BLOODTHIRSTY -- A Lackluster Entry in the Werewolf Genre

Review by Dan Skip Allen

The werewolf subgenre offers some of the greatest horror movies ever. I grew up on the classic Universal Monsters, like The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr., who brought a lot of emotion and gravitas to the role. Ever since studios and filmmakers have been trying to copy this classic film.  Bloodthirsty isn't quite on that level.

The film is about a young singer named Grey who goes off with her friend, Charlie, to produce a new record with her producer, Vaughn, at a remote studio in the woods. While there, she starts to transform into a werewolf. This is quite the transformation for her. She's very surprised at this turn of events in her life.

Werewolf movies have to have a level of suspension of disbelief to them. We all know they are not real, so the trick is to try and make them as real as possible. This film doesn't accomplish that at all. This story doesn't have any reality to it. This girl is supposed to be a singer and she's not even that good at singing. Her producer is even frustrated with her. That aspect of the film doesn't work whatsoever.

The film uses dream sequences to try to get across that something is happening to the lead actress. They are just random scenes that complicate the story. There isn't an actual scene that shows her getting bitten by a werewolf so her future transformations start to make sense. Also what the motivations of the producer are can be very confusing at points in the film.

The visuals aren't very good either. The makeup of the werewolf is fine, but not groundbreaking. Other films have done it better. Scenes of growing fingernails and forgetting what she has done in recent memory are all tropes of werewolf films. They don't do anything new or original. I think the budget has to do with it. It hindered the ability to do more.

Greg Bryk plays a good antagonist. The thing is his character doesn't go to the level he should have gone to make him more sinister. Katherine King So also had the potential to be entertaining as a friend/lover. She just ends up being bland. This character should have had more emotion to her. These characters weren't written very well so that's on the screenwriters, Wendy Hill-Tout and Lowell.

In the end, Bloodthirsty is just another afterthought in the werewolf genre. It's not very original even though that was the idea going in. The acting could have been better, the special effects are not very good, and the makeup is just okay. This script needed some rewrites and the film needed a bigger budget so they could do what needed to be done to make this film good.

​Bloodthirsty hits theaters and VOD on April 23.

Rating: 1/5