This month’s Full Moon Feature again comes courtesy of Rifftrax, which decided one half-assed Rob Roy werewolf movie wasn’t enough for them, which I suppose is the same reasoning Roy had for following 2006’s Lycan Colony with the search-engine-challenging American Werewolf last year. Now, I understand why Roy would hold An American Werewolf in London in such high esteem — it is, after all, my favorite werewolf film and one of my favorite films, period — but borrowing part of its title for your no-budget, barely feature-length effort isn’t just asking for trouble, it’s demanding it at gunpoint with silver bullets in the chamber.
Like An American Werewolf in London, American Werewolf attempts to be a horror comedy, but unlike An American Werewolf in London, it fails miserably on both counts. Its anemic story is centered on Sam Anderson (Russell Sage Patrick), sheriff of Pengrove, Virginia (or Pinegrove — the film uses both spellings), which has been plagued by reports of mysterious animal attacks, the latest of which causes him to break his tenth anniversary dinner date with his wife, who upon getting the bad news is immediately set upon by the mysterious animal herself. Cut to ten years later, and Sam is celebrating his fourth consecutive election in spite of his failure to do anything about the animal attacks, which have continued unabated and all appear to be linked to him directly. Even his dim-witted deputy, James (Aaron Crocker), who has been dutifully covering for his frequent blackouts, has started finding it suspicious that they always seem to coincide with the attacks.
Following the murder of a community theater actress that Sam was apparently sweet on based on the one scene they have together, he and James round up “The Unusual Suspects” for a series of painfully unfunny interrogations. The first subject, a self-described “Karen,” gives an eyewitness statement that is less than helpful. (“It was dark,” she says. “It was fugly.”) The second is a nine-fingered man whose prints have been found at multiple murder scenes, which is not as damning as Sam and James make it out to be since he’s a window installer. (Later on, we get to see a commercial for his company — Indawindow Dave’s — which boasts of their “Well Hung Window Installations.” Har har.) Last up is paranormal investigator Raven Nevermore (Dale Coleman), whose “Raven’s Eye” video blog on werewolves will hardly be revelatory to anybody who’s watched more than one werewolf movie. (Roy even contradicts his own expert by having Raven state emphatically that werewolves don’t only transform during a full moon, then jumping forward 30 days to the next one for the final confrontation with the monster.)
There are other characters, including FBI agent Jordan Brewster (Whitney Richardson), who rolls into town to take over the investigation since Sam has made little headway in the decade he’s been in charge of it. She does no better when she confronts the werewolf, is bitten by it, becomes one herself, and is decapitated, which make one wonder how Sam explained that her superiors. There’s also pesky news reporter Nadia Mandy Rivera (Mandy Rivera), who is part of the spate of poorly filmed attacks that allows Roy to thin out the cast in the run-up to the denouement. (And if you think “denouement” is a bit of a highfalutin word to associate with the plot pile-up that closes American Werewolf, I won’t contradict you.) At least by the time the last few victims are being picked off, Roy has actually started showing off the werewolf suit created and worn by Chris Johnson, who also doubles as Rivera’s cameraman for whatever that’s worth.
Not content to ride An American Werewolf in London‘s coattails, Roy also apes The Howling by including a scene where Sam eats Wolf Brand Chili out of a can. And he even incorporates the Ub Iwerks cartoon The Big Bad Wolf from 1936 to eat up some of the running time. The same goes for the extended closing credits, during which Roy not only takes credit for writing and directing American Werewolf, but also the production design/art direction (which means he’s responsible for trying to pass off a private home as the sheriff’s office), cinematography, editing, sound, fight direction and choreography, visual effects, production coordination, script supervision, wardrobe, animal wrangling, and location direction (whatever that means). If wearing all those hats (and I’ve actually left a few out) results in a film like this, perhaps Roy should consider delegating a few jobs next time.