The idea of spending the last years of your life alone doesn’t seem appealing to most people. Such is not the case for Ambrose (Nick Damici). He’s a loner who enjoys the company of just his dog, but he’s also a blind veteran of war whose son Will (Ethan Embry) thinks he’s doing the right thing by moving him into a retirement community. Crescent Bay though has a dark secret that visits its residents once a month. Ambrose learns this the hard way on his first night when his service dog and next-door neighbor fall victim to a large and deadly beast. The cops do nothing to take care of the issue so Ambrose decides to take matters into his own hands. So begins a month long journey as Ambrose prepares to face the beast on the next full moon.
Adrian Garcia Bogliano, working from a script by Eric Stolze, presents a modest and low-key creature feature. It’s slow build and emphasis on character development worked for me, though I wouldn’t have minded a little spark of humor or energy more often. It’s a rather one-note film but delivers some mild thrills due in large part to the practical effects work by Robert Kurtzman. There’s an old school charm to the werewolf design that some might mistake for cheap or hokey. The standing on two leg approach as well as the long ears to the creature brought to mind the hairy designs of THE HOWLING and the underrated BAD MOON – one of my favorite werewolf designs that doesn’t get mentioned as often. Bogliano and cinematographer Ernesto Herrera gain extra points for showing a long transformation sequence in one single shot that slowly pans back and forth over and over again between a wide-eyed character in shock and the transforming creature in front of him. It’s a clever trick that hides the low budget of the film and yet still gives the audience the bloody goods.
When the film isn’t showing Ambrose preparing for his follow-up battle with the big, bad wolf, it presents a respectable degree of soul searching as Ambrose comes to terms with aging, his faith, and his past sins as a soldier and as a father. Most of these conversations are spent sharing a cigarette on a bench with an aging priest played by Tom Noonan. Damici brings a lot of heart to these scenes even if he’s stuck playing off the lifeless and monotone Noonan. Some of this felt like filler but I bought into it mostly because of Damici’s dedication to the role.
Damici brings a natural authenticity to a role that on paper might seem like a grumpy, growling caricature of Clint “Get off my lawn” Eastwood. Nostalgic horror fans that pine for the days of the creature feature will find a lot to love in this werewolf film. However modern horror fans might find the long lull between attacks exactly that. Character development and atmosphere take center stage in a film that seems more keen to be a metaphor for the constant fear and inevitability of death that you feel as you get older than a horror film with a bloody bite. It’s not that the film doesn’t show its teeth – just don’t be surprised to find that they’re often shown to be dentures.
Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5
LATE PHASES is now available on VOD and playing in select cities
