Customer Reviews:
Watchable, nothing to write home about!.......2007-12-03
Not a bad little teen thriller. Pretty dark and a bit slow to start but enjoyable once the premis is set. Reasonable performace from Jon Bon Jovi as the teacher, a good twisty turny story with some obvious points and others I certainly didn't see coming. Great for a quiet evening in or a sleepy sunday afternoon, not massively challenging but entertaining enough. If you loved Gossip or similar films, you'll like this.
The student who cried wolf.......2007-04-23
"Avoid suspicion, manipulate your friends, and eliminate your enemies." That's the line that best sums up "Cry Wolf."
This movie sly jibes at the typical teen slasher movies that were popular in the late nineties, with shrieking blondes, knife-wielding killers, and plenty of bodies. But it's not only a good satire, but a good movie in its own right -- it deceives you right up to the end, with a complex twist that suddenly pulls the whole movie into focus.
Owen (Julian Morris) has just arrived at the prestigious Westlake high school, and it doesn't take him long to get acquainted with his jock roommate Tom (Jared Padalecki), the sexy school queen Dodger (Lindy Booth) and their pals. The gang all gathers together at the school chapel at night, to play an elaborate lying game -- until Dodger suggests they use a recent murder as part of an elaborate prank.
The kids send out a mass email saying that a mythical killer called the Wolf is on campus, about to kill again. But soon the prank becomes a series of vindictive, dirty secrets are revealed, and Owen is sent a series of threatening IMs from "The Wolf." And then suddenly the fake deaths they dreamed up begin to come true -- but what is real, and what is a deadly prank?
Don't go into "Cry Wolf" expecting lots of shrieky, bloody teen horror, or you'll be disappointed. Not much gore, not even much violence. It's actually more like a murder mystery (both before and after the fact), disguised as a teen slasher flick. Certainly it's a lot smarter than your typical high-school movie.
The complexity doesn't really show up until the finale, when the seemingly simple plot turns around and pulls all its strings tight. Hardly a plot hole to be found. People you thought were dead aren't, and a childish prank turns out to be far more sinister. Writer/director Jeff Wadlow soaks the movie in a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere, and a sense of intellectual horror as well as visceral thrills.
It also takes a few minutes out to mock slasher flicks, like the "so cliche" idea of a killer hiding in the backseat. The cast seems like a typical slasher cast, but more realistic -- the slut is flirty but not actually slutty, like a girl who is still getting used to her own attractiveness. The brainiac doesn't flaunt her intelligence, the chubby kid isn't funny, and the jock isn't a lunkhead.
Julian Morris gives a subtle, understated portrayal of a troubled young boy with a checkered past. Owen is essentially a good kid, but led into trouble by that classic downfall -- he's trying to impress the hot girl with his intelligence. Morris's finest acting comes in the final scenes on the movie, where his expressive eyes show terror, desperation, numbness, and finally frustrated horror.
"Cry Wolf" is a far smarter, creepier movie than most satires, and it also manages to be a clever flick in its own right. Solidly acted, wonderfully written.
This one owes more to Agatha Christie than Earl the Chimp.......2006-02-18
I can certainly appreciate that some viewers are reminded by "Cry Wolf" of "The Usual Suspects," but for me the cinematic reference point was an Agatha Christie movie. Saying which one would give it away, but fortunately there are several such movies based on her books and I can see echoes of at least two classics in this one. Now that could strike you as good news, because you like Agatha Christie mysteries, but that might mean you have to be old enough to remember them (and why pulling old tricks out of the hat could strike a younger audience as being new). Or you might be offended that they tried to trick you in such ways, although this is a genre that often relies as much on tricks and twists as it does on blood and gore.
Owen (Julian Morris) shows up at some rich kids boarding school, having been kicked out of more than his share of such places. The first person he meets is Dodger (Lindy Booth), who turns out to be the leader of the local pack, one of who is Owen's new roommate, Tom (Jared Padalecki). In the middle of his first night Tom wakes Owen up and takes him to the church on campus where everybody antes up and they play a game run by Dodger. It has to do with figuring out who is telling lies and who is not, making much of the distinction between wolves and sheep, with some shepherds tossed in for good measure. The game proves to be relatively easy for Owen, who has no problem taking advantage of a bunch of bored rich kids. Dodger also does not find it challenging to be playing chess with a bunch of kids who are playing checkers. So the two come up with a new game in which their group will be the wolves and the rest of the campus will be the sheep.
So they decide to take the recent murder of a local girl and spin a story about her being the victim of a serial killer known as the Wolf. They give him a few iconic characteristics (big knife and an orange ski mask) and come up with gruesome deaths for his victims, who are thinly disguised versions of various group members. They put together an e-mail, send it out to their classmates, and sit back to watch the rumors spread. Then, the things they made up start coming true and it appears there are games within games within games.
