The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Boy Who Cried Werewolf; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.75 Acting: 1.50 Enjoyment: 1.50

TOTAL: 7.25 out of 10.00

Werewolves; Vampires; dark, mysterious figures; an immense and ominous castle; and a creepy-ass housekeeper - what more could a family film need(?)

Thankfully the writers, Art Edler Brown and Douglas Sloan provide the audience with a witty script to keep them chuckling through the hour and a half. Unfortunately, the underlying concept is overly-used in plenty of teen flicks; The rites of passage storyline. After the tragic death of their mother, poor old dad has to cope with the aftermath. His son Chase is having a hard time and overcompensates with horror-based practical jokes. There are power outages where he lies in wait near the fusebox to scare his sister. There are decapitated body parts swimming in fake blood left in the fridge. So, you can understand the movie's title and think you know where the story is heading - or is it? His sister Jordan is the bespectacled nerd in school who likes the football jock and would like to be part of the Heather's clique - Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? It should; these elements had been done to death before this picture's 2010 release. Happily, Brown and Sloan transport us out of the dangerous waters of teen movies by adding a motley mixture of horror goodies and gags. Yep, Jordan will still metamorph into a mighty attractive bewitching mademoiselle and love interest to the local Romanian village teen heartthrob and bakers boy, but mystery and suspense will litter her path. And the secrets and misgivings come from many avenues. Firstly, who is the forboding housekeeper, Madame Varcolac, whose very name has the creatures of the night singing their sweet music? Why is the local estate agent so keen to sell the mansion, and does she have romantic designs on their dad? What is the secret of their departed benefactor, and why does it appear to be connected with a popular video game franchise? Added to the numerous conundrums, Brown and Sloan proffer the audience with decent characters. Each is an individual in their own right, which helps significantly with the humour.

Eric Bross isn't the world's greatest director. In truth, his stock and trade are on the average side. But he excels at managing the movie's tempo. Not only can he manipulate it impeccably to create excitement, tension, and a little dread, he's punchline-perfect with the visual and vocal gags. And though he has a good eye for composition - the upward pan of the mansion shows how massive it is but also attaches an eerie feeling to the building - he could've done with adding more captivating camera angles, especially for the fights and the chases. His cutting is excellent, as I said. However, changing their height and angle would've heightened the excitement. At least there's no camera shake - Thank you for that, Mr Bross. There's a scene when Jordan takes off across the rooftops; Bross follows her athletic departure with a pan and a slight zoom. It would've been nice to have a couple of close-ups on the rooftop or maybe more of a following shot. But these are small things because the movie works.

The cast is superb. However, this film belongs to Brooke Shields. After watching her in this picture, I can say this lady sure can act. Yes, her accent may slip a couple of times, if I'm being pernickety, but she sure does come across as scary and intimidating. I wouldn't mess with Madame Varcolac.

And in all honesty, I'd recommend watching the whole of this movie just for the music video at the end. Madame Varcolac and the rest of the cast singing Britney Spiers' song, Baby, One More Time, is priceless - and Shields stays in character, awesome. But the bonus is the movie is one enjoyable romp through the Old Country of horror. The Boy Who Cried Werewolf will be a go-to movie whenever I get down and need my spirits lifted.

Now take off that fur coat and... What do you mean you're not wearing a fur coat... Err, well, just come over here and take a look-see at my IMDb lists - Absolute Horror, Just For Laughs, and Guilty Pleasures to see where I ranked The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. Sit: Rollover: Good werewolfie.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Boy Who Cried Werewolf, The (2010)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly made-for-TV "horror" film has a father and his two kids traveling to Romania after a relative dies and leaves them her castle. Once there the teenage girl eventually becomes a werewolf and her little brother is the only one who knows it but no one will believe him because of his wild imagination. A weird housekeeper (Brooke Shields) is the only other who might know the secrets of the beast. This was partially influenced by the 1973 film of the same name, which featured a father turning into a werewolf and only his son knowing but no one believing him. Things have certainly changed in this new version and not a single thing was done for the better. That 1973 film is far from a classic but it looks like 1941's THE WOLF MAN compared to this junk. Yes, it's clear that I wasn't the target audience for this film but I'm scared to think of who exactly this thing was made for. The biggest problem is the horrid screenplay that doesn't seem to know what type of story it wants to tell. TO appeal to the teen girls we have countless subplots with the girl here not being good enough for the hunk at school plus she's having to deal with the loss of her mother. With all of that said you'd think the film was about her but we get countless other subplots including one with the father dating and all sorts of stuff with the younger brother and his obsession with monsters. We even get more subplots dealing with the curse of this castle. You have so many subplots running at once that it's clear everyone involved simply forgot what they were trying to do. I mean, "werewolf" is in the title yet this portion of the film doesn't start until everything's half over and by then you're either going to be hitting your head against the wall or wondering why on Earth you started the film at all. The performances are all pretty good with Shields standing out as the creepy housekeeper. The make-up effects are all pretty good as well but it's just a shame we didn't get to see much of it. I'm sure this thing might appeal to some very young teens but let's hope their parents keep them away from this and show them some better werewolf picture.

