Cry Wolf: Unrated DVD Review:

Moving to his new school Owen (Morris) is introduced to the ‘wolf’ game by Dodger (Booth) and her friends. The game involves one person been the wolf and rest the sheep, with the aim been for the wolf to remain unnoticed, lying there way through the rounds. After Owen wins the first game, Dodger and him come up with a plan to play the game but this time involve the whole school. A local girl has been murdered, so Dodger and Owen write an e-mail that makes out that there is a serial killer on the loose and on Halloween he will strike again. As the e-mail circulates, Owen starts to receive instant messages telling him he shouldn’t have made up rumours and he and his friends will pay for his lies.

After the success of low budget horror movies over the last few years, can ‘Cry_wolf’ bring something new to the genre?

Forsaking gore and excessive killings for suspense and mystery, writers Beau Bauman and Jeff Wadlow create a horror film that works more on the power of suggestion and suspicion as they keep you guessing through the entire picture. By removing the usual gore, nudity and excessive bad language that usually grace Hollywood teen horror movies, the filmmakers take the viewer down a more intelligent and realistic route, creating some decent scares alone the way.

Like many Asian Horror movies, the film relies more on the viewer’s own fears and apprehension that an all out killing frenzy could never do. Capitalising on the audience’s inner fears, the film utilises short sweet shocks, fast cuts and jumps to gain their scares and for most of the time it works well.

The film however is not your typical serial killer movie however. This is a movie that keeps you guessing, throwing in red herrings to keep you guessing who the killer is or if he even exists at all. This is the major plus point of the movie and the reason it elevates itself above your usual Hollywood teen horror fair.

The young cast do a good job with the material. British actor Julian Morris makes his Hollywood debut with some assurance. As Owen, the son of a prominent businessman who doesn’t really care about him, he is the new kid in school who is quickly accepted into the popular group. This is a good role for Morris and one that should open him up for bigger roles in the future. Teen horror veteran Lindy Booth is as good as ever as Dodger, the leader of the group and the inventor of the game. She is an actress that deserves some more prominent roles in Hollywood. Jared Padalecki is also good as Owen’s roommate Tom. Throw in good performances from Sandra McCoy, Kristy Wu, Jesse Janzen and a small role for Jon Bon Jovi and you have a decent cast for a very low budget movie.

‘Cry_Wolf’ tries extremely hard to move away from the usual teen horror flicks that Hollywood reels off every year. With a twisting and turning plot mixed with suspense and intelligent scripting, this is a horror flick that offers something slight different and more entertaining that what you might be expecting.

Star Rating = * * *   

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the movie is presented well. 

BONUS FEATURES

Feature Commentary from director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon
The collaborative trio come together to reveal how ‘Cry_Wolf’ came to be made and the thoughts behind the film. The group talk about the influences behind the story, revealing how they didn’t want to stick to standard horror clichés and shake up the rules a little. They also cover casting and the main emphasis of the plot, the game itself. With behind the scenes stories from the production of the film, this is a good commentary from a trio of filmmakers who have really enjoyed their move up to features.

Deleted/Extended Scenes (13.08 mins)
Entitled ‘Owen in the woods’, ‘The Hook up’ and ‘Extended Game’ theses deleted or extended scenes have optional commentary bydirector/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon.

Alternative Scenes (5.52 mins)
This is an alternative version of the Game sequence that has an optional commentary track by director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon.

Wolves, Sheep and Shepard’s: Casting the roles (14.07 mins)
With optional commentary by director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon, we see the audition tapes for Julian Morris (Owen), Lindy Booth (Dodger), Jesse Janzen (Randall), Paul James (Lewis), Sandra McCoy (Mercedes) and Ethan Cohn (Graham).

Behind the Scenes: Enter the Sinister Set (12.13 mins)
Actor Julian Morris takes you behind the scenes of ‘Cry_Wolf’, showing you the pool sequence, the game, the school dance, makeup, the trailers and the dinning room attack all through the lens of his video camera.

