I am really starting to like this Brian Yuzna guy, this is the second one of the films I’ve seen this week produced by him and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The very lovely Elsa Pataky probably had more to do with that than anything, although I have always been partial to werewolf-movies.

I had heard before seeing this move that it was based on real events and that one reviewer fell asleep while watching it, so I went in not expecting a whole lot and so I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t want to build it up too big for you, this is definitely not the movie of the decade or anything so don’t get your hopes up – but Elsa Pataky is definitely very, very nice looking and the rest of the movie isn’t bad either. That guy that fell asleep musta been high.

Story:

 Apparently there was a traveling salesman (Julian Sands) in Spain in the later part of the 1800’s who traveled around from town to town gaining people’s trust, and in between the towns he killed women and children and made soap out of their body fat. When he was finally caught he claimed it was because he was cursed to be a werewolf, and had no control over his actions. Now outside of this movie, I have never heard of werewolves making soap out of people’s fat, and so this really seems like the lame excuse of the century – which could be why the story warranted not one but two movies. (This is actually a remake of an older film) I am sure that if Johnny Cochran were alive today he would have suggested this guy come up with something better, like “I didn’t do it” or something along those lines, but I guess those were much different times because this excuse got Mr. Romasanta’s death sentence commuted to life so he could be studied.

The Good:

 This film one of the best werewolf transformation sequences I have seen so far. Fortunately there aren’t that many werewolf transformation scenes out there to compete. (and I said one of the best)

 I have been a fan of Julian Sands ever since Warlock (1989) I don’t know how the guy ends up in so many of these movies when one look at him and you are almost sure he’d rather be doing Shakespeare – or maybe there’s just something about his face that makes him look bored all the time.

 I know I already said Elsa Pataky was really hot but just in case you missed that part I wanted to mention it again.

The bad:

 This movie seems to be trying to be charitable to a guy that really isn’t easy to sympathize with. Apart from that the plot itself seems underdeveloped and I felt that the story line meandered quite a bit when it could have been more focused. I would have liked to have seen a movie about the curse of being a werewolf, or about being in love with a guy who might turn out to be a werewolf, or about an evil werewolf seducing women, then killing them and making soap out of them – but trying to accomplish all three goals only resulted in none being done properly.

The Conclusion:

I have to say the film was worth the time I spent watching it. The fact that it’s based on a true story makes me feel like a know a little bit more about history and getting to see Elsa Pataky’s breasts is something that would have been a damn shame to miss.