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Bad Moon is a 1996 werewolf horror film directed by Eric Red.
The film is based on the novel Thor by Wayne Smith, which mainly tells the story from the dog's viewpoint. Thor was published in the United States (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press hardback, Ballantine paperback), and in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, in English, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian.
Plot[]
While on assignment in the jungles of Nepal, photojournalist Ted Harrison (Michael Pare) and his girlfriend are savagely attacked by a hideous beast which tears the woman to shreds and leaves Ted badly mauled. He later returns to the States to live near his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), nephew Brett (Mason Gamble) and their German shepherd Thor, hoping the presence of family will dispel the horrific memories... until the inevitable effects of a werewolf curse begin to surface. As his humanity begins slipping away, only the family dog begins to suspect something is wrong -- but poor Thor ends up being the chief suspect in a string of recent mutilation murders
Cast[]
- Michael Paré as Uncle Ted
- Mason Gamble as Brett Harrison
- Mariel Hemingway as Janet Harrison
- Ken Pogue as Sheriff Jenson
- Hrothgar Mathews as Flopsy
- Johanna Lebovitz as Marjorie
Special effects[]
The director Eric Red thought the werewolf design was excellent: "We have, I daresay, the best werewolf in movie history, the most realistic. It’s a completely credible symbiosis of a wolf and a man. I made a decision early on to show the monster. I think our creature really holds a closeup. Its articulation—its eyes, its nose, its fangs, it salivates—it’s pretty bloody frightening. The obligatory scene in a werewolf picture is thetransformation scene. I was able to use CGI and two-dimensional and three-dimensional morphing to facilitate Michael Pare’s final change into the werewolf. There was a sequence which took a week to film and involved three separate makeup changes.” (Cinefantastique)
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Bad Moon received mostly negative reviews from critics upon its initial release. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was highly critical of the film, panning the film's script, poor special effects, and unconvincing monster costume. Joe Leydon from Variety felt that the film was "too silly to be suspenseful, yet not quite awful enough or intentionally funny enough to qualify as camp", and criticized Hemingway's performance as being unconvincing. The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov gave the film one and a half out of five stars, highlighting the film's direction, unconvincing special effects and monster costume, and unbelievable characters.
Home Media[]
The film was released on DVD in a snap case on October 3, 2000. It was released for the first time on Blu-ray on July 19, 2016.