WER DVD Review

3 stars for a new take on an old classic legend.

Written and directed by William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside, Stay Alive), WER is a werewolf film with a very modern approach.

The film opens with found footage of a young American family, holidaying in France. They fell victim to a vicious attack by an unknown animal, the only survivor is the mother Claire Porter (Stephanie Lemelin – Young Justice, Get The Gringo), who reports that a tall strong hairy man ate her family alive.

The French police, in the form of Klaus Pistor (Sebastian Roche – Beowulf, The Adventures of Tintin) are quick to react and immediately arrest local giant Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott O’Connor), who lives only two miles away from the site of the killings.

Enter Katherine Moore (A.J.Cook – Least Among Saints, Misconceptions), an American defence attorney living in Lyon, who has spotted a good opportunity in this case. The police have absolutely no evidence to support their theory and she believes she will have no difficulty in overturning the charges.

She calls in associate Eric (Vik Sahay – Chuck, eXistenZ) and her ex boyfriend Dr. Gavin Flemyng (Simon Quarterman – Estranged, The Devil Inside),  an expert in the field of animal attacks. They intend to prove that Talan has a debilitating medical condition which would render him incapable of carrying out the attacks.

As they investigate the case, they begin to realise that the truth may be far more horrible and more dangerous than they could have imagined and any mistakes could prove very costly.

WER is a pretty good film. It is certainly a credit to the werewolf genre and doesn’t suffer from the usual cliches. The acting is also really good, as are the special effects. There are some pretty gruesome moments and the werewolf transformation, although simple, is very effective and quite scary.

What really lets this film down though, is the ending. They seem to have completely lost the plot towards the end, it just makes no sense at all.

It is however still worth watching for a true horror fan, there are plenty of blood and guts and the occasional fall-of-your-chair jump scare too. Excellent for a cold dark Halloween night.

“I do find it unusual that you took my client into custody based on an inconclusive eye witness account and not hard evidence. We have the camera malfunction, the footprints being washed away. This investigation has had it’s issues.”

WER is available to buy now on DVD