Before they Cried Wolf: The Filmmaker’s short Films (27.43 mins)
Entitled ‘Tower of Babble’ and ‘Manual Labour’, these two short films highlight the talents of director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon. ‘Tower of Babble’ deals with three interweaving stories which all have the same dialogue. This is an extremely interesting idea that highlights how language can be perceived in many different ways. ‘Manual Labour’ is a short film about a man trying to find his car in a parking lot as his wife goes into labour. Each of these movies are quite inventive and the reasons why the trio got their budget for ‘Cry_Wolf’.

Trailers
Previews of ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, ‘Wolf Creek’ and Switchblade Romance’

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for ‘Cry_Wolf’ is very good because of two things, the excellent commentary and the inclusion of the short films. The featurettes are also good, taking you behind the scenes of the shoot and offering an insight into the casting process. This is a good DVD package for fans and another outstanding show of support by Universal to a small budget movie.

DVD Star Rating = * * *

The problem with having an unrated DVD is that if it doesn’t deliver, audiences will soon realize that studios are simply crying wolf in order to sell more DVDs. This is certainly the case with Cry_Wolf, a film which was not violent in theaters, and there is not enough added on this DVD to justify any claims of the film being unrated. I would hardly consider this film to be even close to an R rating. It doesn’t fit in the story for there to be more violence and anyone who has not seen the film may be mislead to think it is something which it is not. It is a puzzle film, which hopes that a series of false scares will entertain the audience until the climactic revelatory ending.

When there is a murder in the woods near a prestigious prep school, a bunch of bored students decide to start a rumor that the murder is actually the beginning of a serial killer’s strike on the school itself. The student life is ablaze with a flurry of excitement when the gossip spreads, but the joke turns serious when threatening messages appear on the internet. Some of the students that started the rumor begin to believe that the actual killer might have heard the rumors and was offended enough to seek them out and kill them. Paranoia rises high, even though nothing happens until the end of the film.

The twists are fairly predictable, and because of the way that the film is a slow burn horror, with no real intense moments, it becomes rather obvious what the ending will reveal. It is likely to cause audiences to groan rather than cheer, if they react at all. In all truth, this film is all bark and no bite. If the effect was to make the audience feel like the townsfolk in the famous “boy who cried wolf” fable, then they accomplished their task, but audiences should not be treated like victims of a gag. It is likely to leave them rather sore at the filmmakers.

The DVD has two short films by the filmmakers which show remarkable talent, which also shines through in Cry_Wolf, but the material would have been better as a short as well. There is a feature commentary by the filmmakers, and a featurette about the casting of the film. There are also deleted and alternate scenes for the film, but the difference in the alternate scenes are not huge and the deleted scenes are not interesting. There is also a behind the scenes look with a tour given by actor Julian Morris.



Ryan Izay

Moving to his new school Owen (Morris) is introduced to the ‘wolf’ game by Dodger (Booth) and her friends. The game involves one person been the wolf and rest the sheep, with the aim been for the wolf to remain unnoticed, lying there way through the rounds. After Owen wins the first game, Dodger and him come up with a plan to play the game but this time involve the whole school. A local girl has been murdered, so Dodger and Owen write an e-mail that makes out that there is a serial killer on the loose and on Halloween he will strike again. As the e-mail circulates, Owen starts to receive instant messages telling him he shouldn’t have made up rumours and he and his friends will pay for his lies.

After the success of low budget horror movies over the last few years, can ‘Cry_wolf’ bring something new to the genre?

Forsaking gore and excessive killings for suspense and mystery, writers Beau Bauman and Jeff Wadlow create a horror film that works more on the power of suggestion and suspicion as they keep you guessing through the entire picture. By removing the usual gore, nudity and excessive bad language that usually grace Hollywood teen horror movies, the filmmakers take the viewer down a more intelligent and realistic route, creating some decent scares alone the way.

