ATTACK OF THE WEREWOLVES

ATTACK OF THE WEREWOLVES

(A.k.a. GAME OF WEREWOLVES; LOBOS DE ARGA)

A series of beautiful illustrations complement an earnest male voiceover as it speaks us through this film’s prologue, explaining how a Countess living in the small village of Arga 100 years ago was so desperate for a child that she seduced the knife-thrower of a travelling circus show in order to get pregnant. Sensing that she had conceived, she then sent her servants to burn the entire circus entourage in a bid to hide her dirty secret from her fellow villagers. Before she died, the knife-thrower’s wife placed a curse on the Countess’ unborn child …

100 years later, in the present day, we meet Tomas (Gorka Otxoa). He’s the Countess’ descendant and already has problems of his own. Having moved from Arga to Madrid at the age of 15 following the death of his parents, he has since struggled to make ends meet as a semi-successful author and is now a reformed alcoholic. His last relationship ended badly; all he has to show from that is his ex-girlfriend’s dog Vito, which she dumped onto him before leaving.

Now, 20 years since his departure, Tomas has been invited back to the village for some kind of "tribute". He’s vain enough to think the backwoods villagers there regard upon him as being some kind of celebrity, and so of course accepts their invitation without question.

Upon his return to the village, he decides to stay at his parents’ dilapidated old house – unlived in for the last two decades – and is reacquainted with his childhood pal Carlitos (Carlos Areces) there. He’s a bit of a prankster, but seems good at heart.

Tomas initially keeps his old mate at arm’s length, reasoning that he hopes to busy himself with writing his next novel during his stay in Arga. But then he meets his clearly demented uncle Evaristo (Manuel Manquina), the town’s Mayor and self-appointed priest. He’s as weird as the rest of the locals, which makes friendship with Carlitos more tantalising for the slightly uneasy Tomas.

Then Mario (Secun de la Rosa) turns up, Tomas’ unscrupulous literary agent. His last scam involved selling audio books to the deaf. He needs somewhere to hide out for a few days, and so has turned up hoping to blag a bed in Tomas’ oversized family mansion.

Tomas barely has time to kick Mario out before a horde of villagers arrive at the front door with a nasty surprise in store …

I don’t really want to offer much more of a synopsis. ATTACK moves quickly and you can see where it’s headed from an early point. But what’s great is that it quickly, expertly establishes character backgrounds and scenarios, ensuring exposition is efficiently dealt with swiftly in order to allow for the action to dominate the final hour of the film.

I could offer a brief history of lycanthropian cinema too, of course, but it seems patronising and redundant: it doesn’t really hold you in any better stead when watching ATTACK. A hit already on the International horror film circuit, it manages to retain a healthy amount of originality even when echoing the aesthetics of classic horror stylings such as Hammer and even AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.

The film is a comedy as much as it as a horror film, but it’s not wise to go into it expecting something akin to SHAUN OF THE DEAD or ZOMBIELAND. It’s more typically Spanish, earning comparisons in particular to the genre efforts of Alex de la Iglesia: the mix of the macabre, the Gothically stylish and the absurdly funny here very much bring to mind the likes of THE DAY OF THE BEAST and COMMON WEALTH.

Tomas is a likeable lead character, despite being portrayed as a twerp from the offset. There is no harm in him, and his naivety in the face of extreme adversity is something that can’t help but render him agreeable. Mario and Carlitos are tougher characters to warm to, but writer-director Juan Martinez Marino’s script is funny and clever enough to make their ostensibly annoying personas become endearing as the action escalates.

And escalate the action does. Marino has a deft handle over pacing and that fine, awkward balance between humour and horror. Few get it right, but Marino is as concerned with his quirky supporting players and gorgeously Gothic Galician scenery as he is with complementing each well-executed ratchet of tension with a cannily placed punch line. He ensures that the action excites, the aesthetics take the breath away and the jokes work.

It’s a cool feat to pull off and, despite the odd grumble about the dodgy FX work here and there, the end result is that ATTACK OF THE WEREWOLVES is one of the best horror-comedies to surface since CEMETERY MAN, some two decades earlier.

The screener disc from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment presented the film in anamorphic 2.35:1 (its original aspect ratio) and it looked very good, with rich colour schemes and controlled contrast levels. Blacks never suffered from compression issues; images were sharp and vivid with no problematic digital enhancements.

Spanish audio was provided in 2.0 and the disc came equipped with well-written, easily readable English subtitles.

This being a screener disc, there were no menus or extras on offer. In fact, I don’t think the retail discs from Kaleidoscope offer extras either (unless you count a lenticular slipcase outer casing as an extra). But I can vouch unreservedly for the quality of the picture and audio.

ATTACK OF THE WEREWOLVES is a superbly shot and edited, well-acted and immensely likeable comedy-horror which provides genuine thrills and oodles of style along the way. Oh, and LOTS of werewolves. The score’s great too.

The film looks very handsome on this UK DVD presentation.

Also available on blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
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