
In my review of Prom Night, I mentioned that I put pretty much zero thought into choosing to review it for Shocktober. I’m sure I put in even less thought into WolfCop, since my selection was based primarily on the film’s title and that I assumed it would have a kind of shlocky fun ’80s vibe. I think I would say that I did have fun watching WolfCop, though for some reason the fun rang a little hallow. Still, you have to give the film some credit for the amount of bloody gusto it throws at the screen even on what appears to be a fairly modest budget.
The pre-wolf cop at the center of the film is Lou Garou (Leo Fafard), which I guess is a play on the word “loup garou”, which is French for “werewolf”. Because this film is Canadian. Anyways, Lou drinks a lot, which I’m not sure really ever plays into the movie much. I mean, this could’ve potentially played in the whole idea of him waking up and not remembering being a wolf when he finally does, but that’s not really an issue. Though I suppose it plays into him first becoming a werewolf, when he’s out investigating a disturbance one night, and he gets knocked out by a cult member and a satanic ritual is performed on him.
Lou then finds that he has wolf powers one night when he’s at his local watering hole and gets all wolfed up in the middle of taking a piss. He then fights a bunch of thugs and eventually convinces his cooky friend that he’s a wolfman now. The next night he goes full-on wolf again, and embraces his new wolfness by going out on patrol and kicking some ass, wolf-style (I apologize for all the wolf-isms). Then there’s a bunch of other stuff involving the cult and shapeshifters and local politicians, but I wasn’t as interested in all that stuff as much as Lou just being an MF’n WolfCop, but it does tie together at the end. Albeit in a way that might be too complicated for what this film is going for.
Which might be one of the problems with this movie – the fact that there’s a bit too much plot involved. I know this film is only 78 minutes, but it felt like it took a little too long before the WolfCop actually started being a WolfCop, because it had to set up the many twists that happen in its finale. Which also begs the question of whether a movie like this really needed to be made, if they clearly went out of their way to give it enough plot to pad into being a feature-length film, and yet that plot somehow seems superfluous. Or maybe it’s just weird that he’s WolfCop, but it doesn’t really feel like he’s much of a cop per se, since he’s fighting supernatural beings instead of regular criminals for a much longer portion of the movie. Hmmm… I think I might be overthinking this.
What I really went into WolfCop looking for was some schlocky good fun, and it has a decent amount of that. I didn’t mention that the first wolf transformation scene involves a shot of Lou’s penis while he’s taking a piss, which then turns into a wolf penis before the rest of his body turns into a wolfman. Granted, it’s hard to say if this is funny or just disgusting. Maybe a little of both. But, the film has its tongue firmly in its wolf cheek, if that wasn’t already obvious. Seeing as there are some fun little touches, like the fact that Lou’s favorite liquor brand is Donut Liquor. Which isn’t exactly sophisticated humor, but the film is kinetic and fast-paced enough that it’s lowbrow sense of humor works for the most part.
I suppose I just wish there was a little more humor, though there is something fun about the ridiculously violent ways that WolfCop kills his adversaries. Though I always have a hard time really applauding a film just because it’s violent. Also, I have a hard time deciding whether to praise a low budget film that tries a lot of things (special effects, complex make-up) that you would expect to see in a bigger budget film, and therefore not doing them quite as well. But whatever, man, it’s a movie called WolfCop. To quote former Mildly Pleased contributor Matt Carstens… it is what it is.