Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Lycanimator
Directed by Sébastien Godin
C-Word Productions; Melting Man Films; Wild Eye Releasing;
MVD Entertainment
41 minutes, 2018 / 2020
www.mvdentertainment.com
Just going in,
merely by the title, I’m going to predict this is about a (green) formula that
turns people into werewolves. That’s what the combo title seems to imply, mashing
lycanthropy and the title of the 1985 Stuart Gordon (d. 2020, RIP) classic, The
Re-Animator.
First off, it
is important to know that this film is short. I mean, the story part clocks in
at just over 30 minutes, with almost eight minutes of slow crawl credits, stills with
the actor’s names, and a brief Marvel Universe-esque tag at the end. It probably
could have been cobbled together with three others to make it a feature-length
anthology. But y’know what, that’s okay, it’s the story that counts, and let’s
get on to it.
A bunch of
friends take a trip to stay at a secluded house. We don’t get to learn much
about the history of these two couples and the third wheel (classic trope), but
we sure get an idea of their personalities.
 |
| Jonathan E. Smith |
First off,
there’s milquetoast Jeff (Jonathan E. Smith). I don’t know about this guy, as
he looks pretty young, wears a lot of eyeliner, and his hair is dyed black
while his scrabbly beard is either blond or red. Mostly, he is a buzzkill, seeming
always negative. His girlfriend is May (Cayt Feinics… wait, pronounced cat
phoenix? It's probably Kate). She is a tattooed gal who is mostly in control of the
relationship, but seems to put up with Jeff’s nonsense. The second couple is
Brian (Kii Hornick) and Nikki (Briana Wyman). Brian is a tall, thin and violent
bully and a total douche tough guy to everyone, especially Nikki. Oh yeah, you hope
from early on that he will be part of the body count. Nikki is a cute,
multi-pierced redhead who for some reason also puts up with her boyfriend.
The last is Allie, who organized the get-together; we never see her sober, so I
know nothing about her except, “Oo-hoo, par-taaay.”
Essentially
what this film does is it takes the usual first act, where we are introduced to
the characters, and truncates the standard first 20 minutes or so into about 5
minutes. In that time, we are also presented with the standard “warning older
man” character, Niven (Scream King and filmmaker Joel D. Wynkoop, who has been
in films like Clownado, Dreaming Purple Neon, $kumbags, and the
classic Creep, most of which were reviewed on this blog) who in this
case, is more of a key to the story than just an ignored sideman.
 |
| Joel D. Wynkoop |
The secluded house
(as opposed to a cabin in the woods) that our jolly travelers have rented to
spend the weekend has a dark secret past concerning a Herbert West-ish scientist
who has invented the (yes, green, albeit not florescent) formula for, well, you
know, and has conveniently left some of it in a jar in the basement (rather
than a book that raises demons). When one of our intrepid quintet meets up with
the goo, we go to act two and body-count city.
The creature
looks both cool and silly at the same time. We’re definitely dealing with miniscule
budgets, and it’s so obviously a person in a mask with a costume cobbled
together, but because the filmmakers just accepted it for what it is, I believe
so should we in cases like this (one of the joys of non-$$ filmmaking, in my
opinion). I mean, the beastie is no An American Werewolf in London or Dog
Soldiers creature, but you get what you get, if you get what I mean. There
is a decent head-only version (for biting) that looks cool, designed by the
one-and-only puppet master, Dustin Mills.
Lots of cameos
abound in this short piece, most of them literally phoned in. In other words,
they appear merely as voices usually on the telephone, such as filmmaker James
Balsamo, actor Michael O’Hear, and 1980s Italian actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
(who appeared in films by Argento and Fulci, among others).
There is some interesting
editing and visual FX thrown in, such as the gratuitous cameo scene with Niven
and truck driver Ben (cult director Todd Sheets) – despite terrible sound quality
– as Niven grabs hold of a Bowie knife. The gore, however, is all practical
SFX, rather than digital.
There is also
a bit of subtle humor that runs throughout, such as when the werewolf thingy is
chasing one of our campers, it stops to close the pocket door to the room.
Wait, what? My fave though, is a line from Officer Tony (Alberto Giovannelli):
“Sweet Christmas Jesus on toast!”
The extras are
few, but nice. There are selected trailers (though not for this film), a 4-minute
Making Of that focuses in on the director that is short and sweet, and the
inclusion of one of Godin’s 13-minute shorts, “Fleshflower.” In it, a young
woman is dying, I am assuming, as she is bleeding out her mouth profusely. She
eats from a mysterious flower with dire effects. It’s a nice piece with some
really artistic editing and minimalist sound.
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