Cantankerous, blind Vietnam veteran Ambrose (Nick Damici) moves to Crescent Bay, a gated retirement community situated next to a forest. On his first night in his new home, his neighbour Delores (Karen Lynn Gorney of 'Saturday Night Fever' fame) is killed by a large creature that also tries to maul Ambrose; luckily for the ex-soldier, his guide dog Shadow intervenes and scares off the beast, but is mortally wounded in the process. The police blame the attack—just one of several in recent months—on a wild animal from the nearby woodland, but Ambrose believes that a werewolf was responsible and attempts to figure out who the lycanthrope is.
While Late Phases is in 'whodunit' mode, with Ambrose playing detective, it proves to be extremely entertaining stuff: intriguing, well written, and smartly directed, with a strong central performance from Damici. Unfortunately, once the identity of the werewolf has been revealed, the film becomes far more predictable, which mightn't have been so bad if only its monster had been the stuff of nightmares. Director Adrián García Bogliano delivers a reasonable transformation scene that owes more than a little debt to An American Werewolf in London, but fans of the genre will more than likely feel let down by the resultant werewolf, a rather ropey man-in-hairy-suit creation with a ridiculous fixed grin that is more likely to elicit giggles than shivers of fear.
The film also boasts a couple of moments of decent gore (including a nasty bite to one victim's arm and a juicy shotgun blast to a werewolf's head), but ends in a weak fashion that only adds to the overall sense of disappointment.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
While Late Phases is in 'whodunit' mode, with Ambrose playing detective, it proves to be extremely entertaining stuff: intriguing, well written, and smartly directed, with a strong central performance from Damici. Unfortunately, once the identity of the werewolf has been revealed, the film becomes far more predictable, which mightn't have been so bad if only its monster had been the stuff of nightmares. Director Adrián García Bogliano delivers a reasonable transformation scene that owes more than a little debt to An American Werewolf in London, but fans of the genre will more than likely feel let down by the resultant werewolf, a rather ropey man-in-hairy-suit creation with a ridiculous fixed grin that is more likely to elicit giggles than shivers of fear.
The film also boasts a couple of moments of decent gore (including a nasty bite to one victim's arm and a juicy shotgun blast to a werewolf's head), but ends in a weak fashion that only adds to the overall sense of disappointment.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.