WolfCop is the type of movie title that tells you exactly what you’re in for. If the title doesn’t tell you everything, the movie’s two taglines — “Here Comes the Fuzz” and “Dirty Harry… Only Hairier” — clearly show that this is one of those review-proof movies. If you’re the type of person who thinks all this sounds stupid, you wouldn’t see a movie like WolfCop anyway. On the other hand, if you think a movie about a half-man, half-cop sounds awesome, you’re probably in line to see it already.
Lou (Leo Farfard) is a hard-drinking, apathetic sheriff of the small hunting town of Woodhaven. He is so neglectful of his duties that it’s a wonder why the Chief (Aidan Devine) even keeps him around. A few days before the town’s annual Drink and Shoot celebration, the town gun shop owner Willie (Jonathan Cherry) warns Lou about teenagers conducting occult rituals in the woods. Later, when Lou goes to break up what he suspects is a teenage keg party in the woods, he is knocked out after discovering the dead body of a young mayoral candidate. When he wakes up, he is back in his home and has a pentagram carved into his belly. What’s more, he finds that his facial hair grows back immediately after shaving and that his hearing has improved drastically. While drinking later that night at the bar owned by the smoking hot Jessica (Sarah Lind), Lou discovers what has happened to him when he begins to turn into a werewolf. However, Lou’s transformation also turns him into a better investigator when he realizes that him becoming a werewolf was no accident… and it has happened in Woodhaven before. Lou launches into an investigation that takes him deep into the dark history of Woodhaven.
WolfCop is a silly movie, and is definitely a good choice for a late night pizza-and-beer night with friends. Of course, most silly movies have plenty of flaws. The main problem with WolfCop is that it takes a while to get to the, well, the WolfCop. The first action scene with Lou as a werewolf takes place 20 minutes into the movie, and it takes another 20 more minutes until we finally get a good look at him and see him in action. Since it is only a 79 minute movie, this means it’s not until halfway through the movie that the real action gets started.
Naturally, the best sequence in the film is made up of scenes of the WolfCop patrolling the town in the middle of the film in his custom WolfCop cruiser. In fact, the movie becomes much funnier at this point and falls back on several visual gags and one-liners, but then quickly returns to its less-jokey tone in the last half hour. It’s an odd choice, almost as if writer/director Lowell Dean really wanted to make a horror comedy, but put all of his best ideas in this sequence. Then he tapped into a basic horror movie “town with a dark past” plot to fill in the rest. Because of that, WolfCop never lives up to it’s horror-comedy potential.
That doesn’t mean WolfCop isn’t worth a watch, because the practical special effects make the film worth a viewing and there enough jokes to make it entertaining. But as much as a movie titled “WolfCop” should be destined for cult classic immortality, the inconsistencies of the tone and the lack of werewolf action for almost the first half of the entire movie might prevent it from that glory. Perhaps WolfCop 2 — which has already been announced — will perfect the formula.
Rating: A horror-comedy that could’ve used more comedy based on its ridiculous premise (4/10).
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