Late Phases (2014)

I had relatively high hopes for this one, mainly because I feel like I haven't seen a halfway decent werewolf movie in well over a decade. It's all been "Twilight" and "Underworld" bullshit, so I have to give "Late Phases" respect just for not being that abject 'brand' of contemptible "tween" garbage. That said, how was the movie, itself? Eh, a bit under whelming, unfortunately...

A blind Vietnam vet moves into a retirement community that happens to be plagued by full moon werewolf attacks. The night he moves into his new home, the neighbor and his own guide dog are mauled by the vicious creature - leaving the new blind resident to combat the bloodthirsty beasts, himself.

First off, I had heard people talking up the practical effects and, I must say, I don't really understand why. Yeah, they're predominantly of an 'old school' persuasion and are not terrible - just not all that good, either. The werewolves look completely like guys in furry Halloween costumes and resemble that creature from "The Crate" segment from "Creepshow". Just came across a bit too cheezy in relation to the general 'tone' of the film, of which the majority contains NO werewolf action and mostly just focuses on the blind veteran being ornery with the rest of the elderly community and his prickish son. There's an alright transformation scene and it's pretty much the highlight of the film, aside from Nick Damici's performance, which is quite enjoyable. Overall, I just couldn't help but feel as though the pacing was "off" and none of the characters are established enough for anything to really matter in the end. Things either happen too fast (his dog being killed...) or not fast enough (the whole mid-section of the movie...). Again, it's not a completely terrible flick, but it could have used some better direction.