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As Good As It Gets

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Slated between fantasy/sci-fi/moderately horror this film lays an egg in pretty much all counts. It's a laughable love story between a woman and a man/wolf, a father and son curse and eventual showdown. The screenplay is mediocre at best with a lot of cussing in the dialogue. I was shocked well known actor Chris Mulkey and actress/singer Maria Conchita Alonso signed on for this. Alonso's character as Sherriff is poorly acted and makes no real sense for her being there. Throw in Sid Haig who is known for non-conforming roles and he was fun to see. The music score was slightly misplaced in some scenes but not overly bad. Now the actual werewolves creature is poorly designed, contrasting in how they transform is laughable. No true CGI involvement. I give it a 4 based on scenery alone.

The first thing you notice while watching DARK MOON RISING, a would-be werewolf-themed horror film made on a very low budget, is that it's an open rip-off of TWILIGHT that favours romance over horror content. It's a trailer trash-style film that features rubbish lead actors and poor writing throughout. The horror content is virtually nil and the direction is bad with lots of close-up shots and little varying to break up the tedium. Only the virtue of various slumming-it stars keeps it watchable: in support we get THE RUNNING MAN'S Maria Conchita Alonso as the town sheriff; Max Ryan as a heavy; Billy Drago as his usual sinister character; Sid Haig in a one-scene cameo; plus a minor role for the reliable interesting Chris Mulkey, who appeared in FIRST BLOOD. A shame it's such a dud.

The movie very boringly details the love between Dan and Amy and the fact that Dan is a werewolf with a demented father. Dan is a werewolf in a really bad, wolfman inspired costume. Dan's dad is evil. He kills women constantly just for fun. Dan's dad is coming after him and killing people along the way. Dan has to protect his girlfriend, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, livestock is being killed, by Dan, and the sheriff, aka Maria Conchita Alonzo, who can barely speak any of her lines clearly, bumbles around like an idiot. Even after discovering the existence of werewolves and having Bender sexually assault her in a parking lot, she just lays there with her gun in her hand looking shocked. Bender walks away very slowly, stands and poses, taunts her and, instead of ending the whole thing by putting a well deserved bullet through his head, she just stares, wide eyed, after making sure the safety is on so the gun won't misfire. Amy's dad is angry at the world, constantly trying to fight with everyone, knocking his daughter around, threatening Dan multiple times with his fists and a gun, just out of control aggressive, except towards Bender. In the 'final showdown', which was slow and boring as heck, everyone has a clear shot at Bender, who stands and poses yet again in front of a group of people with guns, and they all just stand there until he finally jumps down behind cover, after five minutes of standing there making idle threats. Then, instead of remaining in a group, everyone splits up, going in a different direction than the one the bad guy went. The folks take some shots at him, firing a ridiculous amount of ammo without reloading a single time. Amy keeps running in circles, literally, in circles, always coming right back to where a protector just told her to run away from. She is constantly popping up in front of Bender, like she's drunk and can't figure out how to run in a straight line. The ending was dumb. Dan walks away, after dropping his shirt because, hey, who needs a shirt when you're walking off into the desert for whatever odd reason. He leaves Amy his car, which she gets out of looking like a female Dan, in a black wifebeater, jeans and a thick black belt with a big buckle. She puts flowers on the road and smiles when she hears a wolf howl. I thought maybe the movie would pick up and show some action sometime in the two hour running time, however, it just kept dragging from one boring, yawn inducing scene to the next, paying way too much attention to the amy's dad's paranoid ramblings and rantings and starlit dates with the sheriff. Then there's be ten seconds of action. Dan's dad kills someone after there's a gratuitous showing of breasts. Then another long twenty minutes of Dan and Amy vowing their love for one another. More ramblings from Amy's dad. More incoherent lines from the sheriff while she drinks tequila on the job and then drives around. Dan's dad kills some hooks after another gratuitous breasts shot. More rambling. A new character pops in and rambles on for ten minutes about his history with Bender, who he discovered was a serial killer. More rambling. Dan turns into a werewolf. Rambling, love, paranoid dad, Bender kills someone, a fortune teller gives Dan some info, love love, rambling, don't shoot the werewolf that's right in front of you, aren't the stars pretty, oh look, a werewolf, let's not shoot him and discuss being paranoid instead. oh, and don't shoot the werewolf, we're going to milk this run time!! The movies was longer and more rambling than this review, which is saying something.

This certainly isn't Twilight, as we at least get to see some nice charlies on Arielle Vandenberg before she was bitten.The action takes a hiatus as we wade through the love story of Amy (Ginny Weirick) and Dan (Chris Divecchio). Dan has a secret that will make this love affair difficult.Seems Dan's daddy (Max Ryan) is looking for him, and he's one bad dude. He leaves a trail of gore wherever he goes.Lots of good favorites to keep you interested: Maria Conchita Alonso as the Sheriff, Sid Haig as Crazy Louis, and Billy Drago as an ex-cop that knows Bender (Ryan) first hand.Has no one here heard of silver bullets?