Entertaining 'Werewolves Within' finds human (and) nature growing dangerous
IFC
First, give all the roles going to Cristin Milioti (“Palm Springs”) to Milana Vayntrub instead. Where Milioti is cloying and cutesy, Vayntrub, who you know as Lily in the AT&T commercials and is immensely winning in “Werewolves Within,” is appealing without underlining it.
Now that that’s out of the way: Horror-comedy is a great genre when done well (“Zombieland,” “Cooties”), and, considering how often bad horror is unintentionally funny and bad comedy is unintentionally horrifying, it’s delightful and wise to blend the two on purpose. Despite being based on a video game, “Werewolves Within” feels more like the rewarding, feminist answer to a “What if?” question about populating a red herring-filled monster movie with almost exclusively comic specialists. Casting Sam Richardson (“Veep,” “Detroiters”), Michaela Watkins, Sarah Burns, Cheyenne Jackson, George Basil and Michael Chernus, director Josh Ruben signals that this is hardly a traditional, sinister midnight romp.
Yet though “Werewolves Within” -- in which the new forest ranger (Richardson), a mail carrier/romantic interest (Vayntrub), and a variety of local weirdos find themselves isolated in their small town while a pipeline is being constructed and a werewolf may or may not be killing people and animals -- is often quite funny, it’s hardly a joke. You can practically feel the chill on your neck in this snowy, candlelit environment, where a startlingly fast beast (Remember “Attack the Block”? Good movie) is only slightly more terrifying than the dysfunction between the people. Idiocy, greed, paranoia, and recklessness with firearms are just a few of the culprits, not to mention the vapidity of those who defend every selfish action behind the label of being “honest, god-fearing, hard-working people.” With playful curiosity and deadly consequences, “Werewolves Within” recognizes that it’s easy to blame something that’s not human but that you also have to take a human threat seriously. Both can be remarkably dangerous.
Meanwhile, Richardson makes for an exceptional leading man in this sort of material, delightful and unsure and simultaneously holding the screen while the character looks like he needs a hug. He brings so much to comic moments as small as an eyeroll or the physical awkwardness of trying to console someone he can’t quite reach from where he’s sitting. The film’s score probably does a bit too much work, however, and the plot’s eventual acceleration is a refreshing counter to a somewhat lethargic start and sense that the overall laugh quotient could be bigger.
But it’s good fun to see this cast working in this register (if you haven’t seen the brilliant “Mystery Team,” correct that immediately), and “Werewolves Within” offers even more possibilities to consider than the overrated “Knives Out.” Moving swiftly through darkened scenery, drawing blood through menace that’s silly and bloody, it seems both cheap and mandatory to call this “Knives In.”
B
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