Werewolves Within
R2 - United Kingdom - Signature Entertainment
Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (8th July 2021).
The Film

Be careful who you invite in, they just might be KILLER company.

KNIVES OUT meets 30 DAYS OF NIGHT.

A small town finds themselves trapped in a snowstorm and under threat as a mysterious beast begins to pick them off one by one. As the bodies begin to pile up, it soon becomes clear that the killer is closer than first thought.

As the blame begins to shift from person to person, tensions rise and this trigger-happy community will do anything to ensure they are the last ones standing.

Video

Goofy werewolf comedy horror is broadly played and written but is pretty entertaining.

A new ranger (Sam Richardson, likeable and funny) moves to a new town where the towns people are extremely uptight and at each others' throats. This pressure cooker environment is compounded by some murders ... could there be a lycanthrope among them?

A witty, funny horror comedy with an uneven script being the main woe which makes the piece feel cluttered. Richardson plays off Milana Vayntrub as his sidekick and possible romance figure extremely well and she's cute and funny. They make a great contrasting team; he large, tall and dark, whilst she is small, short and pale. The whole cast are pretty good although I did find that there was a suspect or two too many. At times the rapid-fire wit and overlapping dialogue did grate. Apparently based on a computer game; this reminded me of the superior The Beast Must Die (1974).

Digitally lensed in the ubiquitous 2.39:1 ratio with a naturalistic approach to exteriors and a more stylised richly coloured approach to interiors. Flesh tones are warm, black levels are good with some decent shadow detail for the DVD format but are slightly undone hy a slightly raised brightness level. There's some minor crush but not much. Contrast is supportive but flat with moderate dynamic range. There's no signs of grain, obviously no damage and no signs of digital tinkering; it's a soft image even for the format.

MPEG-2 / DVD5 / 2.4:1 / 92:44 PAL

Audio

English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: None

The soundtrack is best experienced in the 5.1 which has more depth but overall this is pretty front centric with plentiful use of surrounds but mainly for score and scenes with songs. Comes alive in action and shock scenes but overall it's unadventurous for the genre but gets the job done. No subtitles are provided.

Extras

Startup Trailers:
- Wrong Turn (1:01)
- Willy's Wonderland (0:57)


Standard promos for other Signature Entertainment releases presented in 2.39:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.

Packaging

Standard black Amaray DVD Keepcase.

Overall

Witty, entertaining werewolf comedy gets a passable DVD release from Signature Entertainment in the UK. Image is soft, slightly flat and muddy, sound solid but extras are non-existant. Cheap on day one and well worth the price but true fans and collectors will go for foreign BD releases.

The Film: C+ Video: C+ Audio: B Extras: D Overall: C+

 


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