Movie Review – WolfCop (2014)

WolfCop (2014), written and directed by Lowell Dean, is a Canadian comedy-horror that consciously stays within the bounds of B-movie fare. In the film, a lazy alcoholic small town cop named Lou Garou (“loup-garou” means “werewolf” in French) is abducted by Satanists and turned into a werewolf, to be used towards their own nefarious ends. Finding that he stays conscious while transformed, Garou decides to clean up the town. But things aren’t what they seem and people close to him may not be who they appear.

WolfCop earnestly tries to be a cult classic, but such a status is bestowed, not made. There are some funny sight-gags, especially one involving a genital-first transformation and another with a bloody face being thrown on a windshield. Also, I appreciated the nods to past werewolf myths and classics, from Garou’s name to the use of the pentagram (1941’s The Wolf Man) and a shop called “Stiles Autobody” (1985’s Teen Wolf).

However, WolfCop ultimately does not deliver on its promise. The acting ranges from adequate to amateur, the story moves along slowly, and a lot of the comedy falls flat. At one point Garou decides to modify his police car into something akin to a cross between the Batmobile and Knight Rider, yet the changes are purely cosmetic and never play a part in the rest of the movie. It’s symptomatic of the film’s larger problem – ultimately, there’s simply not enough here.

WolfCop is overall entertaining. It had potential and it tried to be something fun and memorable, and it sometimes succeeded in the first goal but never really attains the second.

Grade: C