Colorado, 1887. A werewolf stalks a dilapidated ghost town whenever there is a blood moon. A stagecoach stops to rest their horses and its passengers are taken prisoner by a duo of bank robbers hiding out in the town. When the moon glistens blood red, a Native American “skinwalker” begins to take out the passengers one by one.
I’m a sucker for western horror movies. Most of the time, these things center around vampires, so it’s somewhat refreshing to find one about a werewolf in the Wild West. Low budget westerns nowadays are a tricky thing to pull off, but director Jeremy Wooding does a fine job for the most part. I think the most surprising thing about Blood Moon is the fact that it was able to sustain my interest for as long as it did even though the monster was kept off screen for much of the running time. It is a testament to the actors (mainly, Shaun Dooley as the grizzled gunfighter, Anna Skellern as a sexy saloon owner, and Eleanor Matsuura as a Navajo guide) who are able to keep you invested in the drama during the werewolf-free passages.
Unfortunately, once the werewolf shows up, things kind of fall apart. While Wooding is adept at setting up the tension in the early stages, the third act when our heroes finally duke it out with the werewolf is sorely lacking punch. Although the werewolf itself isn’t awful or anything (it’s certainly better than something you’d see in a Howling sequel) and the gore effects are surprisingly solid, the attack scenes in the last ten minutes or so fall flat,. The final showdown with the beast is anticlimactic at best, and things are wrapped up way too quickly in the end. Still, all things considered, it’s probably the best werewolf western I’ve seen in a long time.
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