Monsterwolf (2010) Reviews

• Not too shabby...

  paul_haakonsen2011-03-27

  For a TV movie, then "Monsterwolf" wasn't too bad. Well, let me rephrase that, it could have been worse. The story told in "Monsterwolf" is sort of interesting; a spirit wolf is summoned to seek revenge for a wrong-doing against native Indian people. And the wolf is indestructible. Now, I am not overly familiar with Indian lore and legends, so I have no idea whether to be skeptic or embrace this idea. But as for a movie plot, it worked well enough. "Monsterwolf" wasn't too shabby on the effects and CGI. Sure there were moments where the wolf looked kinda weird, but in general it worked well enough. The cast in "Monsterwolf" was also good enough, for this particular type of movie. The movie was carried on the shoulders of Jason London (playing Yale) and Marc Macaulay (playing sheriff Bennett). There were other good actors/actresses on the list as well, but London and Macaulay were the ones most memorable. "Monsterwolf" isn't particularly scary despite it being listed as a horror movie. I will go as far as saying it is not even a thriller. But still, the movie did keep me entertained for the entire feature length. However, it is not the type of movie that I will be making a second time back to.

• Eaten by greens

  nephihaha2015-04-26

  Fairly average low budget monster romp, with the Doctor actor from Star Trek Voyager (Robert Picardo) and some native American stuff thrown in. Evil oilman wants to drill on Indian land, Indian spirit of giant wolf gets revenge. Woman gets saved etc. The wolf effects are cheap, the environmental message is a bit trite, and the native Americans are cliché, but hey it's what you expect. It's not worth buying on DVD, but if it's on the television and you have some time to kill (no pun intended), you might find it quite a fun way to spend an hour and a half. I think my favourite bit is when the villain tells the Indian chief that his views are "unamerican"!

• Monsterwolf was Great Fun!

  filmblogger822010-10-11

  I am an avid watcher of SyFy's original movies and always find myself laughing at the how poorly made the films are, so when I finished watching Monsterwolf on Saturday night, I have to admit that SyFy has stepped it up with this one! Sure, the CGI wolf was laughable at times, but overall the effects were pretty good, the cast was great, the script was fun, and some of the locations were beautiful. I hope to see more quality movies like this from SyFy as I was a little concerned about the future of the Saturday night premieres after some of the recent releases. The frustrating thing for me when I typically watch these movies is that it is pretty clear that they don't care if the movie looks good, don't care about the effects, don't care about the acting. It was nice to feel like SyFy actually cared about making a good movie! Haha.

• Much better than I thought it would be, not still not very good

  TheLittleSongbird2011-05-17

  I do have an in general intense dislike for Syfy's movies, so I was expecting Monsterwolf, judging from its somewhat cash-in title, to be of poor quality. Actually, Monsterwolf was better than I expected. The film does have some good photography and scenery, had an interesting idea and the film does start off very well. However, as an overall film it is not very good. I did like the idea very much, but the story here is executed in a ridiculous and predictable manner, complete with some inane ideas such as how the guns were handled and the whole back-story involving Maria. The film for Syfy doesn't look too bad photography wise, but while the effects are not as shoddy as you would expect they are largely inconsistent with the design of the wolf throughout being rather hit-and-miss. On top of that, the script is often generic, the characters are cardboard cut-outs and the actors overall don't connect to their characters. The direction is derivative too, and while not as meandering or as boring as other Syfy projects, the pace particularly in the middle can be dull. All in all, better than I thought but in all honesty it isn't a good movie. 3/10 Bethany Cox

• Not sure what film the other two reviewers saw...