It is not really fair to say that "Cry Wolf" stays a step ahead of you because the script by director Jeff Wadlow and his co-writer Beau Bauman knows how you are supposed to think when trying to figure out who is the serial killer and then they proceed to play with your mind. They know that you are trying to eliminate suspects and that you worry more about opportunity rather than motive (movies like this either make the motive absolutely obvious from early on or seem to pull one out of a hat at the end to explain what made the killer do it), and you just cannot make things add up in this one. It is like being halfway through a Sudoku puzzle and suddenly realizing you have two sevens in the same box and you cannot figure out how to backtrack to undo your mistake.
The cast is filled with young actors and actresses who will be leaving behind good looking corpses and besides the old groundskeeper for most of the film the only adult on the premises is the journalism teacher (Jon Bon Jovi), who also knows something about playing chess (with an antique set no less). There is not a lot of blood and gore in this one, and in some ways when we see the killer is the least interesting part of the film. It is much more fun to watch the spoiled little rich kids all turn on each other.
However, in the end I rounded up on this one becaue of the DVD extras, which includes Wadlow and Bauman's previous efforts, a pair of shorts from 2002. "Manual Labor" is but a trifle, but "The Tower of Babel" gives us Earl, who is one of those billion chimps banging away on those million typewriters trying to write Shakespeare and the local weather report between now and the end of time. You might find that things get too cute, but the gimmick is to have different situations with different characters in which the dialogue is the same but the contexts are, well, different. It has its moments, thanks to Earl.
Customer Reviews:
Watchable, nothing to write home about!.......2007-12-03
Not a bad little teen thriller. Pretty dark and a bit slow to start but enjoyable once the premis is set. Reasonable performace from Jon Bon Jovi as the teacher, a good twisty turny story with some obvious points and others I certainly didn't see coming. Great for a quiet evening in or a sleepy sunday afternoon, not massively challenging but entertaining enough. If you loved Gossip or similar films, you'll like this.
The student who cried wolf.......2007-04-23
"Avoid suspicion, manipulate your friends, and eliminate your enemies." That's the line that best sums up "Cry Wolf."
This movie sly jibes at the typical teen slasher movies that were popular in the late nineties, with shrieking blondes, knife-wielding killers, and plenty of bodies. But it's not only a good satire, but a good movie in its own right -- it deceives you right up to the end, with a complex twist that suddenly pulls the whole movie into focus.
Owen (Julian Morris) has just arrived at the prestigious Westlake high school, and it doesn't take him long to get acquainted with his jock roommate Tom (Jared Padalecki), the sexy school queen Dodger (Lindy Booth) and their pals. The gang all gathers together at the school chapel at night, to play an elaborate lying game -- until Dodger suggests they use a recent murder as part of an elaborate prank.
The kids send out a mass email saying that a mythical killer called the Wolf is on campus, about to kill again. But soon the prank becomes a series of vindictive, dirty secrets are revealed, and Owen is sent a series of threatening IMs from "The Wolf." And then suddenly the fake deaths they dreamed up begin to come true -- but what is real, and what is a deadly prank?
Don't go into "Cry Wolf" expecting lots of shrieky, bloody teen horror, or you'll be disappointed. Not much gore, not even much violence. It's actually more like a murder mystery (both before and after the fact), disguised as a teen slasher flick. Certainly it's a lot smarter than your typical high-school movie.
The complexity doesn't really show up until the finale, when the seemingly simple plot turns around and pulls all its strings tight. Hardly a plot hole to be found. People you thought were dead aren't, and a childish prank turns out to be far more sinister. Writer/director Jeff Wadlow soaks the movie in a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere, and a sense of intellectual horror as well as visceral thrills.
It also takes a few minutes out to mock slasher flicks, like the "so cliche" idea of a killer hiding in the backseat. The cast seems like a typical slasher cast, but more realistic -- the slut is flirty but not actually slutty, like a girl who is still getting used to her own attractiveness. The brainiac doesn't flaunt her intelligence, the chubby kid isn't funny, and the jock isn't a lunkhead.
Julian Morris gives a subtle, understated portrayal of a troubled young boy with a checkered past. Owen is essentially a good kid, but led into trouble by that classic downfall -- he's trying to impress the hot girl with his intelligence. Morris's finest acting comes in the final scenes on the movie, where his expressive eyes show terror, desperation, numbness, and finally frustrated horror.
"Cry Wolf" is a far smarter, creepier movie than most satires, and it also manages to be a clever flick in its own right. Solidly acted, wonderfully written.
