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I love this movie!

Okay, there are a couple of things that stink about this movie, so let's get that out of the way first. (1) Mariel Hemingway's acting sucks, (2) the cute blond kid's acting sucks, (3) Michael Pare's acting sucks slightly less, (4) the big transformation scene REALLY sucks--CGI at its sloppiest, and (5) some inane leaps in logic, like: Is Uncle Ted really so stupid that he thinks "family love" will cure him?
But I still gave it five stars. Why? Two main reasons: One, I love the idea of presenting the plot largely through the eyes of the dog, Thor. Thor acts circles around his human costars, and if, by the end of the movie, you aren't cheering him on as he races home to confront the werewolf, you must have a heart of stone. Two, the werewolf costume is fantastic. It is easily the best-looking, least-fakey werewolf I have ever seen. Despite the idiotic transformation scene, this werewolf looks ten times more impressive--and scary!--than any other. (Okay, the one in the big attack scene in the doctor's office in "The Howling" is a close second.)
Yes, you will groan at some of the dialogue. Yes, you will want the werewolf to rip off the cute blond kid's head. Yes, you will laugh heartily as you watch Ms. Hemingway struggle with the proverbial paper bag. Yes, there is an obligatory "final scare" which is totally stupid. But if you're in the mood for a fun little horror flick with some gore, an awesome monster, and a heroic dog, look no more! Need any more encouragement? This movie was written and directed by Eric Red, the genius who also gave us possibly the best vampire movie of all time, "Near Dark."

Not a bad movie actually...

Bad Moon, mm… I don't know why the heck they had to change the title to that when the original source was a novel named "Thor". I wouldn't totally agree with what other users had to say about the movie but hey, everyone has their own tastes.Now with the movie. It was done exceptionally well, quite entertaining actually. Although it may not have fabulous script and effects of American Werewolf In London, it does have some moments that you would enjoy. Of all the werewolf movies I have seen up until now, I would say this movie has an out standing werewolf the way it looks and sounds was just great, realistic I would say for that time (and still is). I would agree on one thing that another user mentioned that cast was limited, I mean just 3 people and a dog wasn't enough, they should have added more characters. Transformation from man to werewolf wasn't an A+ either, since it depended on CGI, but it was nice enough and at a point funny too. Story was simple enough, I don't think you'll be left with any unanswered questions. Acting was good, least in my view. All in all a nice entertaining movie, so if you need to pass few hours at night this movie wouldn't be too bad.I would give it a 7 / 10, mostly because I like the werewolf in it ;P.

Bark at the moon.

I'll just write a short review, this film was fantastic and is one of the better modern werewolf films I have seen so far alot better than cursed which I thought was a piece of crap. The openning sequence was very interesting to say the least and the storyline is from the perspective of the dog it might sound cheesy but its not. Overall I highly recomend this to horror fans and two thumbs up!.

Bad Moon (1996)

Director: Eric Red
Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Michael Pare.
Running Time: 83 minutes.
Rated R for violence, gore, language, and sexual situations.

What begins as a fairly cheesy take on "The Howling" premise develops into a scary, enjoyable horror film that is quick, taut, and surprisingly atmospheric. Mariel Hemingway stars as a single-mom who realizes that something is happening to her distant brother (Michael Pare). Although he as always been a little different, Hemingway decides that the best thing she can do is support him--so she allows him to stay in his trailer park on her property--bad idea. Her brother is a flesh-eating werewolf.

Michael Pare is adequate as the mysterious man-turned-werewolf, showing that haunting despair of knowing that he is inflicting horror on those he loves. The special effects are adequate and the acting is solid; director Eric Red does a nice job of slimming the film down and taking out the useless material to reveal a good horror film with the bare essentials. "Bad Moon" received no critical acclaim or publicity, but it is a much better motion picture than expected. Not quite "The Howling", but not far off.

It's about man's best friend. (german shepherd)

The good thing is that it lasts only 80 minutes. That's the longest run for a script like this. A man, while having a sexual intercourse with his girlfriend, gets bitten by a werewolf, and his gf gets torn to shreds (yes, you've guessed it, she was in mid-orgasm when the beast attacked). He becomes a werewolf. The rules in this movie are such, that he turns into a werewolf every single night, no matter what moon phase it is. And also, silver bullets and garlic are not the only things that can kill him, as he insightfully explains it to his nephew "a good shotgun blast to the head" will get him too. He moves to his sisters (and nephews) house, away from his trailer home in the mountains, because he has murdered 5 hikers already (as a werewolf), and believes that only family love can save him from his destiny. He is dead wrong, and soon, as a man also turns into a psycho, killing all the duality of wolf and man, usually found in these movies, which is just too bad, as it could have been a lot better that way. The real hero of this film is not this man, he is the antagonist. Nor is it his sister, not her son. Actually, the protagonist is a German shepherd. Yes, that's right, throughout the movie, a German shepherd, owned by the little kid, is protective of him and his mother, against his uncle. He is the only one that can suspect that the uncle is not all he seems, and he is also the one who kills the werewolf at the end, and lives to tell, even in the closing shot, we see his "angelic" face down on his paws. So, this movie is actually about the devotion of dogs to men. And that saves it from being a total disaster. In conclusion, watch it, if you get a chance, it's watchable.