  poolandrews2010-12-06

  Monsterwolf is set in the small Louisiana town of Crowley where the Holter Oil Company are illegally drilling for oil, at dig site three the men come across a strange Native American relic & get orders from the boss Stark (Robert Picardo) to blow it up. After detonating a load of C4 explosive the relic remains intact & the evil spirit of an ancient Indian tribe leader is summoned & manifests itself as a Monsterwolf! With Monsterwolf having killed all the men on site Stark panics that the deal for the oil rights might be lost so hires junior lawyer Maria Bennet (Leonor Varela) to handle the legal side of things & try to persuade the town that Holter Oil will benefit them financially, having grew up in Crowley Maria feels she can influence the town. However the Monsterwolf continues to kill all those associated with Holter Oil as it tries to protect the town & th surrounding land... Directed by Todor Chapkanov this is yet another Sci-Fi Channel original Creature Feature that it seems to have an endless production line of, Monsterwolf maybe isn't quite as bad as some of the things but please don't take that as any sort of recommendation from me as it's still pretty rank. Monsterwold originally premiered on SyFy (I hate that re-branding) at the start of October & at the time of writing this IMDb user comment there are only two other user comments one of which gives Monsterwolf 9 stars out of 10 & the other gives it 10 stars out of 10, I am not sure if we watched the same film but in what universe can someone rate Monsterwolf an absolutely perfect 10 out of 10? Certainly not in the one I live in, that's for sure. The script is stupid generic stuff that makes no sense at all & exists purely to have some sort of creature running around to kill a few of the cast off, the whole back-story with Maria being from the town & the twist at the end in which she suddenly realises she was adopted & is in fact the only person alive who can kill the Monsterwolf is just pure idiocy & one of the most inane twists I can remember sitting through in a long time. If that wasn't bad enough Maria then places a special bone necklace inside the barrel of a shotgun & when she pulls the trigger it shoots out like a bullet. I hate to break it to the filmmakers but that's not how guns work, I really don't need to explain just how stupid & idiotic that concept is. Then again Monsterwolf is just an idiotic film, the idea that a major oil company would hire a junior lawyer just because she was raised in the town they were drilling in, the part towards the end when it turns into a cartoon to visualise a flashback, the idea that a bunch of guy's would use C4 to blow something up that would have taken a few minutes to dig up & throw away (it also have a naked flame burning in midair which might have indicated pockets of natural flammable gas), when Maria thinks her house is being broken into she doesn't call her father who happens to be the local Sheriff she instead calls her boyfriend, a scene where a hunter when confronted with the Monsterwolf drops his rifle & just runs away & a couple of scenes of Stark ordering a hit on someone yet doing over an open phone & not even telling the hit-man who the target is. I could go on but I think you get the idea, Monsterwolf is full of dumb people, dumb ideas, bad clichés, bad dialogue & cardboard character's. I am also rather upset for the oil workers, the evil Monsterwolf takes revenge on them but hey, they were just trying to earn a living right? Put food on the table & pay the bills. What about that old guy? He just wanted a holiday, give him a break. Why didn't the Monsterwolf kill Yale after he sold out to Stark? Why not kill Maria for defending Stark? As well as a dumb plot there's plenty of silly Native American legend nonsense that I find so tiresome, my eyes just tend to glaze over whenever some tribal Chief starts talking about ancient spirits & legends in films these days. There's a couple of attempts at style, like the police station when maria & Yale are told to stay there & then everything around them speeds up while they just remain motionless or when the film turns into a cartoon at the end with an animated flashback which looks really out of place although on it's own quite cool & stylish. There's a bit of gore, there's some blood splatter, a couple of impalement's, a few dead bodies are seen & someone is ripped in half. The whole thing has TV production values & looks alright but the special effects are less than impressive. The Monsterwolf itself looks just like a large wolf & as expected the CGI is just poor & it even randomly turns into a bolt of electricity at the end to blow up a helicopter which also looks terrible. Apparently filmed in Lafayette in Louisiana this looks fairly unremarkable, the production values are average at best. The acting isn't that good, leading lady Leonor Varela is alright actually but the moronic script doesn't do her any favours. Monsterwolf is typical stupid Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature rubbish with terrible effects, clichéd character's & a predictable plot. I can't say I would recommend it, give this one a miss unless your desperate.