Werewolves Within: The Best Video Game Movie

Promotional Image from Werewolves Within (Ubisoft Film & Television; Vanishing Angle)

You’d be excused for not realizing the recently released Werewolves Within is a video game movie, apart from the fact that Ubisoft produced it.  Werewolves Within, essentially if you made Clue a little darker in the humor department and added a supernatural element, is the first Certified Fresh movie based on a video game.  It has a lot going for it, not the least of which is that it is currently #2 on my best of the year list in film.  Nobody, the dope action film now available on physical media, is still top dog, with the Edgar Wright documentary The Sparks Brothers rounding out the top three, but Werewolves Within proves a cardinal rule of adaptations:  Pick something no one likes and have a ball with it.

As I mentioned above, this movie borrows a lot from Clue, easily the best adaptation of a board game (which isn’t exactly a hard feat when Battleship is one of your only competitors.)  Clue was a special gift to cinema much like this movie is.  Both are filled to the brim with character actors, not A-list talent.  Yes, Clue had Tim Curry, but since when is he considered one of the A-list?  The most famous actors in Werewolves Within are the evil tinkerer from the first MCU Spider-Man movie, a really funny comedian who finally got his big break as the protagonist, and the thirst trap AT&T ad girl that the Internet fell in love with so hard last year AT&T brought her back after a four-year absence.  Yeah, that girl.  Without a major selling point actor, the movie is allowed to breathe and doesn’t become beholden to that actor.  All the characters are fleshed out if stereotyped heavily, much like the very fun Knives Out.  The introduction to every character is organic and doesn’t feel forced.  Everyone nails the part they play.  Trying very hard not to spoil anything, so just go see it.

The video game Werewolves Within is a Trouble in Terrorist Town-style game (the genre that Among Us heavily popularized) where a group of villagers in more olden times must figure out who among them is a werewolf.  The movie, taking place in a sparsely-populated mountain town in the middle of a snowstorm, put it in modern times and completely ignored most of the game itself.  The point I’m making is that taking something no one really cares about as the inspiration for a movie might be the easiest way to make a good adaptation.  Worked with Clue, works here.  Seeing as this is an indie movie, produced by IFC Films, it didn’t have a massive budget.  The biggest video game franchises would need a massive budget to be given justice.  But…  Once given a large budget, most video game movies are stripped down and made safe for normies.  Rarely is the game’s lore followed, which just pisses off the established fans, causing a chain reaction leading to basically everyone hating the movie, even if it manages to make money.  Hell, the Warcraft movie directed by David Bowie’s son is getting a sequel that may not even be released in America (because it only made money in China.)  But no one cared about this game, which means the movie isn’t beholden to the fan base of that game if such a fan base even exists.

If you hadn’t already guessed, I highly recommend this movie.  You’ll enjoy yourself if you love dark comedy and horror.  I refuse to spoil this movie any further because I loved it so much.  I will almost surely see it again this coming holiday weekend.  Oh, and if you don’t happen to like dark comedy or horror, go see The Sparks Brothers.  Or pick up Nobody.