Ok, so it's Christmas. But that doesn't mean it's time to stop watching horror movies. Especially ones set in snowy towns. You need to make time for my favourite horror movie in recent years before it leaves Netflix.
Werewolves Within is a 2021 gem that hasn't had nearly as much praise as it deserves. This horror comedy may be seriously scary but it also knows how to have fun. It leaves Netflix on January 1st, so if you need something to watch between Christmas and New Year, here you go.
Based on the classic Werewolf/Mafia party game (and a VR title of the same name), this is a movie with a pretty simple premise. Someone in the small town of Beaverfield is a Werewolf, and it falls to newly assigned Forest Ranger Finn (Sam Richardson) to find out. With tensions high, residents soon start turning on each other, with deadly results. Hysteria is a powerful weapon, is there even a werewolf at all or is it a convenient excuse to off one's enemies?
At just 97 minutes, this is a delightfully tight movie, in a period when the biggest movies of the year have topped 3 hours, Werewolves Within shows that you can tell a perfectly effective story in half of the time. Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott, please take note (for my bladder's sake).
With an 86% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, this is the highest-rated video game adaptation on Rotten Tomatoes, but I still think the score is a bit low. To be honest I had never heard of the game before watching (and still haven't played it) so there's no pre-requisite to enjoyment.
Although it's a shame that great movies have to leave the best streaming services, Netflix is at least always adding more great stuff, with a Natalie Portman movie with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes having recently landed.