I liked SILVER BULLET better.

Good for a one time watch, I don't think it could stand up for repeat viewings mainly because the story perspective is what makes it unique the first time around, but also because of the stiff performances by absolutely everybody...except for the dog. He's great! The two main leads acted like rigor mortis was setting in. The uniqueness I was talking about is how a lot of the story is from the dog's point of view and how he knows the family is in danger from a werewolf but nobody understands what the hell he's trying to get at and why he's suddenly freaking out all the time.

The werewolf effects are pretty cool especially for 1996. And we can't forget the brief but tasty female nudity at the beginning (not by Mariel Hemingway thank god)...nice. The main actor guy also takes his shirt off a few times if anybody cares.

Thor made the movie.

I think this film fits somewhere in the top 10 werewolf movies(that I've seen). One thing I really liked was they didn't ruin the werewolf by making it with awful computer graphics(CG). Don't get me wrong, CG is great as long as its good(eg.Lord of the Rings)etc. I also thought the dog Thor made the movie even better. It wouldn't of been the same without Thor. The movie seemed a little on the low budget side, but it didn't matter at all. Where the film takes place, and the storyline of the movie, they didn't need a high budget.If they would of had a higher budget they most likely would of ended up ruining it. Get ready to jump out of seat a few times. All in all it was a good flick.

Not bad as werewolf movies go.

Country dwelling lawyer Janet (Mariel Hemingway) is thrilled when her globe-trotting brother Ted (Michael Pare) arrives stateside. However, good old Ted isn't telling her everything that she should know - what we in the audience already know thanks to the prologue. Only Thor (Primo), the family dog, senses something is wrong about Ted.Clocking in at a surprisingly short 80 minutes, "Bad Moon" would never compare to fare such as "The Wolf Man", "Curse of the Werewolf", "The Howling", or "An American Werewolf in London". Or more recent fare such as "Ginger Snaps" and "Dog Soldiers", for that matter. Writer / director Eric Red, whose noteworthy genre credits include "The Hitcher", "Near Dark", and "Body Parts", takes his material seriously, and gets good performances out of Hemingway, Pare, and young Mason Gamble as Hemingways' son.The movie is technically well made, with decent CGI effects and a ferocious looking werewolf. Slick cinematography of the forest setting is also a plus. It's basically fairly enjoyable, and moves along pretty well. It's just not particularly scary or suspenseful and is rather predictable. The best part is Primo, a beautiful and obviously well trained German Shepherd who ends up the main reason to watch the movie.It's not destined to become a classic, but is a watchable enough movie of its type.7/10

A decent effort, much better than the Howling sequels.

For being a mid 90's low budget werewolf movie, BAD MOON is entertaining and that's the best thing about it. The gore is plenty here and that's a plus because most horror films released by the time of BAD MOON weren't that gory. I think this one came months before the SCREAM era began. The Werewolf is mean and impressive, just right for the movie. The acting is bad but it isn't that noticed. The make up and kills are good and deliver expectations for these kind of films.*SPOILERS* Before the opening credits the big bad Werewolf introduces to the audience by performing a well made gruesome kill. Marjorie (a hottie) is slashed, torn, and booted by the villain while having sex. . Her boyfriend shoots and apparently kills the werewolf. Too bad Marjorie died she was good to watch.The wolf terrorizes a family that lives in a cabin by the woods and that's the main premise of the movie.
At the end the wolf is beaten by the boy's dog in a brutal battle. Entertaining gory stuff to watch.
Recommended only for fans of the genre.5/10

Interesting movie

Personally, I found this flick entertaining. A dog is protective of the familly it lives with & adding the threat of a wearwolf adds spice to that concept. Movies seldom live up to the expectations of a book & therefore shouldnt be judged on one. But "Thor" lives up to dog traditions & the special effects, if not as extravagant as say; Howling, are still interesting.

Werewolf party !!!!

I think the movie was great. Tho the wolf could of had a couple
computer affects.It had a great plot.I ratted this movie 5 stars.

"What's that boy? There's a Lycanthrop in our backyard?"

