Skinwalkers

The horror movie industry is in a difficult situation- the rampant onslaught of PG-13 horror movies. These are watered down attempts to broaden their appeal. Instead they just produce movies not worthy of being called horror. It seems Hollywood doesn't understand the horror is a niche genre, and doesn't appeal to the masses. If they wanted to do that, they should just all produce Will Ferrel comedies, and animated children's movies. Every movie would gross $100 million easy. If they want to make a horror movie, and make appeal to true fans, they need to go all out. All of this being said, Skinwalkers manages to eek by with a PG-13 rating, and still be a decent horror movie.

Skinwalkers is a movie about two warring factions of werewolves, separated by principles and beliefs. Both of these groups, however, have a common link, Timothy (Matthew Knight). He is the son of one of the leaders of the "bad" faction (Jason Behr), but was raised by his mother (Rhona Mitra) and the rest of his family in the "good" faction. Unbeknownst to Timothy or his mother. he is a werewolf who is to fulfill an ancient prophecy and determine the outcome of this ancient battle- or something like that.

The way this movie escapes the curse of the PG-13 horror movie is that it doesn't try to create a movie like that on today's standard; it is a retro grindhouse flick, and it does it very well. It's a werewolf movie, but it's instead of the goth tinged visual effects heavy Underworld, imagine a Hell Angels toned Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The movie is violent, sexy, and oh so deliciously dirty. You like you need to brush the dirt out of your clothes after watching it.

The movie becomes a race against time as the baddies chase the goodies, while the goodies try to stay alive until the prophecy comes to pass- all while fighting their own wolven urges. One thing that I think sets this apart from other horror movies, it doesn't have very many horror aspects to it. It's not so much scary, as it is thrilling. In stead of feeding frenzies, all the characters are armed, resulting a several John Woo worthy fire-fights.

By the end it delves into a no holds, two men enter, one man leaves, Thunderdome, battle royale- with werewolves. By this point they invest a bit more in the effects, and it started to fall a little bit, but no big deal. The acting is certainly nothing to write home about, with nobody really worth mentioning, but again no big deal. This movie isn't about the effects, or the acting. It's not really even about the razor thin plot of prophecies and family feuds. It's about creating a cool, stylish, grimy horror movie with a PG-13 rating. With the exception of the much anticipated (and R rated) Rob Zombie Halloween remake coming out later this week, this may be the best we get. Wait till it comes out on video, make some popcorn, and have some fun.

3/5