The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

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!

Ok gang. The story is intersting enough and cute enough that you will be ok if you sit down to watch it with your tweens. The actors gave it their all. It has heart.

They truly did their best with a low budget.

There are no cuss words. Not one. No nudity. They will not even use the word "kill". This is as safe for kids as can be. Almost no blood, and no gore at all.

After typing it all that I raised it to a 7. It deserves it.

It is a feel good movie.

Great for halloween time by the way. Like, perfect.

The writers took their time to weave a story that is not hard to follow but not overly simplistic.

If yo have tweens, enjoy it.

An American family inherits a castle in Romania and go there to check it out. The daughter (Victoria Justice) accidentally becomes infected with werewolf blood and soon becomes a werewolf herself. She has to find a cure before the full moon ends or she will be a werewolf forever. There's also some stuff about a family legacy and a funny group of vampires out to get the castle.

Nice family movie with a good cast. Being outside of the target demographic here, I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this as much as I did. Victoria Justice is a likable young actress. I am not familiar with her work on TV but she seems to have a lot of potential. I'll be surprised if she doesn't go on to bigger things. Brooke Shields is really good. I haven't seen her in forever. Long way from Blue Lagoon, I guess. Chase Ellison seems to be having a great time with his part. Every kid dreams of being in a werewolf movie, I think. If they don't, they should. Brooke D'Orsay is a lot of fun here too. The whole cast seems to be having a good time. I always like to see that.

I thought the werewolf effects were amazing for a movie produced for Nickelodeon. I was happy that they actually went the route of using a werewolf costume, as opposed to crappy CGI or the even crappier cheat of having the person turn into an actual wolf or dog so they can save money on effects like so many shows (Vampire Diaries, I'm looking at you).

This is a cute, enjoyable, fun movie with good special effects and an immensely likable cast. That it can be this good while being made for television impresses me a lot. To the reviewer from Romania who was offended at how his country is portrayed in movies like this: lighten up, buddy. If the worst your country has to worry about is that its public image is that of being home to werewolves and vampires, you're doing pretty good compared to the rest of the world.

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.

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.