THE 31 DAYS OF HORROR-WEEN: PRIME EVIL: WOLFGIRL (2001) ***

Tim Curry stars as the ringmaster of a traveling sideshow carnival of freaks.  Grace Jones plays the half-man/half-woman. Both perform musical numbers.  

What was that?  Was that the sound of you adding Wolfgirl to your Prime watchlist?  Good.  

Anyway, Tara (Victoria Sanchez) is the wolfgirl of the title.  She’s covered with hair from head to toe and is the star attraction of sideshow.  When a bully (Shawn Ashmore from the X-Men movies) cruelly taunts her, it makes Tara yearn for a normal life.  Ryan (Dov Tiefenbach), a teenage outcast whose mother (Lesley Ann Warren, who was also in Clue with Curry) is working in her basement laboratory to isolate genes, offers to help her.  He gives her an experimental drug that can potentially reverse her condition.

Of course, the side effects may include headaches, hallucinations, an unshakeable urge to drink from the toilet, and an insatiable bloodlust. 

I’m a sucker for a good freakshow movie.  I love the werewolf genre even more.  As such, I can honestly say the filmmakers did a much better job blending the two together than Howling 6 did. 

It helps that the characters are well drawn, likeable, and sympathetic.  Sanchez (who looks great naked whether she’s covered in hair or not) delivers a fine performance and Curry is particularly great as the ringleader father figure who looks after the freaks.  Director Thom Fitzgerald also does a good job at portraying Tara’s tormentors three-dimensionally.  Deep down, they feel like freaks themselves and are only lashing out because of their own insecurities.  That doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it does give Wolfgirl an added layer of tragedy a lesser film wouldn’t have had.

Wolfgirl is also interesting because it’s almost like a werewolf tale told in reverse.  Tara starts off like a normal girl, except she’s covered in hair.  When the drug’s side effects bring out the wolf in her, she becomes more animalistic the less hairy she gets. 

It doesn’t all work.  While some of the innuendo-laden musical numbers are amusing, there are frankly just too many song and dance routines that clog up the film.  There’s also a bit too many characters and subplots that get in the way.  Still, it’s a nice attempt, nonetheless.  After watching so many interchangeable, forgettable, and dull horror movies this month, Wolfgirl gave me something to howl about.

AKA:  Wolf Girl.  AKA:  Blood Moon.