Bad Moon (1996)

Eric Red is known more as a writer than a director.  He is the one behind two classic horror films, The Hitcher and Near Dark.  His own output has been hit or miss.  He is technically skilled and often provides some good visuals, but it seems he gave his best material to other directors.  Although I'm not necessarily a big fan of most of his films he did manage to produce one of the few decent werewolf movies of the 1990s.

Ted (Michael Paré) is bitten by a werewolf while in the Amazon.  When his girlfriend is killed he narrowly escapes and kills the monster, making his way back to the United States.  A few months after returning he calls his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), who with her son Brett (Mason Gamble) visits him at his campsite near the lake.  It is also near where a number of recent animal killings have been reported.  As the police investigate Ted takes Janet up on her offer to stay on her property.

The problem is the family dog Thor (Primo) knows something is up and soon discovers Ted's secret.  He tries to warn his family and protect them, but his actions are mistaken for aggression.  Still, the clues are there, and while Brett sets out to rescue Thor Janet decides it is time to confront her brother about what happened in the jungle. 

Bad Moon is based on a novel called Thor, written by Wayne Smith and published in 1991.  While watching the movie it becomes obvious that Thor is the hero, and Red tries his best to maintain the spirit of the book despite having to make many alterations both for budgetary and storytelling reasons.  Primo, the dog that plays Thor, was not a trained movie dog, so the stunts and some other shots were performed by dogs that were.  Despite this, the dog's ability to interact with human actors as well as a healthy dose of Red's directing helps make Thor one of the best canine protagonists for any movie.

Unfortunately, nobody got to see that when the movie came out in 1996.  Bad Moon received almost no promotion and only managed to build a following based on cable and video rentals.  It's a shame as, on  top of Primo's performance, this has one of the best werewolves of the time.  It is ruined at one point by some shoddy digital effects of Ted changing into the creature - something that Red removed from his director's cut as he hated it - but the practical suit and animatronic head is state-of-the-art.  It is obvious that a good portion of the budget went into the creature. 

This is one of the few films in which Michael Paré is not a square-jawed hero and he does a good job of portraying a man that is slowly becoming more and more bestial.  Mason Gamble is also not a half-bad child actor.  The weak link, and this is why she pretty much faded away during the 1990s, is Mariel Hemingway.  She is not awful, but it is obvious she is not emotionally invested in the story, the movie or anything having to do with this production.  I have never seen her stand out in any movie she has been in, often coming across that she is above the material because of her last name..

This is a short, tight horror film, and it is different than most of the similar genre films of its time.  It is certainly different than the other werewolf films of the 1990s, many of which wanted to balance the humor and horror of An American Werewolf in London and The Howling.  The description of Bad Moon made it seem like it was going to be a cheap rip-off of the former, but this is definitely a movie that stands out on its own. 

Bad Moon (1996)

Time: 80 minutes

Starring: Michael Paré, Mariel Hemingway, Mason Gamble

Director: Eric Red