Written and directed by Jackie Payne, co-directed by Cara Claymore, twelve kidnapped strangers must play a game where they vote on who amongst them to murder. At night, the ‘werewolves’ hidden among them come out to brutally kill one of the 12 ‘villagers’ in return. The days repeat until one winning group remains. Starring: Bai Ling, Tony Todd, Robert Picardo, Lydia Hearst, Teala Dunn, James Crittenden, Tim Realbuto, Tabitha Jane, Mk McManus, André Tempfer, Ethan Ingle and Leon Andrew Joseph.
Anyone who’s familiar with the game itself will have a pretty good idea of how this is going to play out and in some ways it’s exactly what you think and in others, it’s disappointing. One way that stands out is putting Tony Todd behind a mask for the majority of a film that turned out to be one of his last.
Considering from the very start the audience knows who he is, and his identity does not impact the story, there’s no reveal to be had, and it was a waste restricting his talents. He was and will forever be a horror icon, not making the most of the presence he can bring to the table is a real shame.
Another way is how the story progresses, it’s hurried and messy, constantly moving onto the next before anything has had the chance to land. The consequence of which being that there isn’t much at all to invest in, we don’t have enough time to get to know the characters to care about their fates. Although, the characters themselves aren’t particularly engaging from what we do get to know of them, but some are better than others.
Robert Picardo for one is a great presence, he’s really trying to elevate Werewolf Game by bringing some sincerity and actually playing the game. Teala Dunn is a sleeper hit, she comes out of her shell in the final scenes for an interesting change of pace. Tabitha Jane also brings a nicely blunt presence which feels more genuine.
Whereas Lydia Hearst struggles to bring a grounded quality, there’s an overly sentimental quality to her performance. Mk McManus is similarly trying a little too hard and making his portrayal too transparent. While Leon Andrew Joseph, who struggles to find a shirt for most of the film for no apparent reason, tries to instil a confidence and capability to his character which aren’t quite there. André Tempfer lands somewhere in the middle, occasionally the performance feels stereotypical but later on, he brings out an interesting vulnerability.
Visually it’s also of mixed success, it can lean too heavily on the editing. A similar problem to its pacing, it’s in too much of a hurry to move forward that monologues and key moments don’t always get their due, particularly in the opening scenes. The aesthetic is solid though, the location choices are decent and the design of the masks are well done. However, it is unexpectedly let down by its sound effects work, across the board, in particular with kissing scenes, it’s hard to listen to because they’re far off the mark.
Despite Werewolf Game’s unimaginative title, there’s a good amount of effort put into trying to bring the game to life. However, it struggles to give you something to invest in, the characters aren’t strong enough, the progression is problematic and there’s only a fairly weak attempt at building an air of conspiracy. It can’t quite capture the fun and entertainment found in the suspicion and competition of the actual game.
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