Good watch, probably won't watch again, but can recommend.

This, a Nickelodeon production, is obviously targeting younger kids, but is a surprisingly watchable "teen angst over traumatic event" coming of age story with a really good preternatural twist to it.

It does lend into "no one will believe me, boo hoo", but this movie has a subtle message of empowerment to kids, and (I think) women: the ladies out stage the guys easily throughout the entire movie.

Victoria Justice is a proven entity in leading and carrying a movie, which she manages to do until she bumps into the older women would rightly steal the focus. Brooke Shields does a great "foreign lady that is either about to kiss or hit someone, but does neither" type of role here, and Brooke D'Orsay gave a confident and consistent enough performance that I honestly thought it was Eva Green essentially doing her character from "Dark Shadows".

I think this is better for younger audiences, but good enough that an older audience can still appreciate it.

So I just finished watching "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf", a movie on Nickelodeon. It's about a family in California who is surprised to find out that an Uncle has died and left them a castle in Romania. This is especially exciting to the son, who is obsessed with monsters. The movie takes place mostly on the family's trip to Romania, where they travel to presumably to sell the castle. Upon arrival they meet an interesting cast of characters, including a creepy castle caretaker and an enthusiastic real estate agent who makes cookies with her face on them. Well, the kids soon discover some secrets in the castle, involving the family history. You can probably guess what happens next, you'll have to watch the movie. This movie MIGHT be a little bit scary for very young kids, considering there are monsters involved, with very well done special effects.

This is top notch made for TV movie. It's exciting, funny, and well written. All the acting is great, especially the kids and Madame V. I would say it is better than most Disney Channel Originals (which I love, usually).

I hope to see more movies from Nickelodeon- this one shows they definitely have some real acting talent on the network. Victoria Justice especially, super talented. Congrats to everyone involved with this movie!

After inheriting a family castle in Romania, a family discovers the dark secret behind the local legend of a vicious beast roaming the city as they race to stop a horde of vampires from taking control of the castle.

This here turned out to be quite an enjoyable and entertaining kiddie-centered horror-comedy. There's a lot of good in this about making an even mix between tween-inspired parts and more normal horror motifs, and there's plenty to both sides in here. The tween backbone here is all well-handled with the different attitudes toward the single father dating, the romance for once isn't obtrusive to the story in detriment for the actual horror, and the beginning where they explore the castle is just filled with some quality gags that really showcase the goofier humor present that really appeals to kids. From the gags trying to scare the sister to the constant sibling-like digs on each other and the side-splitting recurring gag with a character's name, there's some really funny stuff in here and it gets better once the transformation occurs. The antics that depict the transformation, from the heightened sense and reactions to the lessening of objection towards previously-objectionable attitudes and how their date goes which is constantly threatened by her burgeoning abilities for some nice laughs but knows to transition into horror territory nicely as once those abilities creep in, the explanation and back-story about the creature amongst the town's history is wonderfully handled. It makes for a pretty enjoyable time by creating a pretty strong connection through the twisted mythology with the action in the last half which is just non-stop brawling between the two werewolves and the vampire clan through the catacombs under the castle, through the cemetery and finally into the neighboring warehouse providing plenty of fun times as the fight progresses, and overall this is mixed quite nicely with the humorous aspects of the story. The fact that the creatures are done with practical make-up effects that look rather impressive for the realism and great they look in design and movement is another key factor here, and the only real flaws come from the beginnings of their life. The trouble it goes to set her up as a goofy klutz only to be saved by the werewolf curse is way too clichéd and feels too overwrought to be of much originality. As well, the whole thing is dropped once they get to the castle anyway, leaving the inclusion rather curious. Otherwise, there's not much to dislike here.

Rated Unrated/PG: Violence.