Skinwalkers

As audiences just finish sieving through the current crop of zombie movies and ready themselves for the surge of impending vampire films heading to the big screen, Skinwalkers comes along aiming to modernise and give a hip twist to the werewolf genre.

For those not in the know, a Skinwalker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into a werewolf, feeding on human flesh and thirsting for the taste of blood. In this movie there is a good set of lycanthropes, including Jonas (Elias Koteas) who are just trying to get on with life living side by side with humans, and there is a bad breed looking to feast on every man, woman and child without remorse.

Timothy (Matthew Knight) is a 12-year-old boy who holds the key to the curse – only his hand can change the destiny of these warring clans. What proceeds is a battle between good and evil. Valek (Jason Behr) is the leader of the bad wolf clan who wants to continue the bloodlust and rile up the beast within. He will stop at nothing to preserve his chosen way of life.

The werewolves battle to sustain their own individual lifestyles, much to the delight of this reviewer. This movie isn’t the greatest werewolf movie ever made – even though the creatures are designed by Stan Winston, which would set expectations extremely high. But what it does have going for it is a breathtakingly quick running time, fun action set-pieces and a sexy cast. Also, it had me occasionally howling with laughter, whether it intended to be funny or not.

Behr as an actor with a TV background would be easily pickings for criticism – usually the case with teen stars in horror movies - but here he does what’s asked of him. What’s that? Look cool - it’s a werewolf biker movie, for God's sake. Koteas is an old school genre pro and adds much-needed class to the underwritten script. He owns every frame of his screen time. Director Jim Isaac laces this movie with slick visuals – it looks way more expensive than I bet it actually was and he is a talent to watch for with the right material and budget.

Skinwalkers will divide audiences and will probably fare better on home rental, but it is mindless Friday night entertainment. Cinemagoers don't always want to be stimulated intellectually when they visit the local multiplex. Sometimes they just want to switch their brains off and go on a quick journey somewhere fun for a while. Interested? Hop on your Harley and burn rubber down a dusty dirt road and check out Skinwalkers – this will be the perfect movie for you.