Cry_Wolf (2005)

That underscore is not a mistake, the movie is called Cry_Wolf. In need of something a bit lighter, or at least less dramatic, than Hunger, my afternoon movie was a movie that a thought would be a breezy throwaway werewolf horror flick, with American 30-somethings playing teenagers getting picked off one by one. It turned out that Cry_Wolf was altogether a better movie than I was expecting, and it had a subversive take on the genre. 

Featuring a cast of unknown young American actors (plus Supernatural's Jared Padalecki), the film's lead is actually a hot young Brit named Julian Morris, who I hope to see in something else soon. He had me from the first moment he appeared on screen as Owen, the new kid at posh Westlake Preparatory Academy. He falls in with a redhead preposterously named Dodger who draws him into her friends' midnight game of Cry Wolf, where someone is named 'wolf' and the rest have to accuse each other to try to determine who is said 'wolf'. Bored with life on campus, and following a death off campus, Owen and his friends concoct an email that suggests a serial killer has been roaming the country's colleges, killing students in a certain pattern, and that he is due to strike again soon. 

The email is sent around the college and soon it appears that the rumour has become reality as Owen instant messaged by someone claiming to be the killer... As suspicion falls on various of Owen's friends, eventually they begin getting killed off, in the exact ways mentioned in the fake email. As a synopsis I realise none of this sounds particularly different or interesting from other slasher pics out there, but Cry_Wolf really is. The underscore for one thing indicates how this is a very 21st century tale, using email, instant messaging, texts, etc to generate the plot and to keep the identity of the killer or killers concealed. Just when you think you know where this is all going, your expectations are subverted, and the twists feel real and believable. 

Julian Morris is a great lead, not just easy on the eyes (he is), and although the other characters are probably a little underdeveloped, there are some interesting relationships. The adult cast includes Jon Bon Jovi, a teacher who's seeing far too much of Dodger, Anna Deveare Smith and Gary Cole (those last two West Wing alumni, so I was happy), although they're not much more than cameos. The young cast carries this, and the first time director, Jeff Wadlow, gives the movie an autumnal, New England look to Westlake Academy, and keeps the suspense ratched up throughout. He avoids horror clichés effectively, or when you think he's left one in, it turns out you were wrong (e.g. just who is the creepy janitor the camera keeps lingering on watching our teen stars?). Once the ending comes, along comes another sucker punch twist that makes you reassess all that has gone before. This is a superior teen thriller, along the lines of the first 2 Screams, albeit with less self-referential/knowing nods.