Cry Wolf (DVD)

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SYNOPSIS
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The film begins with meeting a wealthy English boy called Owen. He was sent to American's boarding school by his father, as the only thing that revolves around his life is his job, so he has little time for Owen. As for his mother, there was no sight or mention of it.

On Owen's first day at school, he met a confident and popular girl called Dodger. She is attractive, yet obviously cunning ...
...would even speak to him and was willing to take him under her wings. During the film, you will also meet Tom, Owen's roommate, who coincidently belongs to Dodger's gang. One night, Tom wakes Owen up to meet his gang in the school chapel. This was obviously forbidden, but the thrill of it seduced Owen to go there.

On the meeting of the gang, who they called themselves 'Liar's Club', in the School Chapel, Owen begins to play a game called ... more

~~~~~~~~~
SYNOPSIS
~~~~~~~~~
The film begins with meeting a wealthy English boy called Owen. He was sent to American's boarding school by his father, as the only thing that revolves around his life is his job, so he has little time for Owen. As for his mother, there was no sight or mention of it.

On Owen's first day at school, he met a confident and popular girl called Dodger. She is attractive, yet obviously cunning and is troubled. But Owen was grateful that Dodger would even speak to him and was willing to take him under her wings. During the film, you will also meet Tom, Owen's roommate, who coincidently belongs to Dodger's gang. One night, Tom wakes Owen up to meet his gang in the school chapel. This was obviously forbidden, but the thrill of it seduced Owen to go there.

On the meeting of the gang, who they called themselves 'Liar's Club', in the School Chapel, Owen begins to play a game called 'Wolf'. The aim of the game that one person (Dodger) to be the chair and decides who are the sheep and who is the wolf. The Wolf must deceit others by lying; convincing others that they are also the sheep and the Wolf is others.

As thrill junkies, the gang decided to up their stake by playing Wolf with the entire school without others knowing. They abused the story of true event where a fellow girl student was murdered in the woods no so long ago. The gang created a serial killer called 'The Wolf', who murders students on Halloween night. The girl was his first victim and he is on the hunt to kill others. In the modern day of technology, the gang uses a dummy email address to mass email the story about The Wolf to the rest of the students and other schools.

Once all attention has been focused on this 'myth', the fun begins. However, they did not think of the consequences of that perhaps, the real killer who murdered the girl in the wood might have received this email. The gang have not thought about that this 'killer', may now have a reputation to keep and likes this new found fame. The myth is about to come true for the gang. Horror begins when the Wolf starts to message and communicate with Owen via emails.

Owen is becoming suspicious with the whole idea half way through playing and is convinced that the Wolf is definitely out to get them. However, when Owen tries to warn his gang, they think that Owen was bluffing and is playing the game too serious and trying to scare them. As an extra scare factor, the Liar's Club has written a description of the Wolf's victims and how it will take place. This is the excellent approach to scaring the entire school. However, one by one the named victims start to be killed off, exactly as described. The myth they have created has come to life and it is for real. Owen needs to warn others before it's too late for everyone and himself.

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REVIEW
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When I hired 'Cry Wolf' to watch, I thought it was going to be normal teenage slasher movie. Even at the beginning of the film of a teenage murdering scene, I thought it's going to be an average film. All you need to do is to work out who the killer is among the main characters, which a lot of chasing and dodging. There are just too many of these films about since Scream, I doubt this would be inventive. However, this film is not the typical teenage slasher movie you will expect. The plot of the film is sophiscatedly developed and made the film unpredictable with a superb and heart-felt twist towards the end. As a regular watcher of horror movies, even I could not predict the outcome of the film.

There are a few scary and intense moments, where you realize that someone is about to pop out to kill a girl who is in the shower, etc. This is rather conventional to the genre and is also predictable. However, it also worked well as the anticipation is built up and you are just waiting for it to happen. I do get the odd moment of frustration such as shouting at the television to tell the victim where to go and how stupid they were. No harm in a bit of audience participation and it is this that makes up a traditional slasher movie - predictable, frustrating and anticipation.

However, for those of you who are really into horror and slasher style, this film does lack the visual images. You don't actually get to see much in the actual killing. Just hear some screaming and blood afterward. To be fair, there is a purpose of why the director did the film in this non-visual way, but you have to watch it to know why. There is no real scary factor in this film, though it does still gives you the adrenalin.

