Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Expected & Pleasantly Surprised!, April 8, 2004
I bought this movie "blind", just because it had the great Tim Curry in it. I was expecting another werewolf film in the style of American Werewolf In London/Paris, Wolfen, Howling etc., but what I got was a nice, little surprise! Tim Curry, is of course, excellent as always but there are some really nice performances by the whole cast. The freak show participants and their marvelous acts/dances/songs/tricks are mesmerizing to watch. Even Tim Curry sings a song along with the he/she character played by Grace Jones. The mother from "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" plays the "fat lady" and there is, of course, the geek, the sword-swallower, the fire eater, the impaler, midgets, contortionists and LOTS MORE! The story, however, centers around the "wolf girl", Tara. Tara has trichno-something or other which causes hair to grow all over her body. She starts taking an experimental drug to become "normal" and that's when the bloodshed starts. There are some really great scenes in this movie plus a couple of REALLY DOOZY SURPRISES!!! If you liked the film, Freaks, like the TV show Ripley's Believe It Or Not, or just love and adore Tim Curry, you will enjoy this odd and strange movie! Happy Watching!
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Horror film that you never saw, February 12, 2005
Most people probably never herd of this film, I had a pretty good idea why after watching the trailer. It made it out to be a splatter type werewolf film of the supernatural variety. Those of you who have seen it know that is far from the case. Nothing kills a movie faster than misrepresenting it to the audience. I'm guessing some ignorant studio suit didn't know how to sell this as it is and made a tragic mistake; as a result. While it does have some parallels with the legend of the werewolf, it's not remotely supernatural at all. Nor does it have anything to do with the phases of the moon or lunar eclipses as the title may suggest. Someone told me that it was originally called "Wolf Girl," but I can't confirm that. It probably should have been though. With all that being said, what is this film really about? This delightfully strange film seems to be asking this question. Is inner and outer beauty mutually exclusive concepts? There's a little freak in us all, it's just more obvious in some than others. What ultimately defines us is how we treat the freak in us. Do we accept it, or do we do something truly ugly to hide it? That's what I got out of it, and I hope you do to, but if you're one who shuns the freak in us all; I doubt that you will. While watching this movie I got the impression that this may be a thickly veiled allegory of someone's actual life. I even got a hint of sour grapes in the way that the antagonists were portrayed. Who can say for sure, but I do know that this film is a hidden treasure. One of my all time favorite horror films.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Unexpected Masterpiece; Horror & Tragedy & Beauty, November 22, 2004
A horror movie about a travelling circus of sideshow performers - called 'freaks' by some - moving about from town to town, and cast with a number of actors and actresses with real physical differences, "Blood Moon" could have easily come off extremely tasteless. Thankfully, that isn't the case. The circus, including a 'Wolf Girl' falsely depicted as a wild beast in her performances, find no shortage of people willing to be entertained by their performances but who are often (not all the spectators, but many) still very taunting of them. The selfcontained circus subsociety is a superior society to the behavior of the scummy louts encountered in one particular town they pass through,although it's here where the gentle Wolf Girl meets and becomes friends with an introverted teenage boy tormented by the local thugs. It's also here that she finds an experimental cure for her wolflike appearance, and with the help of her new friend, begins experimenting with the new drug. Also, very tellingly, although a number of the townspeople are not cruel, it's among the children that Tara and the other performers find the most open acceptance, not shy about their curiousity about the new arrivals but not in a frightened, mocking or downlooking way, and they're not uncomfortable around the circus people, whereas the adults usually are. I find this true to the nature of little children, that they're interested in the different but haven't yet learned that they're 'supposed' to be at ill ease with others's differences.
The acting in "Blood Moon" is absolutely tremendous. The most famous player is Tim Curry ("It"; Dr. Frankenfurter from "The Rock Horror Picture Show"; "Earth 2") and he turns in the performance of his career as the ringmaster of the circus, who at first glance appears to be an exploitive manipulator subjecting his performers for financial gain but is quickly revealed as a benevolent father-like figure to the troupe (other than his love interest, of course) who's spent his life offering a place to outcasts from society, within the circus where they can find camraderie and even be appreciated for their differences instead of pitied or ridiculed (occasional cretins within the spectators excluded). The Wolf Girl herself he's even saved from possible death after she was born in a remote village somewhere in the world where superstition reigns strong (perhaps unrealistically strong, one of the movie's few gaps in realism) and she was regarded as some kind of demon. Every other performer is top-notch too - Victoria Sanchez is superb as Tara the Wolf Girl, Grace Jones plays the transgendered Cristophe/Christine, Darlene Cates gives a tender and manificent turn as Athena the 'Fat Lady' (a mother figure to Tara), and the actor who plays Tara's newfound friend/emerging love interest (I'm terribly sorry, but I can't recall the name of either the actor or the character) is great, and the four performers who play the band of bullies are also awardworthy. In fact, everybody is tremendous but I felt the need to single certain main performers out.
As the 'cure' begins to work for Tara, though, a certain beastiality begins to rise within her, and the already tense movie becomes one of the scariest films in memory, with fierce-hitting frights and truly unnerving suspense. "Blood Moon" is an unorthodox horror movie, and has managed to tread some difficult ground with style and class, and has a definate message - it's unsettlingly real how the most mean-spirited and nasty characters fit in with society and are accepted because they have the right look and are seen as cool, while others are shunned because they appear different from the norm, regardless of their character.
On a final note, I'd like to praise the film's subtle yet beautiful romantic elements that find time to softly shine amid all the more disturbing and scary elements. Tara and her love interest's initial friendship turning to unspoken attraction to each other is handled wonderfully; two hurt, lonely souls coming together in a very touching way that compares extremely well with any onscreen love story. And I agree with what another reviewer said: even in her hairy wolflike state, Tara is very lovely. A lovely character on the inside too, which makes her heartbreak at the way she's often treated all the more heartbreaking, and makes it all the more potent when the very uncharacteristic savagery begins to emerge inside her as a result of her cure attempt.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Dee Wallace
DVD ~ Mariel Hemingway
DVD ~ Tim Curry
DVD ~ Sean Pertwee
DVD ~ Gary Busey
![Favorite Movies [not in any order]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5133H3SN3EL._AA60_.jpg)
on 
