Three teenage girls are left alone in their parent’s new rural home, a mansion once owned by a serial killer, for the night after said parents leave town. Naturally these comely gals commence to throwin’ a shindig with some local yokel bad boys… but these dudes have some other intentions than merely partying down… sinister intentions.
Anyway, push comes to shove, and folks start turning up missing, because as fate and horror movie tropes would have it; a werewolf stalks the orchard… and juvenile delinquents, their victims… even the town sheriff may not have the stones to survive the night!
Hunter’s Moon is one odd-ass flick boils n’ ghouls. It starts of as a home invasion flick, dove-tails into a creature feature… and then drops some eleventh hour surprises in that make this a fun lil’ trip into the hairier side of the ol’ horror biz!
While all of the cast is excellent (and with some genre legends such as Thomas Jane, Sean Patrick Flannery… both in cameo-style roles, and A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Amanda Wyss in a major role), it’s Jay Mohr as the family patriarch Thomas that really steals the show. Giving a performance emotionally distant, off-putting, and downright bizarre, you just can’t keep your eyes off from him. Bravo to you my good man!
Also of note is the werewolf suit; though while not on screen for very long this thing is a full-on, man-in-suit, practical effect, and I loved every hair on it’s horrible head, as well as the aforementioned twist n’ turns that make this one a stand-out in both the home invasion and creature feature genres… no easy feat considering the over-crowding there cats n’ creeps.
The only real negative regarding this DVD release from Lionsgate is that outside of a handful of trailers this one is completely devoid of extras. I would of loved a commentary with writer/director Michael Caissie discussing how he came up with the choices he did, but it wasn’t meant to be.
To sum it up; Hunter’s Moon is a werewolf flick with more bite than most, with a great cast, practical effects, and more than enough twists to satisfy a host of horror hounds!
