BAD MOON

Bad Moon Movie Review

After returning from an adventure that saw him fall victim to a werewolf bite, Ted (Michael Pare) returns to his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), her son Brett, and Thor, the family dog and only one of the bunch who realizes something isn't quite right with ol' Teddyboy. This 1996 box office flop starts off strong--the opening sequence is intense and gory, but it's pretty much all down hill from there. Before we get to everything wrong with this movie, let's look at what there is to love. Even after the first scene there are still a few bloody moments to keep us watching. The best thing about this film, however, is the werewolf. We forgo the CGI we have unfortunately been made to bear in favor of practical effects and animatronics, and the result is wonderful.

What big teeth you have

That wraps up all the good things about this film, so let's move onto the rest. The best acting in this one might come from the dogs used to play Thor, who is also the hero of the film...no, I'm not kidding, so let me explain. This film is based on a book that was written from the dog's point of view...I'm still not kidding. Mercifully, most of this is cut from the film, but left in just enough that you have the dog trying to warn everybody that Ted is a werewolf, and since they didn't go so far as to make the dog talk, we do hear it bark...a lot. I still maintain the dogs are the best actors in this movie, however. Pare is a bore as Ted, and Hemingway, the granddaughter of legendary writer Ernest Hemingway (read his book The Sun Also Rises and thank me later), turns in a performance as bad as any you will see in a film that saw a theatrical release. The story moves at a snails pace, the directing is bad, and the ending is beyond predictable and bland. Bad Moon is one of those movies that you will likely watch just one time in your life and then forget almost everything about it soon after...I'm forgetting it already.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 4

Bad Moon Movie Trailer