I was initially put off by the title of Daedalus Howell's comedy horror film Werewolf Serenade and that is due to having little time for werewolves as a movie monster. I find the traditional transforming into a wolf a dull concept. Thankfully, this film does things a little different with the change being more 'on the spectrum' than a typical black and white human to wolf construct.
Howell stars as Peter MacTire - a jaded college professor with little interest in his job, whose wife, Julia (Emily Keyishian) is in a mental institute after a mental health crisis. When Peter's colleague and friend Stuart Solomon (Matt Standley) is found dead, the long suffering college dean decides to put Peter in charge of Solomon's special project he was doing for a rich benefactor - Konrad Beissen (Mark P. Robinson). It turns out that Konrad had tasked the man with investigating a Nazi project from the second world war that was designed to find a way to transform men into werewolves. He had actually been successful, creating the compound, something that near alcoholic Peter inadvertently drinks believing it to be wine. Soon a change comes over the man, he becomes more confident and stronger and realises that he is now a werewolf. Konrad however has also had the compound and believes that Peter is unworthy of the special abilities that he now possesses.
This indie comedy horror was mostly a lot of fun from start to finish. Helping this throughout is the soundtrack that is split between classical music and more jaunty jolly music. This means that even during the most thrilling moments, the tension and atmosphere is diluted purposely by the soundtrack, so the horror is slight. The comedic element becomes a little too much into focus by the time the eighty minute movie reaches its farcical third act, with a silly chase sequence that went on for quite a while, and a background character pulled into the forefront who it turns out is actually quite irritating when they get more screen time to shine. Of that third act I must also state it had an underwhelming conclusion to the antagonists path that wasn't adequately displayed on screen.
As I said, I think people changing into wolves is a bit of a boring thing. Here however, people change but only in certain ways. Often it is just the eye colour that changes on the werewolf, occasionally they get hair on their hands and face as well as long claws, the hair does actually suit Peter due to the impressive mutton chops he sports anyway. I liked this more subtle change, and it fitted the comedic tone of the film. Werewolf powers are not displayed that much, one scene has Peter somehow climbing up a sheer wall, while he is shown to have super sensitive smell and hearing abilities. Action scenes are kept to a minimum, they serve their purpose, but the story isn't centred around horror, there isn't really much of a downside to being cursed with being a werewolf in this film world.
I thought that Howell was the standout character of the movie, it is always good when the protagonist turns out to be the most entertaining character. I also thought Robinson was good as the bad guy, with lots of scenery chewing to be had by him.
With a good turn by Howell and a story that while silly was also mostly fun, this indie comedy horror was entertaining for what it was. I personally liked how werewolves were handled within this film world, and while the third act was a little too much like a farce, it still left me pleasantly surprised by the time the end credits on this rolled. Werewolf Serenade is now streaming on Amazon.
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