Wolf Manor

The conceit of the genre film which disguises something real arises again in this scattershot but endearingly earnest effort from Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt, which opens with the flickering image of a BBFC certificate for one Crimson Manor before cutting to a rural landscape beneath a blood moon. The local pub is called the Blue Moon, and that’s where we first meet two of the characters, who are warned by the locals that it’s dangerous for them to be out of doors at this time of night, and offered a box of supernaturally-focused protective gear. Naturally they suspect the Crimson Manor director, Peter (Stephen Mapes) of setting this up, and they make every effort to attribute what they hear and see en route to the set in the same way.

On the set, Peter does not seem to be in the mood for jokes, irritated as he is by all the little things which keep going wrong. Oliver Lawrence (James Fleet), the established, big name actor upon whom his production depends, clearly thinks he’s too good to be slumming it as a vampire, and keeps wandering off in search of a drink. A group of journalists are supposed to be visiting and nothing looks the way it should. Meanwhile various members of the crew keep haranguing him about worrying noises outside the crumbling manor house where most of the action is set. When people start to disappear, he’s all out of patience.

Ensemble comedies are difficult to get right and neither the script nor the acting here are strong enough to enable us to get to know all the different people whose stories we are following, yet some still shine through. Thaila Zucchi is on good form as the key grip going beyond the call of duty to try to keep her team not only prepped for action, but alive; Sade Malone the sound recordist, Ellie, who makes a valiant effort to see off the threat they are facing but discovers the limitations of using a boom mic as a weapon. The trouble is that when they’re offscreen, there’s not a whole lot to watch.

Wolf Manor director Dominic Brunt’s previous credits include the similarly challenged yet consistently inventive Attack Of The Adult Babies, so it’s a shame to see him floundering here due to a shortage of ideas. There’s some cheesy humour structured around the mistaking of human remains for special effects which proved a natural crowd pleaser at Frightfest, not least in the surreal scene in which special effects guy Owen (Martin Portlock) starts nibbling bits of a severed arm he has found, and more of this kind of playfulness would have gone a long way towards enlivening the dramatic scenes.

The wolf cam POV shots are a charming if somewhat over-familiar device, accompanied by growling, and this helps to alleviate what is always the biggest difficulty for werewolf films: showing too much of the monster. Overall the effects work on the film is good and the creature is at least average for the genre, but more scary when all we get are brief glimpses and hints of its presence. That said, there’s clearly a lot of fun being had in scenes of combat towards the end.

Shifting gears nicely, the film’s final scene is one of its strongest, but the real treat comes after the credits have begun to roll. This is a rare case of a B-movie quality feature supporting a much better short, as we are treated to a prequel focused on the Great Mascalini, a magician depicted on a poster which attentive viewers may spot in the house during the feature. It’s here that the producers have excelled themselves, somehow persuading the great Rula Lenska to take part, and she plays her role to perfection. Though it still looks a bit rough and isn’t entirely successful in capturing the period it’s set in, this is a rather delightful piece of work. It just leaves one feeling a little sad that the feature had to be stretched out when it would probably have made a great short too.