I loved the fact that the plot is developed so carefully. The obvious plot that we predict does not come into this film. The director, Jeff Wadlow, has created the leading lady, Dodger, to be the leader of the gang. She is confident, manipulative and strong. You immediately would think that Dodger is definitely behind all of it. As the film develops, you are beginning to see the softer side of her and coming to understand why it is so important for her to act the way she does. Your prediction of her being involved with the killing is instantly sway. The director is engaging the audience by wanting you to keep guessing who the murder is by constantly changing plots - confusing you and making you doubt your guesses throughout the film.

In terms of the choice of casting, perhaps due to the lack of budget, most of them are unknown (although I have seen films with Lindy Booth (Dodger) and Jared Padalecki (Tom)). I was extremely surprised to see Jon Bon Jovi playing Mr Richard Walker as I was unaware he was in the film at all. Jovi was able to play a convincing schoolteacher, who is full of sound wisdom and advice to the needy Owen at times. There were several dimensions to the character of Mr Walker, which enable Jovi to stretch his acting talents. Jovi has got a large and important role to this film, and it is exciting to see him going into a genre of film that he is not used to. I believe that he has done so well that you will soon forget him doing 'Living on a Prayer' and as Mr Walker, the schoolteacher.

As for the leading male, newcomer Julian Morris who plays Owen; I liked him. He had a face that is very pleasant, so audience would immediately take an instant liking to him. When you first look at him, you would think he was rather angelic. As the film goes on and as he started to do naughty things, you know this character is trying to impress the gang. He Owen really as bad as his reputation said he was in his old school? I feel they have made an interesting choice of bring in an angelic face, who was the main cause of creating the Wolf and causing such havoc. Choosing Owen to be English, with a posh English accent has immediately established himself to be the outsider of the gang. Inevitably, it is him who was the Wolf's target. I hope there is more film for Morris to be in to develop his acting ability.

I have seen Lindy Booth, who plays Dodger in Dawn of the Dead. I wasn't all that impress with her character as Nicole, as she played a quite little girl with not a lot to give. I was very surprised with Booth's talent in acting and feel I judged her unfairly. She did seem extremely confident and a true gang leader as Dodger. She had a lot of control with what she said and how she said it and is certainly not someone you would want to mess able or disagree with. As she is 26, playing an 18-year-old character, you can see that she is slightly maturer. However, I think this has worked well with the character of Dodger, as it sound like she has been through a lot and has to grown up quickly.

I was particular impress with the acting skill of Jared Padalecki, who plays Owen's roommate Tom. I only know him in Supernatural, where he plays a mature and intelligent paranormal investigator, Sam Winchester. However, in the character of Tom, he was definitely at a different age and was extremely laddish. He managed to play a very convincing stereotypical teenager, who would happily play tricks on his mates and doesn't know what he wants to do in life. A real contrast compare to his character as Sam Winchester.

I did feel that there were too many characters in the gang that was not developed, and I could not care less for some of them if they did get murdered. Not enough time was spent in introducing them as individuals and the killing came into the film too soon. I did find this a downfall as I can't help but to wonder what the chemistry of the film be liked if there were more depth in the character's background.

It is frustrating that I cannot say much in this review, as I do not want to give out the twist at the end of the movie. It is that which made the film so appealing for me, as it was thought provoking and I was able to hold a long decision with my friends. You end up analyzing everything you have seen in the film, and to make sense of the structure of the plot. I do think this film is slightly underrated, possibly due to the non-A list actors that was involved in it. Perhaps, if they made a big deal that Jon Bon Jovi was in it, it might appeal to more audiences. I am not sure if it will catergorised highly on the slasher cult titles, but it is definitely a nice fresh air from the recent films. It is a nice contemporary and technological film embedded with the contrasting and traditional 'Whodunit' genre. Remember, nobody believes a liar even if they are telling the truth.

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INFO
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Director = Jeff Wadlow
Writing Credit = Jeff Wadlow / Beau Bauman
Year = 2005
Duration = 90 minutes
Language = English
Country = USA
Cert = 15 

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