It's tough to pull off a successful werewolf flick on a minuscule budget... heck, it's tough to pull off a successful werewolf flick even when you HAVE a budget. An American Werewolf in London raised the bar of expectations so high, I couldn't possibly have imagined wanting to see anything else in a film centering on wolves. It wasn't until the recent release of Ginger Snaps that I was impressed as much as I had been since Werewolf in London. It's also important to understand that it's not just all effects that take the cake in a film like this though, the werewolf is an odd character to try to portray in film. Quite often the werewolf is brought forth as a character of sympathy, and a certain level of social commentary in werewolf films is almost always at the forefront. As a matter of fact, a horror film that is least like your typical "horror" film per say would have to be a film centering on the plight of the man beast (or woman beast). Both Werewolf in London and Ginger Snaps (I know there are more but I'm centering on these two for now) were extremely heavy on characterization and thoughtful social commentary. Which brings me to Rage of the Werewolf a 1999 SOV effort that attempts to follow in the footsteps of some of the greats of the werewolf subgenre. Within Rage, there are hits and then there are some misses, but what we ultimately end up with is a valiant and mostly effective micro budget effort.

The story at hand has a pretty clever (notice I said clever, not probable) premise, in that in the year 2010, a meteor on a collision course with earth was to be destroyed by the launch of a "meteor" missile. The missiles hit their target, but did not destroy it, instead the meteor crashed right into the moon. This crash disrupted the orbit of the moon bringing it closer to the earth and ultimately disrupting the moon's rotation. This in turn caused some odd effects on earth, including the birth of mutants, as well as the birth of a cross between man and beast...the wolf. In addition to those that were changed after the crash, there are those who were "cursed" before the others (turned into a wolf from the bite of another) like our hero Jake. Jake and his pal Ralph are nomads, wandering the streets of New York (one of the few cities infested with these wolf creatures and declared a danger zone to citizens). The two are trying to avoid the authorities as well as Jake's evil brother Lazlo (also a wolf). Lazlo is trying to unite the local wolves and form one major evil pact, of course Jake wants absolutely nothing to do with any of this. What it will ultimately come down to is a massive showdown between Jake and Lazlo, in which all scores will have to be settled... once and for all.

Despite its obvious budgetary limitations, director Kevin Lindemuth is able to work some low budget magic with Rage. Before we even discuss effects, let's talk about the great ensemble cast he's assembled, the mostly clever script he's written and his fabulous use of locations. Performance are almost all on target, we've got a great cast of young unknowns on display here. The ideas behind the story are quite clever and the actual script is well written and executed. I'm sure that some would take an initial look at this low budget wonder and discount it as cheap and shoddy and probably proclaim it not worth your time right from the start. One would have to look a little bit deeper within to see the true merits of this film and all that it has to offer. It's definitely witty enough and for a micro budget flick, shot extremely well. Also, one must take into consideration that the flick was made in the late 90's, not too shabby for a flick made nearly 5 years ago. Besides, any film that opens with such great shots within the spectacular Coney Island has got to be A OK in my book.

OK, let's talk effects, which are definitely a hit or miss affair throughout. There are times when the less is more tactic is used, and this is the one that I most agree with, especially in a situation like this. Rage of the Werewolf has some strong characters and story structure, which would make up for the lack of werewolf transformations in my book. Unfortunately, things can come to an abrupt halt when a wolf is introduced and he looks like nothing more than a man in a modified dime store gorilla outfit. There are some other werewolf bits that do work, such as the wolves that resemble the man beast Jack Nicholson transformed into in the lackluster WOLF. Other bits including a quick getaway through the NY underground and the appearance of some mutants are pulled off neatly as well. I would have liked to have seen the less is more tactic used a bit more throughout the film when wolves are introduced. It's definitely more effective when a little is used, rather than a full on wolf that looks like nothing more than a costume. Despite some of the shortcomings of a few effects (they just tried to hard) Rage has enough going for it to satisfy even the most die hard of indie flick fans. Not to mention the fact that it's probably worth the price of admission just to see the lovely Ms. Debbie Rochon locked in a cage, spouting off clever lines like "god piss" damn that's HOT! But I digress...

Luckily the film transcends its low budget origins and looks like it's worth a few bucks more than it probably is. Really, the only problem I did have with the film was some of the overuse of effects and a bit of the on again off again audio, which became difficult to decipher in certain scenes. It also appears as if dialogue was looped over at times (probably because the actors couldn't talk with those teeth in their mouths) and it comes across as a bit odd.

Definitely for those who are into the indie horror scene Rage of the Werewolf really does have much to offer. It's a lot more intelligent than one would be inclined to think, just don't let the overuse of effects get in the way of that intelligence.

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