“I really don’t like the name Moonscreen.”

Story: A year ago, a supermoon brought more than social media chatter; over a billion people turned into vicious werewolves. Humanity had a year to prepare, and many feel safe. But will there be more humans turned during this year’s supermoon? And will scientific breakthroughs fail? I mean, duh.

Scares: Jump scares and wolves on the hunt.
Splat Factor:  Surprisingly light for this R-rated story, save for one decapitation that’s so obviously fake it’s goofy goodness.

Subgenre: Hairy Horrors
Year Released: 2024
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original, but liberally takes beats from other werewolf and action films.

Trick or Treat?: Dog Soldiers In The City. The Purge: Werewolf Night. Werewolves will scratch your monster-action itch with lots of boom boom howl. I knew this was gonna be epic when the opening expositional font was in red, and it did not disappoint.

With The Purge: Anarchy‘s Frank Grillo starring, you know from the jump this will definitely be more Purge than The Wolf Man. There’s even a stoppage of emergency services, ala Purge Night. Plus, we’ve got Lou Diamond Phillips, looking like a sexy Santa as lead researcher Dr. Aranda.

In their homes, Lucy and Regan aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. If I was at home? My wussy self would have all the lights off, and any sounds off. But these characters have every single light they own blasting at top level while watching TV. Why not ring the dinner bell?

The CGI transformations here are fun as hell. And the Temu Underworld werewolf suits are an absolute hoot. Having bits of clothing the humans were wearing before they transformed stay on the shifted adds to the glorious batshittery. You haven’t lived til you see a punk rock werewolf with a nose piercing.

More information about the supermoon transformations would have been great; I only realized that any human who was exposed to this moonlight would transform. So why not just transform in the middle of the woods or something? It’d help you avoid getting got. Why so many people would just hide and hope for the best isn’t explained.

Editing keeps things sharp and never lets the story drag. Director Steven C. Miller focuses on the fun here, letting the chaos take control. Werewolves is over the top, and harks back to movies like The Howling, Howl, and the aforementioned Dog Soldiers. The climax is beautifully over the top wolf on wolf action, and it’s gloriously campy.

I ate up every moment of this. If you’re looking for a movie that knows it’s wildly goofy, yet has just enough adrenaline to keep your heart rate up? Here you go.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 pumpkins. I’d give it a half more, but I can’t get past the lack of mythology…and those wolf suits.