Half man. Half wolf. ALL COP. ‘Well, mostly’.
Before the opening credits even began rolling for writer/director Lowell Dean’s Wolfcop, winner of the 2013 Cinecoup Film Accelerator Awards and financially backed by the Cineplex chain, all I could repeat were the lines that Scott Howard’s drama teacher insisted during the school’s ironic play by Virginia Woolf in 1985’s Teen Wolf. “How am I going to put this to you? Uh…look at it this way. No wolf, mmm, no wolf, ahh, no part! What do you think?” Hell, it makes sense. My intuition couldn’t have been too far off the radar since halfway through the film I noticed that the town’s auto body shop was named after Howard’s best friend and everyone’s film favorite, Stiles. Yep. Stiles Auto Body, there it was! But wait, I’ve gotten wayyyy ahead of myself here, let’s hit rewind, shall we?
Leo Fafard (playing Lou Garou/Wolfcop) completely nails the part of the washed up, alcoholic small town cop who begins with what one could only imagine is “routine”. Late as usual and living amongst filth, of which the majority of the population is overcome by empty liquor containers and beer bottles, Sheriff’s deputy Lou Garou begins heading into work, nonetheless hittin’ da booze in his trusty metallic flask. One could safely say he was in favor of the drink.
On the drive into town, one can’t help but notice the graffiti defacing most of the town’s buildings and bunches of locals standing on street corners, bloodied from brawls the night before. Ignoring these “warning” signs and rushing to his desk to nevertheless get bitched at by his boss; Lou is half-heartily greeted by his overzealous and over worked partner Tina (played to by Amy Matysio).
After a call comes in, Lou is sent to a local gunsmith named Willie Higgins (played to perfection by Jonathan Cherry). It seems that local whack job Willie has caught on camera some teen locals who he believes are in a cult and are responsible for all the missing cats that have disappeared lately. Oh…did I forget to mention missing cats? Well, there’s that. And there are also strange figures in cloaks and pentagrams’ hanging in the town’s surrounding woods. I guess that information could be considered useful.
Alas, all of these “occurrences” send Lou to further investigate the above mentioned incident in the woods and after being attacked by what appears to be a “practicing” cult performing a “distinct” ritual, Lou is unwittingly turned into a werewolf. Well, not quite THAT fast! The next morning, Lou awakens with ease but is troubled by a sensation under his shirt, quickly revealing a pentagram that was obviously carved in his chest the previous evening. Well shit, how the hell did that get there?! And who done it!?
With the help of his “new found” friend Willie and reluctant partner Tina, Lou must learn to embrace his change. Inadvertently, he also aims to do whatever in his power to find out who or what was behind the ritual and if it could possibly have anything to do with the upcoming eclipse and local festivities.
That’s it. That’s all you’re getting. Well, as far as story goes. I mean, I can’t just give you ALL the plot points and action sequences. That’s your job!
What makes me entirely giddy to share are the fantastic top shelf practical creature effects. Good Lord! There’s a gentleman named Emerson Ziffle and his old school horror techniques will astound you. I mean, the transformation, God Almighty! It begins in a bathroom and is birthed from…prepare yourselves folks….. his penis. There! I’ve been dying to scream that out to the world! A complete transformation into another creature that starts at his penis! And what a place to start! After engorging and tearing like a split hotdog, one will simply not be judged for making disgusted faces at their television screens.
It’s actually quite an original thing, starting the mutation in such a “sensitive” area. Not to mention something that I haven’t seen myself in other werewolf films. Every time Lou would convert over to the “wolf”, his skin would simply shed off and actually be left behind. Like a shell. Even after reverting back to human form, Lou maintained himself even though a previous version was already shed. Whoa, that sounded confusing!
Once malformed, Lou claws and slashes his way through a number of “victims” and then the gore gets completely out of hand. In layman’s terms, if you dig a strong creature feature with rocking effects, then you will most definitely not be let down. It also wouldn’t hurt if you’re a fan of the low-budget horror-comedy genre with a garnish of that amazing 70’s and 80’s VHS camp feel. Heck, there’s even car modifications that take place, rendering a “Wolfmobile”.
Dean’s first feature is absolutely packed with humor and oh so many puns including, “Dirty Hairier” and “The Fuzz”. There’s even a bakery in town named ‘Liquor Doughnuts’. I had an absolute blast watching this and while I found most of the jokes to be hysterical, some folks may find the humor “odd”. Example: I find awkward and staged comedic bestiality amusing. Some of you, may not.
Prior to writing this review, I read a tiny portion of the recent flood of Wolfcop reviews online and found that while other’s enjoyed themselves, they also had a hard time finding any attachment to Lou and that it was hard rooting for him. Hard rooting, I thought, he’s a freaking Wolfcop! My opinion defers, obviously. The common core principle running amok throughout this film is the duality of all things. Both within Lou Garou (taken from Loup Garou, meaning “werewolf” in French) and his alter ego, Wolfcop, and with what appears to be a safe and quite small town yet underneath holds unforeseen horrors.
Wolfcop is absolutely available on DVD and Blu-Ray and includes commentary with both Dean and Artist Emersen Ziffle, The Birth of Wolfcop, Wolfcop music video, outtakes and this amazing insert:
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