The Werewolf Reborn! starts in some Eastern European country in a small town where American teenager Eleanore Crane (Ashley Tesoro) steps off a train, Eleanore finds small train station but uncle Peter Kranek (Robin Atkin Downes) is nowhere to be seen despite saying he would pick her up. Eleanore makes her own way to her uncle's large house where he seems surprised to see her, Peter says he sent a letter to Eleanore's parents telling them not to send her but she says it must have gotten lost in the post. Peter tells Eleanore that she cannot stay with him, that there have been several brutal murders in the local village & he cannot guarantee her safety. With nowhere else to go Peter finally agrees to let Eleanore stay but he also says that he might be responsible for the murders & not to come out of her room no matter what she hears...
Directed by Jeff Burr for Charles Band & his Full Moon Pictures production company this is right around the period where Band started to seem much more interested in sequels, rip-offs & making money rather than making good horror films & it show's although having said that The Werewolf Reborn! wasn't as bad as I had originally expected. The one thing that really struck me about The Werewolf Reborn! was just how short it was, the IMDb lists a run time of seventy minutes but it's much shorter than that running barely an hour. It's almost as if the entire last third of the film is missing, while Eleanore was waiting at the train station at the end I though there would be some twist about her uncle not really being dead (like she didn't shoot in in the heart or something) or that the killings had continued & it wasn't her uncle after all (you know, some twist about who the real villain was) but no it just finished. The Werewolf Reborn! is an amazingly simple & straight forward film, girl visits uncle, finds out he's a Werewolf & ends up killing him. The end. At least it moves along at a fast pace, the character's & dialogue are better than I expected & overall I thought it was a decent enough effort for what it was. If your looking for a (very) simple Werewolf film then you could do worse than this.
Even though several murders are mentioned we never see anyone get killed, there's a dead body with a few scratches on it but that's it for gore & I would say The Werewolf Reborn! is strictly PG stuff. I was quite impressed with the locations, the old European setting obviously invokes the feel of the original Werewolf legend & it's a nice looking film. The Werewolf itself is a bit of a sorry looking creature, obviously a guy with brown face paint, lots of hair extensions & a slightly elongated nose & top lip to signify a snout the make-up effects are pretty tatty. The Werewolf howl has been stolen from An American Werewolf in London (1981) while for some reason almost every scene has the wind whistling in the background (even indoors!). The very opening feature the opening scene from Puppet Master II (1991) during which some company logo or brand called 'Filmonsters' flashes up, at first I thought I was watching the wrong film.
Filmed in Buchrest in Romania on what must have been a low budget The Werewolf Reborn! benefits enormously from the real locations used & does look alright. The acting is OK< some of the accents are a bit strong but overall everyone does a passable job.
The Werewolf Reborn! is no masterpiece but it's a fairly faithful & atmospheric retelling of the tale of the Wolfman, it even includes gypsies & torch wielding mob of angry villagers. Not too bad at all really, just a bit short & simple & bloodless. Followed by Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn! (2000) while Frankenstein Reborn! (1998) is it's sister film from the same company.
Directed by Jeff Burr for Charles Band & his Full Moon Pictures production company this is right around the period where Band started to seem much more interested in sequels, rip-offs & making money rather than making good horror films & it show's although having said that The Werewolf Reborn! wasn't as bad as I had originally expected. The one thing that really struck me about The Werewolf Reborn! was just how short it was, the IMDb lists a run time of seventy minutes but it's much shorter than that running barely an hour. It's almost as if the entire last third of the film is missing, while Eleanore was waiting at the train station at the end I though there would be some twist about her uncle not really being dead (like she didn't shoot in in the heart or something) or that the killings had continued & it wasn't her uncle after all (you know, some twist about who the real villain was) but no it just finished. The Werewolf Reborn! is an amazingly simple & straight forward film, girl visits uncle, finds out he's a Werewolf & ends up killing him. The end. At least it moves along at a fast pace, the character's & dialogue are better than I expected & overall I thought it was a decent enough effort for what it was. If your looking for a (very) simple Werewolf film then you could do worse than this.
Even though several murders are mentioned we never see anyone get killed, there's a dead body with a few scratches on it but that's it for gore & I would say The Werewolf Reborn! is strictly PG stuff. I was quite impressed with the locations, the old European setting obviously invokes the feel of the original Werewolf legend & it's a nice looking film. The Werewolf itself is a bit of a sorry looking creature, obviously a guy with brown face paint, lots of hair extensions & a slightly elongated nose & top lip to signify a snout the make-up effects are pretty tatty. The Werewolf howl has been stolen from An American Werewolf in London (1981) while for some reason almost every scene has the wind whistling in the background (even indoors!). The very opening feature the opening scene from Puppet Master II (1991) during which some company logo or brand called 'Filmonsters' flashes up, at first I thought I was watching the wrong film.
Filmed in Buchrest in Romania on what must have been a low budget The Werewolf Reborn! benefits enormously from the real locations used & does look alright. The acting is OK< some of the accents are a bit strong but overall everyone does a passable job.
The Werewolf Reborn! is no masterpiece but it's a fairly faithful & atmospheric retelling of the tale of the Wolfman, it even includes gypsies & torch wielding mob of angry villagers. Not too bad at all really, just a bit short & simple & bloodless. Followed by Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn! (2000) while Frankenstein Reborn! (1998) is it's sister film from the same company.
