Never Cry Werewolf

Like others have already mentioned, this straight-to-TV b-grade production (yes a Sci-fi feature) is 1985 "Fright Night" all over again… but this time for this generation the spin is it's a werewolf next door. The plot structure is rather similar, as the differences go to some certain key factors being switched about and having a witless script tagged to it. One thing though; as the down-to-earth main character comes to the realisation that she's living next to a werewolf it comes off rather forced and rashly quick, compared to obsessed horror nut protagonist in "Fright Night". Nonetheless it's very average, but I still found it rivetingly disposable, despite how derivative it happens to be and exactly how goofy (intentional or not) it plays out. Actually the mockery vibe felt more deliberate than not. What made it even more enjoyable were the three performances of (a dependably confident) Nina Dobrev (who's decked in a sports bra for the film's climax), Peter Sebbings (who's gleaming presence seems to fit) and definitely Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo amusingly sending up his TV-star based hunter character. It wasn't great acting, but they're fitting by having fun and it shows in the film's energy. Which was needed because the direction and visual styling was on the plain side, as the attempted jump scares were weakly executed and the restricted make-up effects looked quite shonky. They do throw around (that's literally) a bit of blood splatter. Fragmented editing is used around the beastie and its attacks. In some scenes you see bits of it, or a simple silhouette and shadow. However there were a few scenes were the angle of the camera placed, had me thinking it looked like a bear. Nothing special, but a decent time-waster if you can look past its been-there-done that story.

I'm certain this will not be the only review of this film that will declare this, but this film, while enjoyable by the standards set by Sci-Fi channel movies, is one of the most unabashed rip-offs of a film I have ever seen.

To confirm what others have said, YES, this film does indeed borrow every single plot device imaginable from the 80's classic, Fright Night. It does this to such an obvious extent, that it makes the movie hard to enjoy on certain levels. First and foremost, there is no real suspense, or even curiosity when you can instantly tell that you have seen everything about this movie once before. It follows the Fright Night blueprint so closely, that anyone who remembers anything about FN will instantly be able to guess ahead as to where this movie is headed.

This may have been made as an ode to Fright Nite, but no such declaration is ever made, leaving me to believe that it is simply the result of a lack of imagination, and originality on the part of the filmmakers.

"Never Cry Werewolf" sort of have a very 'werewolf movie for the entire family' feel to it. Why? Well, because the movie isn't scary, nor is it gory, but it has elements of adventure, fantasy, action and light horror to it. As such, it is fairly suitable for almost all viewers.

The story in "Never Cry Werewolf" is about a mysterious man named Jared (played by Peter Stebbings) who moves into the house next door to siblings Loren (played by Nina Dobrev) and Kyle (played Spencer Van Wyck). Something is not right with the new neighbor and his vicious black dog. And Loren finds out that their new handsome neighbor is in fact a werewolf. And with the help of TV hunting show celebrity Redd Tucker (played by Kevin Sorbo) they set out to hunt down the werewolf and save the neighborhood.

Storywise, then the movie is fun and entertaining and there are elements here that would appeal to a wide group of viewers. And director Brenton Spencer managed to tell a good story without the use of excessive mayhem and carnage.

The effects in the movie were actually quite good, well aside from the transformation of the demonic familiar; which just looked awful. But the werewolf was actually nicely made, and the transformation scenes from man into werewolf (and vice versa) were actually quite good.

"Never Cry Werewolf" would be a good choice for entertaining for the entire family if you are planning a scary night, or for Halloween, for example.

I enjoyed the movie and found it to be fun and exciting. "Never Cry Werewolf" gets a 5 out 10 stars rating.

I would be lying if I said it was a great movie, but for SyFy it is tolerable and much better than it should have been. Okay, there are one too many parts of the story that are predictable and derivative of Fright Night, the editing is very fragmented, the special effects are rather cheap-looking(but I have seen far worse actually), the direction is much too straight-forward to be convincing and some of the killings are weak in thrills and over too quickly. On the other hand, the scenery and locations are actually quite spookily atmospheric, and the music is also fitting with the tone of the film with some tongue-in-cheek moments. The dialogue is never going to be nominated for an award for Best Screenplay but it is much less cheesier and stilted than most SyFy movies and there are scenes that do have at least some fun and suspense. The characters are clichéd, but are nowhere near as annoying as so many other characters in SyFy movies. The acting is better than average, I agree to some extent that Peter Stebbings is rather on the young side to convince completely as a villain, but Kevin Sorbo especially is good. So overall, mixed on the whole but it is far better than it could've been which could have been far worse. 5/10 Bethany Cox

For a Sci-Fi(I'm sorry, SyFy:)movie this was a pretty good amount of fun...if you dig 1.werewolf movies 2.corny horror and/or sci-fi movies you will enjoy this. It had a good amount of humor and didn't even bother to try and take itself seriously. The acting was decent and the characters were familiar archetypes, the effects weren't horrible(but they weren't stellar either), and it was just fun. Just remember it's a Sci-Fi flick so shut off your higher brain functions and enjoy...it's got werewolves!:) Lately Sci-Fi has been the "Disaster of the Week Channel" and totally veered away from monsters and creepy stuff, so this was nice to see...