Like many Asian Horror movies, the film relies more on the viewer’s own fears and apprehension that an all out killing frenzy could never do. Capitalising on the audience’s inner fears, the film utilises short sweet shocks, fast cuts and jumps to gain their scares and for most of the time it works well.

The film however is not your typical serial killer movie however. This is a movie that keeps you guessing, throwing in red herrings to keep you guessing who the killer is or if he even exists at all. This is the major plus point of the movie and the reason it elevates itself above your usual Hollywood teen horror fair.

The young cast do a good job with the material. British actor Julian Morris makes his Hollywood debut with some assurance. As Owen, the son of a prominent businessman who doesn’t really care about him, he is the new kid in school who is quickly accepted into the popular group. This is a good role for Morris and one that should open him up for bigger roles in the future. Teen horror veteran Lindy Booth is as good as ever as Dodger, the leader of the group and the inventor of the game. She is an actress that deserves some more prominent roles in Hollywood. Jared Padalecki is also good as Owen’s roommate Tom. Throw in good performances from Sandra McCoy, Kristy Wu, Jesse Janzen and a small role for Jon Bon Jovi and you have a decent cast for a very low budget movie.

‘Cry_Wolf’ tries extremely hard to move away from the usual teen horror flicks that Hollywood reels off every year. With a twisting and turning plot mixed with suspense and intelligent scripting, this is a horror flick that offers something slight different and more entertaining that what you might be expecting.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Feature Commentary from director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon
The collaborative trio come together to reveal how ‘Cry_Wolf’ came to be made and the thoughts behind the film. The group talk about the influences behind the story, revealing how they didn’t want to stick to standard horror clichés and shake up the rules a little. They also cover casting and the main emphasis of the plot, the game itself. With behind the scenes stories from the production of the film, this is a good commentary from a trio of filmmakers who have really enjoyed their move up to features.

Deleted/Extended Scenes (13.08 mins)
Entitled ‘Owen in the woods’, ‘The Hook up’ and ‘Extended Game’ theses deleted or extended scenes have optional commentary by director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon.

Alternative Scenes (5.52 mins)
This is an alternative version of the Game sequence that has an optional commentary track by director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon.

Wolves, Sheep and Shepard’s: Casting the roles (14.07 mins)
With optional commentary by director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon, we see the audition tapes for Julian Morris (Owen), Lindy Booth (Dodger), Jesse Janzen (Randall), Paul James (Lewis), Sandra McCoy (Mercedes) and Ethan Cohn (Graham).

Behind the Scenes: Enter the Sinister Set (12.13 mins)
Actor Julian Morris takes you behind the scenes of ‘Cry_Wolf’, showing you the pool sequence, the game, the school dance, makeup, the trailers and the dinning room attack all through the lens of his video camera.

Before they Cried Wolf: The Filmmaker’s short Films (27.43 mins)
Entitled ‘Tower of Babble’ and ‘Manual Labour’, these two short films highlight the talents of director/co-writer Jeff Wadlow, producer/co-writer Beau Bauman and editor/associate producer Seth Gordon. ‘Tower of Babble’ deals with three interweaving stories which all have the same dialogue. This is an extremely interesting idea that highlights how language can be perceived in many different ways. ‘Manual Labour’ is a short film about a man trying to find his car in a parking lot as his wife goes into labour. Each of these movies are quite inventive and the reasons why the trio got their budget for ‘Cry_Wolf’.

Trailers
Previews of ‘Brick’, ‘Red Eye’, ‘Skeleton Key’ and ‘Medium’

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for ‘Cry_Wolf’ is very good because of two things, the excellent commentary and the inclusion of the short films. The featurettes are also good, taking you behind the scenes of the shoot and offering an insight into the casting process. This is a good DVD package for fans and another outstanding show of support by Universal to a small budget movie.

Jamie Kelwick