the castle of the king to ask for help in taking down the beasts. The cute leading boy, who was busy having sex in a barn during the attack (and showing off his booty), offers to be the navigator.
His worth is questioned by his peers, but as their adventure continues, he proves to be a major asset and steps up to take on the vicious werewolves each time they attack.
It all leads to a final battle that is not only bloody and violent…it’s darkly sexy.
AWAKEN THE SHADOWMAN (2017)
Eh. I don’t even know why I bother to watch these supernatural specter movies. They’re all the same—countless moments of the apparition appearing in the background with a stinger sound to deliver a jump scare that is followed up with absolutely no action. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it…by about the fourth time this happens in these movies, the supernatural entity has lost all its potency and you no longer feel a hint of fear.
Anyway, a dude is called to his mother’s home by the brother he’s been estranged from because the brother sort of stole his ex.
He now has his own woman and a baby, but the tension is still there.
The mom (played by Jean Smart) has gone missing, and the brothers slowly begin to work together to figure out what became of her by talking to various weird members of the community.
The dark demon silhouette is creepy the first time, then it just gets thrown in now and then to keep reminding us this is a horror movie since nothing really intense happens for a majority of the film.
In the end this kind of gives off hints of Rosemary’s Baby.
A COMEDY OF HORRORS, VOLUME 1 (2021)
Boldly labeling itself as volume one, A Comedy of Horrors proves to be an anthology I would totally welcome a sequel to. It might be a little uneven, but overall it really captures the dark, semi-humorous tone of classic anthology flicks of the 80s.
The wraparound alone is a blast, with a wicked teacher sitting down to read her students some scary stories…
1st – a clown party turns into a massacre in 1988. That’s cool, but this story is just a little too silly for my tastes. In the present day, the town in which history begins to repeat itself is fully inhabited by clowns, including the two cops on the case. There are some funny moments and some slashing, but this is just bizarre overall.
2nd – this one reminded me of the movie Benny Loves You. A dude with a puppet has a date, and she’s obsessed with his puppet…which he tries to warn her is actually a monster. You can imagine where this is going.
3rd story – a campy bachelorette massacre tale, this one turns into a battle to the death as a group of girls gathers in a house to celebrate one girlfriend’s big day.
4th – this is my absolute favorite of the bunch. A movie actor finally scores a role as a superhero and goes to get fit for his costume. The special effects dude turns out to be a bit of a psycho who uses the molds he casts as voodoo dolls.
And finally, it’s back to the wraparound for the teacher to give her students a lesson they’ll never forget.
