Tags:
Film: Werewolf Game
Year: 2025
Directors: Jackie Payne and Cara Brennan
Writer: Jackie Payne
Starring: Lydia Hearts, Teala Dunn and Tony Todd
Review:
This was a film that caught my attention when Shirly from Studio Dome / The Horror Collective reached out with the opportunity to see the screener. The press release stated this was one of Tony Todd’s final performances. It also said that it had Bai Ling in it. I agreed to check this out for review, especially since this is a 2025 horror film. I also realized as this started up that Robert Picardo appears.
Synopsis: twelve kidnapped strangers play a death game voting to murder one another nightly. ‘Werewolves’ among them kill ‘villagers’ until one group remains.
We start by seeing a boat coming to a dock and then a jeep driving through a field. It is from there that we shift to a screen with text. We learn through this that for decades a social media company of Welfin has been conducting a deadly social game of survival known as the ‘Werewolf Game’. Random people are selected from all over the world and forced to play on an uncharted island. Supposedly the winners are provided money for the rest of their lives.
This game is led by The Judge (Todd). Being forced to play is Demi (Ling) who is a former dancer, Bill (Picardo) is a forensic detective, Monika (Lydia Hearst) is a nurse, Pepper (Teala Dunn), Raymond (Tim Realbuto), Zak (James Crittenden), Natalie (Tabitha Jane) who is an exotic dancer, Chris (Leon Andrew Joseph) who is former military. He is interesting because he was dishonorably discharged. The other players are Seth (André Tempfer), Suzie (Cara Brennan) and Emmitt (Ethan Ingle).
We see all these players in a big room and they’re sitting at school desks with tablet computers. They’re told without knowing much about each other to decide who will die first. Demi offers herself up, giving a story about how she carries guilt and doesn’t want to continue. There are armed guards here who honor her wishes after the vote. They’re then released to mingle amongst each other. There are certain areas they’re confined to. We see this as Emmitt tries to run past, but he’s stopped.
Things of note here is that Chris takes all their food. He returns it, having rationed it amongst them. Seth starts to go crazy with the pressure. Zak is an older man. Raymond befriends Matt. The former claims that he worked for the company behind this game and has insider information. We see what happens when the stress of this gets to everyone as they try to decide who the werewolves are. More die in the process and we see someone in a metal wolf mask as well as having gloves with claws pick people off each night. This deadly game will test the limits of human nature.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this does have an interesting premise. I didn’t realize this was inspired by a game from the 1980s that you’d play at parties. It is a variation on the one from Bodies Bodies Bodies. I do like taking an idea like this, then ramping up to be deadly where characters’ lives are at stake. We see what happens when you’re stressed. People are accused which makes them turn on each other. Also, how disinformation can be used effectively.
Now that I’ve set that up, let me delve deeper here. Raymond claims that this ‘game’ is being used to help develop AI technology for this customer. The opening text doesn’t fully fit this, but I guess this tech has been in development for probably close to 20 years now. Even if that wasn’t what they were originally working on, I could see a corporation with the money to pull off something like this doing it. This is borrowing the idea of hunting humans as well that we’d see in things like The Most Dangerous Games, which has a multitude of variations, as well as Battle Royale, where it pits the contenders against each other. Using this as a basis and then adding a different why works for me.
I do have an issue though. It is a double edge sword though. There are so many characters that it was hard to follow. I don’t know if there is enough time to fully develop them. This is one where I just roll with it until we narrow the characters down to who we truly focus on. What is interesting here is that we have bigger names of people who die earlier on. That almost feels like the Psycho effect where you might pull people in to see them and then shock them when they don’t last. I’ll shift over to say that the acting here is fine. It is great to see Todd being the face of the villains. His mask is cool as well. Hearst, Dunn, Realbuto, McManus, Joseph and the rest of the players were solid in their roles. I also liked getting to see Ling and Picardo. The guards are faceless since they also wear masks. That helps when they are killed, since it dehumanizes them.
That issue I had with this being difficult to follow also falls into filmmaking. I’ll first credit the cinematography. Being able to capture this island, which is beautiful, but also that isolated feel was great. The framing also helps there. Now we don’t get much in the way of effects. I do appreciate it if you can’t make them look good then cut away to help hide the seams. The masks that the villains wear are good. This also builds good tension by not knowing who can be trusted. Other than that, the soundtrack with the screener fit and added to the atmosphere.
In conclusion, this is a film that I thought presented an interesting premise. What I like is that we know as much as our characters do. Using this isolated island where this game takes place is good. Then having our characters hunting each other is as well. The acting was solid. No one was great but this is more with the concept. I was guessing until the reveal. This is difficult to follow though as well since there are too many characters. We do need that though with the concept of hunting each other. This is made well enough. I don’t think it is great by any stretch but if you like lower budget films, this one is worth a watch.
My Rating: 5 out of 10