I have not read the novel, nor do I particularly intend to. It isn't too difficult to tell that this is basically(that would be completely fine, if it was just, you know, good) a dog movie(right down to the usual near-ending scene of such), with the addition of a werewolf. That likes to play with its food, tends to be utterly incapable of closing its mouth, and the effects of which scream "we paid for this animatronic and darn it, we're gonna use it". The framing seems odd. The pacing only gets to be painful when this tries to build suspense(meanwhile, did it ever occur to them to go for an effective reveal on the creature? Or at least attempt to hide how obviously fake it looks?), with it merely being decent apart from that. The characters, motivations and credibility could use more consistency and quality writing. The script jumps straight into all the pitfalls of clichés and predictable developments, and after it makes an effort to change the familiar rules of the lore(presumably to tailor them to what they wanted to do in this), it proceeds to follow them instead of going with what they changed it to. The music isn't always dreadful, but it is considerably grander than the visuals it's put to, once or twice. The acting is adequate, no one really stands out as either strongly positive or negative(and they didn't have a lot to work with). The actor playing the being does have the voice and the appearance to match it. The kid isn't that expressive. This at most barely reaches the running time of a feature-length production. The camera and editing are powerfully uninspired, when at their best. There's some gratuitous sex and violence, and a little language. This can be fun to MST3K, though beyond that, hope for and expect little satisfaction from this mutt of a picture. I recommend this solely to the biggest fans of canine(think Lassie) and/or undead flicks. 5/10

Not bad - not bad at all!

Bad Moon has a very cheesy box cover. I also don't remember it ever going to the theaters. And that's a shame, because this is really quite a good werewolf movie. It is far superior to most of the other films of its type. Why? Most werewolf movies feel the need to be gory for the sake of horror, and they do so with aplomb. I guess if you really like excessively gory films then such releases as "The Howling" and "An American Werewolf in London" (both of which I think are good films too) are right up your alley.

Bad Moon isn't a gory film. It doesn't operate on a thin script and isn't mired down by bad acting or filming. This is actually a really nicely made film with B list actors.

Decent acting can only get you so far though. If the script isn't any good, it doesn't matter. In this case, the script is one of the best I've come across for a horror film. The script takes the horror to an emotional level rather than a graphic level. The werewolf is someone we care about and the victims are people we care about. But this film is less about the werewolf than it is the discovery on the part of some of the characters of WHO the werewolf is. It could be argued that everyone except the dog is too stupid to realize that there even is a werewolf.....so I ask you, would you assume that a werewolf was at work in any given situation? Of course not. And this film is developed from a sense of reality rather than in some alternate reality where the existence of werewolves is a foregone conclusion.

Oddly enough, this is a horror movie that the kids (albeit older ones) could watch with their parents. (I can't swear to it, but I think this film may have been a made-for-TV or made-for-cable film).

Try this film on for size. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Low Budget Horror Yarn Delivers!

While the production values definitely aren't up to snuff, the new take on the werewolf story (seen through the family dog's point of view) was the most engaging part of this movie.

Way better than American Werewolf In Paris and worth a look, I'm adding this one to my collection.

underrated

This is basically a b movie even though it was released in theaters, it was barely hyped but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It has a very good story and Mariel does a good job in the movie. The ending has a good animal fight in it and the effects for this low budget movie are surprisingly good, you should check this out it's a good movie I give it a 7

Not like the book, but I didn't expect it to be.

I'm the author of THOR, the novel on which Bad Moon was based. Because Thor was told almost entirely from the dog's POV, I never expected that anyone would try to make a movie of it, since the POV (which, to me, was the whole point of the novel), would have to be abandoned.When Eric Red offered to buy the movie rights, however, I agreed, knowing full well that the story might be changed. I didn't mind, since no movie is as good as the book it's made from (when that's the case), and I don't know anyone who judges a book by the movie made from it.I had no hand in writing the screenplay and was not consulted on any aspect of it. Still, I found the movie watchable, if not outstanding. I was, of course, disturbed by certain changes made in the story, but was also impressed by Michael Pare's performance (especially since I had no idea who Pare was before seeing the movie).Despite the above reservations, I was most disappointed in the appearance of the werewolf itself, and especially in the CGI transformation scene, which I felt looked too "computery." In fairness, however, CGI was still in its infancy, and the scene was probably as good as could be expected at the time. Today it would look extremely dated.I later co-wrote an unproduced script with Red, but the experience in the end was disappointing, and I don't plan to collaborate with him again.

