An absolute waste of money

A Brilliant Conflict

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This is a light comedy werewolf story with a taste of cheese. Top billed Caroline Munro had a bit part. The main story (there are numerous sub stories that may or may not be meaningful) is about a group of werewolves going camping to bond as a pack. They are lead to a place by two non-werewolf guides with their own agenda. For some reason werewolf Emma (Rosie Pearson) brings along her non-werewolf step-sister. They also pick up two hitchhikers along the way, who also have their own agenda. The main story (which is read from a book) has a number of people who tell stories. There are some things that don't make sense, but are explained by narration in a pub scene where a bloody Andy (Kristofer Dayne) claims his girlfriend was just killed by a werewolf. Andy of course likes to play jokes and is accused by everyone of "Crying Wolf."There was a lot of blood and killing. The werewolf costumes seemed cumbersome and most of their moving scenes is done in fast motion. The faces had baboon like coloration. They weren't bad for a low budget production. The acting was as expected, including the cheese. While I didn't have any laugh out loud moments, There were a few scenes which made me smile.The film included a number of lines that were a bit cliche and others that seemed appropriate: "I wonder what the locals taste like." and "He smells familiar."Guide: F-bomb. No sex. Nudity (Rosie Pearson, Alyssa Noble, Chloe Farnworth, Lisa Ramon, Olivia Jewson, Gwellian Higginson)

There are a couple things I should mention before I get to my review of Crying Wolf 3D. First, I am not a huge fan of gory horror films, so I am sure this impacted my enjoyment of this film. Second, although the film apparently is in 3-D, the copy I saw was not and perhaps seeing it in its intended form might have improved the film.The setting for the film is in the Cotswolds in England. For you non-Brits, that's west-northwest of London in the countryside. It's the pretty and peaceful part of England where Shakespeare lived....though it's not all that pretty or peaceful in this film, that's for sure! It begins with a private eye buying a book from a strange lady...one she keeps refusing to sell him. Then, he reads what is the story you then see. In this story, a group of werewolves are going on a little vacation--to frolic in the countryside, camp out, sing a few songs and kill folks for kicks. You see, unlike the typical movie werefolk, these werewolves like to travel in packs and are not tormented by their evil desires...in fact, they revel in them. As they're out doing what werewolves do best, they don't realize that one of their past victims which somehow escaped has returned with a friend to hunt down the hunters. The end is a giant gore-fest--with exploding bits and blood flying here and there.For me, one of the only things I liked about the film was seeing Caroline Munro (a former Bond girl and cast member of the Dr. Phibes movies) playing the strange bookstore owner. The basic plot ideas also weren't bad and could have worked. However, the execution of the story was seriously flawed. There's a lot of gratuitous blood and breasts, but there's no finesse to the story at all...it's just breasts and blood. For some people, that might just be enough to warrant watching the movie. But the characters and dialog were so poor and I simply didn't care about anyone and that's the real shame in Crying Wolf. Had they chosen to make it more of a comedy and made the dialog at least somewhat believable, I could have enjoyed the picture much more than I did. Or, had they made it a serious drama with real tension and decent characters, I could have also enjoyed it more. Instead, it's just another cheap horror film with little to distinguish it.

Jopia's story is a fun, quick-witted twist to the Werewolf tale. The movie places the beast as unsuspecting prey against the vengeful. "Crying Wolf" has some colorful and interesting characters that are well developed. Some more so than others. The film is more comedy than horror, but with plenty of spooky nicely shot scenes offering the creature in all its costumey glory. I enjoyed the beast- visually and characteristically in "Crying Wolf". Plus the cast give nice performances as the individuals in the pack.The special effects are a mixed bag of cool, gory practical effects, and weak disappointing CGI. Jopia does choose the moments for CGI very wisely and frames the scenes in a creative way that make watching the CGI easier for those of us who find the computer animation a turn-off in horror. Oddly enough the thing that makes " Crying Wolf" fall a bit flat is the hokey way the story is set up as comedic schtick, vignettes and flashbacks combined with a cheesy soundtrack more reminiscent of soap operas and webseries.Overall "Crying Wolf" falls somewhere in the middle of good and bad. There are some quality moments where story and character really entertain and thrill, then there are those pesky times when CGI and dialog fail to sell the story. As a werewolf story this one is weak at beast, as a Brit horror/Comedy it is mediocre, but as for creative , Indie story- "Crying Wolf manages a decent and sometimes amusing tale. The creature design and wittiness are the best aspects for sure!

In a little English village called Deddington a pack of werewolves on holiday come face to face with their victim and hunters friend.More important than director's Tony Jopia's offering is the knowledge that the first scene has Hammer Horror star, Sinbad's Margiana and James Bond's Naomi, actress Caroline Munro. Here she cameos as a shopkeeper, arguably still edible to the older gentleman, surely any self respecting werewolf would be honoured to gobble her up. I digress, many of the same cast and crew of Cute Little Buggers, a low rent Gremlins, reteam armed with a Hammer's business model, like a multi-picture deal of Craig Fairbrass films for... Ba-dumb ching - Crying Wolf! A Kermit the Frog YAY please.Taking a compulsory leaf from American Werewolf in London and Dog Soldiers and the recent Howl, Jopia's Crying Wolf has plenty of sleepy village dolly tracking and crane shots. Jopia armed with ropey CGI (a limited suite of stretch effects, colouring and kinetic werewolves reminiscent American Werewolf in Paris); plenty of claret and fake limbs throws on screen what can only be described as canned wolf fodder. The tin looks good, it contents appear tempting but even if out of curiosity do you really want to open that bad boy up and taste it?To Jopia's credit I've never seen a werewolf film with a grand Bond style opening credit sequence but voilà Crying Wolf has one and a theme tune too. With pub humour, Brookside pacing, gratuitous blood and breasts, this is not to be confused with Jeffrey D. King's independent documentary film Crying Wolf (it's an easy mistake to make). Written by Andy Davie, Michael Dale and Jopia this presentation is ridiculous and equally as silly (including a wrong hole gag) with its out of place flashbacks and unnecessary back stories. Aside from an abundance of pretty looking cast members what's genuinely enticing is the atmospheric locale (possibly interesting if you live outside of the UK), there are also some nice make up, old school practical effects and there's really is a germ of a good idea hidden away in bottom of a pint glass. It's energetic cast include Gabriela Hersham, Chloe Farnworth, Joe Egan (of the well executed short – Predator Dark Ages), Kristofer Dayne, Gabriela Hersham and Ian Donnelly to mention just a few who put in every effort known to man to have fun with their characters. Notable is Angela Holmes who pops up briefly.I'm going to mention (because I can), if I didn't know better I'd say their tagline is a rework of my very own novel but this sub- genre stuff is in the air. With werewolves appearing from the shadows lunging at the camera and popping into an already very cropped frame, for the love of Thiess of Kaltenbrun don't expect Lowell Dean's Wolf Cop. Be safe in the knowledge that John Landis needn't worry about losing his 1981 and 1984 werewolf crown either. This stretched low-budget Carry On up the hammy werewolf is best served with a load of friends, excess barrels of real ale and an aptitude for this type of film. No doubt Crying Wolf will certainly become someone's guilty pleasure.