[Wolvesbayne]
Plot:A newly transformed werewolf is recruited by a team of vampire hunters to stop a Nazi vampire cult.

Cast:Jeremy London, Christy Carlson Romano, Yancy Butler, Mark Dacascos, Rhett Giles.

My Thoughts:Pretty decent for a Syfy Original Picture.

Review:"Wolvesbayne" is the latest effort from the genre to pit werewolves against vampires. The "Underworld" movies have done it the best, so far, but that doesn't mean other people shouldn't atleast give it a try. Of course when you're talking about a Syfy original picture, you can't help but loosen your collar and gulp in worry at how bad the film will end up being. But Griff Furst who Directed the film, and Leigh Scott who penned it, seem to have had a pretty good grasp on the material. The film follows a hyper-capitalist named Russel Bayne (ironic much?), who has only had one calling in life, making money.

He's the usual hyper capitalist type. Young, white, and drives a fancy sports car while wearing shades. He's also really aloof and self-involved. One night, while on his way home from work, he stops to assist a woman who has car trouble. After calling for some help for her on his cell, he goes to drive off. But as he does, he sees a werewolf attack the woman inside her car. For some reason (probably because the plot needs to be kept moving), Russel stops his car, gets out, and tries to save the woman. In the process, he's scratched and then attacked by the animal.

He survives the attack, but soon learns that he is changing physically thanks to the animal that attacked him. Now Russel is a target for various creatures of the night, and is soon drawn into a battle between vampires and werewolves. Unlike the "Underworld" series, this movie pits vampires against vampires as well. The films opening scene tells the story of the vampire goddess Lilith, who wanted to control all vampires. But a certain sect of vampires decided to imprison Lilith because she was out of control.

Now, in current times, this battle rages because a certain vampire clan, led by Von Griem (Mark Dascascos), wants to bring Lilith back to destroy the human race. The reason why some vampires want to stop Von Griem, is because this films plot outline puts vampires into different mindsets. Some don't want war with humans. They are content with their immortality. Other vampires however, have the conquerer mindset, and want to wipe human beings from the face of the earth. The werewolves in this are also on opposite sides.

Some back the conquering vampires, others back the peace-minded vampires. But this isn't one of those preachy films where we learn all about sunshine, love, and lollipops. The peaceful creatures of the night, are just as vicious and hardcore as the ones who they do battle with, which is what makes this film cool. It has a ton of awesome battle scenes with heavy gunplay, swords, knives, kung-fu, etc. And most of them are choreographed pretty well for a movie like this with the budget it has.

Most of the credit goes to Mark Dascascos who is a veteran actor when it comes to action movies, and definitely plays his villain role really well in the movie. He's aided by Yancy Butler, a veteran actress indeed, who plays Lilith, the vampire goddess. Butler does an excellent job in the film as well, hissing and grimacing her way through things, trying to be the ugliest, meanest, nastiest, and most evil vampire goddess she can be. It works for the most part, and I don't think many other actresses could've played that role as well as she did.

It was also nice for once to have the queen vampire be a 40'ish looking brunette as opposed to some huge-breasted, hyper-skinny - blonde, which is the usual case with films like these. Not that I have anything against blondes, but diversity in horror is always appreciated. Jeremy London as Russel gives a pretty good performance, and the plot around his character thickens as he meets a woman who owns a shop and has connections to the creatures of the night herself.

The directing in the movie is very sleek, stylish, and sharp. And you can tell they were going for a sort of 18th century-comic book look for the movie. Yet at the same time, a lot of modern day-ism's are blended into the movies overall appearance as well. This film also has enough blood and gore to satisfy fans of both vampire movies and werewolf movies, and although it doesn't have too many weaknesses, one of it's most glaring flaws are the visual fx, which come into play heavily when a vampire is "ashed", and at the films conclusion where a ceremony involving an ambulet is performed. But beyond the pretty cheesy-looking visual fx, "Wolvesbayne" is a made-for-syfy horror movie that for the most part, brings it's A-game.

Positives:Good performances by London, Butler, and Dascascos. Good-looking fight scenes, nice blood and gore, and an interesting storyline.

Negatives:The visual fx are cheesy-looking most of the time.

Overall:Three out of four stars.





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