Very good werewolf flick

I have to say that this is probably one of the best werewolf flicks of the nineties maybe even in the top 3 of course when 01' rolled around we got Ginger snaps and then Dog soldiers in 02' but in the nineties there wasn't much werewolf action.Anyways this movie is very good and very underrated. It's strait forward horror it doesn't try to be anything else. It's short only 74 minutes I think and that a good thing because movies like this shouldn't be long. This is a straightforward horror film and its great for what it is. The end when he's changing in the woods was very suspenseful and when the surveyor bites it that was just awesome. Another good thing about this movie is the werewolf itself it's a great looking werewolf even though it's obviously animatronics but still badass and scary looking especially the eyes.One bad thing is the crappy CG transformation it was laughably bad.In conclusion this movie isn't groundbreaking but its fun scary entertaining horror that is well worth a rent.

Bad Moon

Certainly not "The Howling" of the 90s, but a stylish, entertaining little romp none-the-less. Mariel Hemingway (yes, daughter of good ol' Ernest) stars as a single mother who allows her strange brother to park his trailer and live by her home. Yet, once little bro (Michael Pare) begins to settle in, a werewolf starts to tear everyone to pieces. Surprisingly, these quickie provides some decent character development, good special effects, and respectable cinematography. Although this formula has been used, recycled, re-done so many times, "Bad Moon" proves that not all is lost when another werewolf picture is released. Director: Eric Red. Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Michael Pare. Rated R for violence, gore, nudity, sexual situations, and profanity. 83 minutes.

You better hide because the big bad wolf is on the prowl

I adore werewolf books and movies gobbling up anything with the monstrum theme in it and I must say that this movie was excellent! I had the pleasure of watching it today for the second time and hours later it's still running though my mind so I had to put my two cents in and write about it. I would also like to mention that my favorite werewolf movie is Dog Soldiers, a movie that works because a main stream production company was not involved in the making of it, sparing it as a flick for kids and those who really only want eye candy.

Bad Moon is a sweet movie because it's quite short and the werewolf looks wicked! There is also a transformation scene, quite unusual but it really shows the whole deal, so that was nice to see for once. Short and to the point, the movie starts with an expedition gone wrong in Nepal. A whole scientific team gets shredded to pieces by a very vicious wolf like creature that gives Ted a big scratch before he defends himself with a gun, changing him forever. Back at the Pacific Northwest Ted reluctantly visits his sister Janet played by Mariel Hemingway and her ten year old son Brett. From the beginning the viewer can sense that she is on her own with the child, no man is taking care of them and their only furry companion and protects is Thor, an adorable yet stern German shepherd. The viewer gets an unsettling feeling that Ted is her brother but the experience in Nepal has left him with a changed heart. His keen senses and cold staring eyes betray hints of an animal kept deep inside as everyone is glad to see him except for the family dog. Now the dog is always present in this movie making it quite obvious that he is playing a big part. I was even joking to my boyfriend when we watched it that Thor was the main hero of the movie and we both ended up rooting for him not only because we love animals but because the werewolf and the dog were enemies form the start and the movie depicted the play on that perfectly.

As Thor follows Ted's every step he encounters a scary experience in the woods one night, witnessing his master's brother in his full fangs and claws get up and runs back home to warn the family. I wouldn't dare spoil the movie and what happens next but thrills and chills are on all the time. Plenty of hikers and people who wandered around for various reasons found themselves as a monster snack and it made Janet and Brett weary but they felt safe since her bother was there, well little did they know.... The werewolf made plenty of appearances and I must say, it was one of the best looking wolves I have ever seen. It made me think that if I lived in a house like Janet, two or three dogs would have to be a must, especially with a beast like this crawling around. I would probably rent a tank to kill it because I wouldn't want my dogs hurt but Thor was a great addition to the film and we were always worried about him as he couldn't resist following Ted and his secrets.


For the fans of the genre this is a sweet treat, and I know that a five star rating for this kind of a movie is hard to explain but I really get a good kick out of it when I see it and it's nearly flawless. This is not a multi million budgeted movie with latest CGI effects and that's why I like it. There is more madness than talking and hiding so I give it two thumbs up.

- Kasia S.

second-guessing

OK, so how many werewolf movies can there be? There's really nothing new here. Man gets bitten, grows fangs and fur whenever there's a full moon - especially since the full moon happens night after night after night. In this case, the lycanthrope is Ted (Michael Pare), who moves in with his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), and mysteriously goes jogging every night. Moreover, there's several totally predictable scenes throughout the movie.Truth be told, "Bad Moon" isn't really harming anything. Werewolf movies are always a good way to pass time, although "Wolf" elaborated on the idea. It's just that this is nothing that we haven't seen so many times before. And if I recall, this came out right after I saw "An American Werewolf in London" on TV (you may remember that it used Creedence Clearwater Revival's song "Bad Moon Rising"). But this doesn't reach the standards set by that movie or by "Wolf".