Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Ton of Fun, December 27, 2005
It's a little hard to believe that a group of high-school students get off on playing a childish game like the one at the beginning of this movie, but since I learned the similar game in college, I guess that lends an air of credibility. And I suppose the REAL thrill is sneaking out of their dorms late at night and meeting together and perhaps rich kids at prep schools like stroking their intellects by trying to outwit each other (I thought only college students did that?) Nevertheless, the atmosphere of this movie is so steeped in small-town ambience, the locations are so gorgeous, and the cast are so capable that honestly, no matter how silly or contrived anything in this movie gets, I ate it up. If you don't think you'd be swayed by those things, you'll probably pick out every flaw in this movie and you'll probably hate it and you probably shouldn't watch it. But if you're like me, the flaws will coast right over your head and you'll love every second of this movie even as you watch it over and over and over again.
First off, I appreciated how these "teens" actually looked young. They're not the 30-something teens we see in many movies today. And their plights are laced with actual emotion. I cared about Dodger (Lindy Booth) and her familial situation and her teen girl angst, caught between selfish concerns and caring about others. I cared about Julian Morris's character, his absentee father who didn't deign to take his son's calls, and his desire to impress the girl he likes with arrogant displays of his intelligence. Every character here, from the token ethnic guy and his sweetly slutty girlfriend to the "bad boy" with the piercings, to the oafish roommate who's a slacker, felt real because they felt true. They didn't toe the line of the stereotypes they'd fit into if this were a grown-up slasher film. For instance, the "slut" flirts a lot but she doesn't actually put out, and she giggles with a sense of timid experimentation that rings true (she seems like an actual teenage girl going through actual teenage existence, she's not just a stock character). Plus she's an FX buff and she knows a lot about costumes and makeup-which is both why her friends consult her for help with costumes for the Halloween dance and why they don't immediately run to the authorities when blood starts showing up everywhere-it could conceivably just be a trick...couldn't it? I mean, she knows about makeup, one of them is an actor, the other is known for playing elaborate pranks, and they're ALL a bunch of liars. Everything is set up so it's hard to believe anything that happens, and it all takes place over the course of a few days, so there's no time to pause for reflection. There are tiny little nuances to every character that make the performances fun to watch and they also help further the plot. It's nice to see a story that fits together so well, where the filmmakers didn't get bored and decide to give up halfway through, which seems to be the case with a lot of movies.
That's all in the beginning, though, and it lays the groundwork for something much bigger. Once the plot starts to thicken, the kids are shy at first then more and more daring as they contrive their plot. It becomes impossible to trust anything you see or hear, anything the characters say or do, because it seems that everyone could be lying about anything at any moment. That's the thing about this movie...every event seems layered, as though it could become connected to something else at some point in the story, and it makes you feel like you should be taking notes so you don't miss anything. There's a mystery within a mystery within a mystery and so many twists and twisted events that it had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. It's not that I was fooled by any of the twists because I refused to believe ANY of them, and withheld my judgment until the very end. And what an ending! Everything is tied up, there are no loose ends, and the conclusion doesn't suck ass like it did with certain OTHER movies (*cough*Hide and Seek*cough*).
The Bottom Line: So I loved the performances, cared about the story (what happened) AND the plot (why it happened-the deeper meaning running beneath everything), and I wasn't let down by the ending. The scenery and setting were gorgeous, the old buildings added a sense of foreboding, I didn't trust any of the characters, there's a sleazy performance by John Bon Jovi who actually does a good turn as a teacher with a secret...what can I say? I watched it over and over again, and it holds up. It's fun. Judging by all the negative reviews, no one ELSE liked it, but I did.
Overall: Oh yes, there won't be blood (it's Pg-13, duh) but there WILL be fun. 9/10
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
surprisingly awesome, December 21, 2005
Cry_Wolf isn't another one of your typical teen horror movies and it's not just another slasher flick. I was kind of worried (after seeing House of Wax) that this movie would be another gruesome, pointless waste of my time, but that's not the case. I initially only wanted to see this movie because I've played the online game so many times (which might have helped me understand the story) still, after watching it I was so surprised with its quality. The twists and turns to the plot were so surprising that I was left staring at my television in shock, with my mouth wide open.
Don't be fooled because the thing that really almost turned me completely away from the movie was the trailers.. if you've seen them they're very misleading. The scene with the girl getting murdered in the bathroom in her underwear makes the movie look like an ordinary teenage thriller, but really it's a mind boggling mystery for the viewer to solve. I thought the casting was nearly perfect. Most of the stars are new to the movie scene, but two particularly stood out in my mind: Jared Padalecki and Jon Bon Jovi (who knew he could act?!). The other newcomers are also worthy of recognition for making the story believable. The script might have had some flaws, but the final twists in the plot overrule everything else. So, if you haven't seen the movie yet I highly recommend you go do so.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty cool to check out on DVD, December 20, 2005
Cry Wolf is a movie about several teens who attend prestigious Westlake Academy. They have a rather difficult to understand game they play to pass time during the evenings. At night time they sneak to the chapel to play "Cry Wolf." They sit in a circle and identify who in the circle bears the wolf marking on their chest. It's basically a game about lying and trying to figure out who is the wolf, it's a bit strange but these rich kids love this game. At the beginning of the film a young woman is murdered in the woods. To spice up their evening game a pretty redhead named Dodger and the new kid Owen and the rest of the gang decide to make their game a bit more intriguing by getting the whole school involved in their fun. They send out an email message making the student body believe that there is a serial killer on the loose. It's all done in good fun, until people start dying in real life.
Cry Wolf is a decent teen horror film. It's not quite as clear as teen horror films Joy Ride and Jeepers Creeper. Cry Wolf is more of a murder mystery and viewers will find themselves guessing who the murderer is until the very end.
Stars of the film include Julian Morris, Lindy Booth, Jared Padalecki, and Jon Bon Jovi. It's a decent flick to check out on DVD.
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