CRY_WOLF

 
Rogue Pictures, 2005. Written by Beau 
Bauman and Jeff Wadlow. Directed by 
Jeff Wadlow. Starring Julian Morris, Lindy 
Booth, Jared Padalecki and Jon Bon Jovi.

     By Stephen Pytak 
     When I was a teen, I started trying to write scripts
and create original characters. Being that I liked a
lot of horror films, I came up with a lot of ideas for
psycho killers.
     One of them was "Orange Hood." This guy had
a thick orange ski mask a black Army jacket, a shot 
gun and a Bowie knife, but no back story.
     That being the case, I never took this guy to the 
next level. But someone finally made something
interesting out of this very generic idea.
     The killer in "CRY_WOLF" has an orange ski
mask like the one I had as a boy. But this guy's also
got a neat, twisted and kind of hip storyline to stalk
through. 
     A bunch of high-school aged kids at a private 
academy hear the body of a local woman was 
found nearby in the woods. Intrigued, they decide
to freak out the campus by telling everyone there's
a killer on the loose. They do this with a mass email.
     Next thing you know, the kids start getting text
messages from the killer, who they dubbed "The Wolf."
     Soon it seems these youths get targeted by the 
numbers. The script, however, holds some third act 
surprises which will make some moviegoers raise
eyebrows and others throw their Cokes at the screen.
     For the most part, I was impressed. The script was
rather clever. Kinda fresh. And the actors did a great
job of giving it life.  But at times it kinda feels a bit like 
a Kevin Williamson joint.
     There's not much blood in this film. I think the thing 
would score a zero or maybe a 1 on Chas Bauln's Gore 
Score.
     Honestly I was hoping to see a little more of the red 
stuff. Sounds stupid, or maybe a bit deranged. But I
like my slasher films a little more gory.
    The kill scenes here for some reason are very high 
contrast. They look terrible, as if shot on some low 
definition video. The flick lives up to its PG-13 rating. 
I don't know if I'd see this one twice. 
     But my brother said he's going to buy it. 
Copyright 2005 by Stephen Pytak.