For years now the horror genre has been missing that certain something, we get bogged down with too many paranormal films and it all becomes just a bit monotonous, but every now and again something different is thrown our way and we have that in the form of werewolf film WER.
Nothing will ever take the crown from the 1981 An American Werewolf in London (even if it does look dated now) but WER is right up there. Set in France, after a family was set upon and torn apart but some mysterious beast only the mother survived. Badly disfigured, she describes their attacker as a hairy man with big hands. Instantly the police arrest a man they believe is the attacker, Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott O’Connor). With his hair covering most of his face, hair covering his body and looking like a giant the makers and make-up department have certainly got this one right. Handcuffed and not having much to say for himself Talan is assigned a public defender in the form of Kate Moore (A.J. Cook).
Kate and her team, Eric (Vic Sahay) and Gavin (Simon Quaterman), throughout their investigation, are not convinced that Talan is the one who has committed this horrible crime as they discover the bodies have all the hallmarks of an animal attack. However, they are met with disdain and a lot of resistance from the leading detective of the case Klaus Pistor (Sebastian Roche) who at this point seems to know a lot more about Talan than he lets on.
Talan’s defence team decide to run a series of medical tests to prove that he has some rare condition that can eliminate him from the case but after one of the tests Talan ends up brutally attacking and killing the doctors carrying out the tests and immediately goes on the run. With hardly any dialogue throughout the whole film our suspect Brian Scott O’Connor really doesn’t need it, his performance, especially his physical form are just perfect for the role. It does seem as though he was born to play this role and he makes it so believable.
Not all performances are convincing but with a breakout story which makes for a subplot we have defence team member Gavin start to develop symptoms of his own after a little altercation with Talan. His transformation from a weedy little man with an obsession with Kate into basically the hero at the end of the film with its own little twist see’s Simon Quaterman pretty still the limelight.
Even though the script isn’t one of the best we’ve encountered and the special effects aren’t the greatest either this is still one of the better horror movies we have seen for a while. It has an interesting storyline and it’s also left wide open for a sequel. This is a must see for anyone wanting to get into the Halloween spirit.
WER is out now to own on DVD.