Frightfest – Wolf Manor – Movie Review
Director: Dominic Brunt
Writer: Joel Ferrari, Pete Wild (Screenplay)
Cast
- James Fleet (The Phantom of the Opera)
- John Henshaw (The Keeper)
- Jay Taylor (Donkey Punch)
- Nicky Evans (Evie)
- Thaila Zucchi (Attack of the Adult Babies)
Plot: Shooting a vampire movie in an old abandoned house should have worked like a dream. However, with the full moon, the nightmare begins. The body count rises as the cast and crew encounter the mansion’s resident werewolf.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Wolf Manor starts on the shoot of Crimson Manor a vampire flick with genre icon Oliver (Fleet) in the leading role. The shot has run long, meaning the cast and crew are trying to work until they are asked to leave.
During this last night of the shooting, the crew start getting an unwelcomed visitor that starts picking them off. They need to band together and use their own experience in horror movies to defeat the creature hunting them down.
Verdict on Wolf Manor
Characters
Oliver is an iconic horror movie star; the star of the movie being produced. He is living in his former star power, always searching for drinks on set. Oliver’s behaviour drives the cast wild because he thinks he is better than everyone else on set.
Peter is the producer of the movie, he knows he has gone over the deadline on set but needs the movie finished. He doesn’t know the name of the crew, branding them all by their role on set.
Fiona is the production assistant trying to keep the set together, while assigned to keep Oliver in check. This is a challenge and full-time job on its own, she leads the fight back against the creatures.
In the supporting characters, we get the other members of the set, while Fiona knows their names. The rest are branded with their department, Boom, Effects or Body Double.
Performances
James Fleet does a great job at playing the eccentric actor, reflecting how he is the biggest name in the movie with his character too.
The standout in the cast is easily Thaila Zucchi who stands up to everything that gets in her way, being the performer, we want to see most in the movie.
The supporting cast is a lot of fun, each performer will get a good laugh or moment against the creatures.
Story
The story follows a film shoot that runs long leading to them coming under attack from a mysterious creature. The story gets to show how a low-budget horror movie would need to cut a few corners to make things work, giving us an insight behind the scenes.
When it comes to the creature side of the movie, we get to see how the group are slowly picked off and needs to find a solution to escape. It is done in a slightly more comedic way, which does lighten the mood throughout the film.
Themes
Wolf Manor is a horror comedy that uses a remote manor house as the main location. It works as the perfect location for the film crew to be shooting in, has isolation and early in the film, there is a warning about the location. The many references from other horror movies with the same creatures come into hint at what we will be seeing. The creature creations are good, being imposing figures when they come up against a human character and nothing is held back when it comes to the blood in the film.
Final Thoughts – Wolf Manor is a fun creature feature.