This one owes more to Agatha Christie than Earl the Chimp.......2006-02-18
I can certainly appreciate that some viewers are reminded by "Cry Wolf" of "The Usual Suspects," but for me the cinematic reference point was an Agatha Christie movie. Saying which one would give it away, but fortunately there are several such movies based on her books and I can see echoes of at least two classics in this one. Now that could strike you as good news, because you like Agatha Christie mysteries, but that might mean you have to be old enough to remember them (and why pulling old tricks out of the hat could strike a younger audience as being new). Or you might be offended that they tried to trick you in such ways, although this is a genre that often relies as much on tricks and twists as it does on blood and gore.
Owen (Julian Morris) shows up at some rich kids boarding school, having been kicked out of more than his share of such places. The first person he meets is Dodger (Lindy Booth), who turns out to be the leader of the local pack, one of who is Owen's new roommate, Tom (Jared Padalecki). In the middle of his first night Tom wakes Owen up and takes him to the church on campus where everybody antes up and they play a game run by Dodger. It has to do with figuring out who is telling lies and who is not, making much of the distinction between wolves and sheep, with some shepherds tossed in for good measure. The game proves to be relatively easy for Owen, who has no problem taking advantage of a bunch of bored rich kids. Dodger also does not find it challenging to be playing chess with a bunch of kids who are playing checkers. So the two come up with a new game in which their group will be the wolves and the rest of the campus will be the sheep.
So they decide to take the recent murder of a local girl and spin a story about her being the victim of a serial killer known as the Wolf. They give him a few iconic characteristics (big knife and an orange ski mask) and come up with gruesome deaths for his victims, who are thinly disguised versions of various group members. They put together an e-mail, send it out to their classmates, and sit back to watch the rumors spread. Then, the things they made up start coming true and it appears there are games within games within games.
It is not really fair to say that "Cry Wolf" stays a step ahead of you because the script by director Jeff Wadlow and his co-writer Beau Bauman knows how you are supposed to think when trying to figure out who is the serial killer and then they proceed to play with your mind. They know that you are trying to eliminate suspects and that you worry more about opportunity rather than motive (movies like this either make the motive absolutely obvious from early on or seem to pull one out of a hat at the end to explain what made the killer do it), and you just cannot make things add up in this one. It is like being halfway through a Sudoku puzzle and suddenly realizing you have two sevens in the same box and you cannot figure out how to backtrack to undo your mistake.
The cast is filled with young actors and actresses who will be leaving behind good looking corpses and besides the old groundskeeper for most of the film the only adult on the premises is the journalism teacher (Jon Bon Jovi), who also knows something about playing chess (with an antique set no less). There is not a lot of blood and gore in this one, and in some ways when we see the killer is the least interesting part of the film. It is much more fun to watch the spoiled little rich kids all turn on each other.
However, in the end I rounded up on this one becaue of the DVD extras, which includes Wadlow and Bauman's previous efforts, a pair of shorts from 2002. "Manual Labor" is but a trifle, but "The Tower of Babel" gives us Earl, who is one of those billion chimps banging away on those million typewriters trying to write Shakespeare and the local weather report between now and the end of time. You might find that things get too cute, but the gimmick is to have different situations with different characters in which the dialogue is the same but the contexts are, well, different. It has its moments, thanks to Earl.
Customer Reviews:
Watchable, nothing to write home about!.......2007-12-03
Not a bad little teen thriller. Pretty dark and a bit slow to start but enjoyable once the premis is set. Reasonable performace from Jon Bon Jovi as the teacher, a good twisty turny story with some obvious points and others I certainly didn't see coming. Great for a quiet evening in or a sleepy sunday afternoon, not massively challenging but entertaining enough. If you loved Gossip or similar films, you'll like this.
The student who cried wolf.......2007-04-23
"Avoid suspicion, manipulate your friends, and eliminate your enemies." That's the line that best sums up "Cry Wolf."
This movie sly jibes at the typical teen slasher movies that were popular in the late nineties, with shrieking blondes, knife-wielding killers, and plenty of bodies. But it's not only a good satire, but a good movie in its own right -- it deceives you right up to the end, with a complex twist that suddenly pulls the whole movie into focus.
Owen (Julian Morris) has just arrived at the prestigious Westlake high school, and it doesn't take him long to get acquainted with his jock roommate Tom (Jared Padalecki), the sexy school queen Dodger (Lindy Booth) and their pals. The gang all gathers together at the school chapel at night, to play an elaborate lying game -- until Dodger suggests they use a recent murder as part of an elaborate prank.
The kids send out a mass email saying that a mythical killer called the Wolf is on campus, about to kill again. But soon the prank becomes a series of vindictive, dirty secrets are revealed, and Owen is sent a series of threatening IMs from "The Wolf." And then suddenly the fake deaths they dreamed up begin to come true -- but what is real, and what is a deadly prank?
Don't go into "Cry Wolf" expecting lots of shrieky, bloody teen horror, or you'll be disappointed. Not much gore, not even much violence. It's actually more like a murder mystery (both before and after the fact), disguised as a teen slasher flick. Certainly it's a lot smarter than your typical high-school movie.
