Le garçon qui criait au loup

Having sat through this movie, as an adult, I have to say that "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" is actually quite surprisingly good. I had expected it to be more of a sassy family movie.

First of all, though being a Nickelodeon movie, the story was rather interesting, with just enough action and suspense to keep it all going. Sure, the movie borrows heavily on the old classic werewolf movies, but it does so in a good manner. And it is a good way for younger viewers to get introduced to the werewolves in movies.

And the cast was superb, especially Brooke Shields. She was really good in the role of Madame V, and it was actually sort of refreshing in a way to see her in a role as bizarre as this one was. Victoria Justice, in the role of Jordan Sands, was the one carrying the movie though, being the central character and all, and she did so nicely. But also hats off to Chase Ellison, playing Hunter Sands, he came off very energetic and believable in the role he was given.

The effects in the movie were actually quite good, especially for a movie of this caliber, being Nickelodeon and all. But I suspect it is because the legendary Greg Nicotero had a finger to play here. Whenever he is part of some production, it always turns out great.

Oh, and before I forget. The sets and backgrounds were awesome. There were so many small and fantastic details to everything. From the town square, to the castle, and such. I love small details in movies, and the ones in "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" actually showed there had been put a lot of effort into the production.

I think "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" actually is quite suitable for young and mature audiences alike. For the youngsters, there is a lot of action and thrills going on, and the mood is kind of brooding and dark. And for us adults, well, I thought this movie brought a light-hearted and fun take on the werewolf genre, bringing the genre out to a new audience. The story was fast paced, predictable of course, but still it kept a good pace.

I was thoroughly amused throughout the entire movie, and I am sure that it will be a hit with many younger viewers.

Going into this on a rewatch, I wasn't expecting much especially since this is a Nickelodeon TV movie and at best, it's okay, and at worse, it's kinda bad. But this movie was better than I remembered, though it's not flawless.

BTW, I have no nostalgia for this movie cuz I first watched it on Netflix back in 2021 or 2022 during the night and barley remembered anything, so this is completely a nostalgialess review.

The things I liked was the acting was solid for the most part (though some places were not that good), the story (while pretty generic and simple) was entertaining enough, the characters are decent, the effects were fine enough and the pacing was surprisingly very well done.

The cons were they were some cringy, annoying and predictable moments, some clichés and the writing could've been better.

Honestly, I would say Brooke Shields as Madame Varcolac carried this movie hard honestly, she probably had the best acting out of everyone else.

Also 2 things, the constant howling effects when any of the characters what Madame Varcolac was MAD annoying and how did Paulina survive at the end when she clearly was burned by the sun?!

But overall, good solid movie to pass the time, but could've been better.

Jordan Sands (Victoria Justice) is a dorky teen who became the lady of the home after her mother's death. She's awkward, accident-prone (especially near hunky boys) and picked on by the mean girls. Her father David is struggling as her little brother Hunter gets into trouble for his grotesque pranks. They find that they inherited their Great Uncle Dragomir Ducovic's castle in Wolfsberg, Romania. The California family travel to Romania. Jordan is taken with local boy Goran. Madame Varcolac (Brooke Shields) is the creepy housekeeper. Sketchy real estate agent Paulina Von Eckberg (Brooke D'Orsay) entices David. The kids discover a secret lab and Jordan steps on a broken vial. She becomes meat-loving, athletic and more powerful. Her senses improve and she stops needing glasses. However her transformation doesn't end there.

This is a barely passable tween horror which means that it's not really scary. Victoria Justice has the love of the tween audience. The production is limited TV level. The Vancouver sets don't have the right Gothic look. Brooke Shields is overacting. The werewolf looks like a Halloween costume. The final battle has low grade special effects and some stunts. It doesn't have any fun or horror to interest anyone older than a young tween.

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.

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.