Blu-ray Review: “WolfCop”

Movie: ****
Video: **** 1/2
Audio: ****
Extras: *****

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Best Buy Exclusive ‘WolfCop’ - Written and Directed by Lowell Dean on Blogcritics.

When making a film as outlandishly titled as WolfCop, the movie had better deliver. And writer/director Lowell Dean does. Full of one-liners, gory practical effects, and nods to wolf-related material both written and filmed, WolfCop is better than just another contribution to the direct-to-video variety. It may not have seen a wide release — what low budget Saskatchewan film does? — but with the right marketing, it might have. At least WolfCop is now available on Blu-ray — as a Best Buy exclusive until May 12 — so that we can revel in the twisted hilarity.

Lou Garou (Leo Fafard) is nothing short of a deadbeat, alcoholic cop in the small Canadian town of Woodhaven. With crime on the rise — including a missing pets problem — Terry Wallace (Ryland Alexander) thinks it’s time for a change and is running for mayor against incumbent Bradley (Corrine Conley). One night, Lou is called out on a complaint in the woods and finds Terry dead, hanging upside down from a tree.

After getting hit on the head, Lou wakes up the next morning with a pentagram carved in his chest, along with heightened senses, and body hair that just won’t stop growing. Lou has been turned into a werewolf and must join forces with fellow officer Tina (Amy Matysio), slutty bartender Jessica (Sarah Lind), and town looney Willie (Jonathan Cherry), to keep his transformation under control or give in to become the world’s first WolfCop.

From a review standpoint, RLJ Entertainment has delivered some pretty stellar looking discs. However, they’ve also shortchanged a few titles by putting them on 25GB discs causing a few compression issues. Thankfully for WolfCop they’ve chosen to go with a 50GB disc, allowing the film the room it needs to breathe, especially considering the wealth of special features. As for the image, you couldn’t ask for WolfCop to look any better. It only cost $1 million to make and looks and sounds that way too. The fact that they filmed in a whirlwind 17 days makes it even more surprising. This is one classy looking image.

Blacks never result in crush, noise is never an issue, and I never detected even the slightest banding. Detail is also razor sharp, helping to add an extra level to the practical effects. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is also top-notch for being so low budget. Every line of dialogue, claw slash, ripping skin, and the occasional explosion or gunfire are brought to life with nothing drowning out the other. Bass also keeps the film’s energy bumping as the action starts to pick up. English SDH subtitles are also available.

You want special features? WolfCop comes armed with enough to make any fan howl at the moon and then some. “WolfCop Unleashed–Behind the Scenes Featurette” (45:51) kicks things off and covers everything you could ever want to know about WolfCop but were afraid to ask. Broken down into six sections — “How It Happened,” “A Million Different Parts,” “Somewhere Between 1986-1992,” “A Practical Way to Make Movies,” “A Ton of Hard Work,” and “We’re Not Done Yet” — tackles everything from the film’s original inception to the announcement of the sequel. A “Film Commentary with Writer/Director Lowell Dean and Special Effects Artist Emerson Ziffle” is a really good listen, providing plenty of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and they point out some of the more subtle references.

“The Birth of WolfCop” is a behind-the-scenes look at the film’s evolution through the Cinecoup contest: “Cinecoup–Year in Review” (1:16), “Cinecoup–Cineplex Promo” (:54), “Mission Videos 1-6” (11:31), and “Cinecoup–Banff Be Brave–Final Reveal” (1:52). It’s a lot of fun — particularly an awesome Jaws reference — taking a sneak peek at the contest; it’s kind of like an episode of Project Greenlight. A collection of “Film Outtakes” (3:11) is packed with tons of hilarious penis jokes provided by Matysio. A collection of trailers round things out including the “Theatrical Trailer” (1:39), “Original Concept Trailer,” (2:20), “Sky Dive Promo” (0:37), “Trailer Park Boys Shout Out” (1:26), and a “Special Thanks” (1:01).

WolfCop is the kind of film the Machete series wishes it could be. Full of jokes, references, and awesome practical effects — something of a rarity in any kind of film these days — it’s a horror-lovers dream film. With a stellar video presentation, excellent audio, and a wealth of special features, WolfCop is worthy of a blind buy, so run on out to your local Best Buy and pick up a copy before the next full moon, you won’t be sorry.