The complexity doesn't really show up until the finale, when the seemingly simple plot turns around and pulls all its strings tight. Hardly a plot hole to be found. People you thought were dead aren't, and a childish prank turns out to be far more sinister. Writer/director Jeff Wadlow soaks the movie in a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere, and a sense of intellectual horror as well as visceral thrills.
It also takes a few minutes out to mock slasher flicks, like the "so cliche" idea of a killer hiding in the backseat. The cast seems like a typical slasher cast, but more realistic -- the slut is flirty but not actually slutty, like a girl who is still getting used to her own attractiveness. The brainiac doesn't flaunt her intelligence, the chubby kid isn't funny, and the jock isn't a lunkhead.
Julian Morris gives a subtle, understated portrayal of a troubled young boy with a checkered past. Owen is essentially a good kid, but led into trouble by that classic downfall -- he's trying to impress the hot girl with his intelligence. Morris's finest acting comes in the final scenes on the movie, where his expressive eyes show terror, desperation, numbness, and finally frustrated horror.
"Cry Wolf" is a far smarter, creepier movie than most satires, and it also manages to be a clever flick in its own right. Solidly acted, wonderfully written.
This one owes more to Agatha Christie than Earl the Chimp.......2006-02-18
I can certainly appreciate that some viewers are reminded by "Cry Wolf" of "The Usual Suspects," but for me the cinematic reference point was an Agatha Christie movie. Saying which one would give it away, but fortunately there are several such movies based on her books and I can see echoes of at least two classics in this one. Now that could strike you as good news, because you like Agatha Christie mysteries, but that might mean you have to be old enough to remember them (and why pulling old tricks out of the hat could strike a younger audience as being new). Or you might be offended that they tried to trick you in such ways, although this is a genre that often relies as much on tricks and twists as it does on blood and gore.
Owen (Julian Morris) shows up at some rich kids boarding school, having been kicked out of more than his share of such places. The first person he meets is Dodger (Lindy Booth), who turns out to be the leader of the local pack, one of who is Owen's new roommate, Tom (Jared Padalecki). In the middle of his first night Tom wakes Owen up and takes him to the church on campus where everybody antes up and they play a game run by Dodger. It has to do with figuring out who is telling lies and who is not, making much of the distinction between wolves and sheep, with some shepherds tossed in for good measure. The game proves to be relatively easy for Owen, who has no problem taking advantage of a bunch of bored rich kids. Dodger also does not find it challenging to be playing chess with a bunch of kids who are playing checkers. So the two come up with a new game in which their group will be the wolves and the rest of the campus will be the sheep.
So they decide to take the recent murder of a local girl and spin a story about her being the victim of a serial killer known as the Wolf. They give him a few iconic characteristics (big knife and an orange ski mask) and come up with gruesome deaths for his victims, who are thinly disguised versions of various group members. They put together an e-mail, send it out to their classmates, and sit back to watch the rumors spread. Then, the things they made up start coming true and it appears there are games within games within games.
It is not really fair to say that "Cry Wolf" stays a step ahead of you because the script by director Jeff Wadlow and his co-writer Beau Bauman knows how you are supposed to think when trying to figure out who is the serial killer and then they proceed to play with your mind. They know that you are trying to eliminate suspects and that you worry more about opportunity rather than motive (movies like this either make the motive absolutely obvious from early on or seem to pull one out of a hat at the end to explain what made the killer do it), and you just cannot make things add up in this one. It is like being halfway through a Sudoku puzzle and suddenly realizing you have two sevens in the same box and you cannot figure out how to backtrack to undo your mistake.
The cast is filled with young actors and actresses who will be leaving behind good looking corpses and besides the old groundskeeper for most of the film the only adult on the premises is the journalism teacher (Jon Bon Jovi), who also knows something about playing chess (with an antique set no less). There is not a lot of blood and gore in this one, and in some ways when we see the killer is the least interesting part of the film. It is much more fun to watch the spoiled little rich kids all turn on each other.
However, in the end I rounded up on this one becaue of the DVD extras, which includes Wadlow and Bauman's previous efforts, a pair of shorts from 2002. "Manual Labor" is but a trifle, but "The Tower of Babel" gives us Earl, who is one of those billion chimps banging away on those million typewriters trying to write Shakespeare and the local weather report between now and the end of time. You might find that things get too cute, but the gimmick is to have different situations with different characters in which the dialogue is the same but the contexts are, well, different. It has its moments, thanks to Earl.
DVD:
- Cyrano De Bergerac [1950]
- Death Of A Salesman [1966]
- Do You Want to Know a Secret? [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Eternal [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Fixed Bayonets! [1951] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Forty Guns [1957]
- Grey Wolves: U-Boats 1939-1941
- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner [1968]
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers [1989] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Halloween: H20 [1998] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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