The Beast of Bray Road (2005)

I love this movie so much

Redundant and unnecessary.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Fact 1: over the years, there have been a number of reported sightings of a strange creature seen along Bray Road near Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Fact 2: in spite of the claim that this movie is "based on actual events" nothing in this movie (except that it's set on Bray Road near Elkhorn, Wisconsin) is even remotely similar to any of the sightings. Based on the reports of those sightings (which are intriguing in a fun sort of way) the most this creature is reported to have done is chase a couple of cars and maybe killed some cattle. The producers of this movie used those reported sightings as the opportunity to produce a gore-fest with a smattering of topless women thrown in for good measure. If you like heads being ripped off, and bodies being torn open (and topless women!) then you'll like this. If you prefer the sort of horror movie that leaves that stuff to the imagination then you probably won't. I like horror movies - but more for the atmosphere than the violence. This one failed on that count, and on several other counts as well. Let's point a few failings out.(1) I figured out about halfway through the movie who they were going to identify as the werewolf, even though it made absolutely no sense because the person (who shall remain nameless in this review for fear of spoiling the "suspense" for others) did seem otherwise occupied during several of the attacks. (2) Where did the grizzly bear that was shot and killed come from? There ain't no grizzlies anywhere near Wisconsin! (OK, yes, even the characters in the movie were confused about that.) (3) The cryptozoologist becomes convinced that this is a werewolf (and that it would take silver bullets to kill the thing) on the evidence of one piece of video? True, the video was pretty clear, but surely a real scientist (even a cryptozoologist) would have been more skeptical than to use the old Sherlock Holmes line "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever's left ... etc. etc." Surely they hadn't reached a point where a supposed scientist would conclude that a werewolf was the only possibility. (4) Why didn't the werewolf attack the woman in the house after finishing off her husband? That was never explained. (5) At the end of the movie, as we're set up for the sequel (say it ain't so!) the cryptozoologist says that there's another full moon in 15 days. OK. The werewolf is linked to the full moon, as often is the case. Well, the werewolf has been out and about up to this point, so there must have been a full moon. And now there's going to be another full moon in 15 days? Has the moon's rotation around the earth become faster? (6) Finally - I mean, there are more, but I'll stop with this one - the folks of rural Wisconsin aren't portrayed in a very positive light - thus the closing "dedicated to the great state of Wisconsin" seems a bit ironic.Did I like anything here? Actually, I thought the werewolf makeup and overall film quality was not bad, and the acting from a little known group of actors was overall pretty decent with a couple of exceptions. Still - 3/10

A nice little and a little too easy going indie' B-movie, The Beast of Bray Road, is, allegedly, based on factual reports of sightings, circa 1989, of the legendary sasquatch and werewolf myth, or cryptozoology as the scholars would pronounce, and wild as the beast itself, the over active imaginations of the peoples' of Wisconsin, U.S.A.Directed and written by Leigh Scott (b.1972), aka Scott Slawner, brings his extended family together for another outing, this time to do battle with modern folklore and superstition. Released by Asylum Home Entertainment, whose category embarks on the wonderful B-movie drive-in genre as Snakes on a Train (2006), Vampires vs. Zombies (2004) and The Fanglys (2004), all straight to video, and all for sale at the bargain basement bin at your local video rental shop. Most here, at least, have worked together in other projects, Jeff Denton (as Sheriff Phil Jenkins), working in Leigh Scott's Art House (1998), Sarah Lieving (here as Kelly), and Andrew Lauer had played against said director in the T.V. movie H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005). Ms. Noel Thurman (playing Sheriff Pamela Fitske) in Mr. Scott's The 9/11 Commission Report (2006).Mr. Scott's movie is very light comedy; too many weak points to be taken seriously, The Beast of Bray Road could be taken for a Saturday morning T.V. matinée parody at best. If it were not for the gross out flesh eating scenes and, once, light nudity and some coarse language, but not often. We can forgive Mr. Scott for trying too hard, but try he has and he has, forgivingly, done reasonably well. The attention to detail can be somewhat lacking, sadly, and it is this that has The Beast… looking a little too unprofessional and unfortunately this gives it its comical look, the desired effect perhaps or a bad dose of laziness and complacency.The beasts makeup, on the other hand, is impressive, and done by Eva Lohse, regrettably, the only highlight of the movie, and not really seen enough, and Dizzworks Design too played their part. Ms. Lohse is credited as key makeup artist and having worked on Rent Control (2002), Employee of the Month (2004), plus many others as Dead Men Walking (2005) and Dracula's Curse (2006), which coincidently has five members of The Beast…co-starring.The poor attention to the editing, again by Leigh Scott, has given The Beast…more plot holes than Emmental cheese, we are left scratching our heads and left feeling the efforts are rather curdled in the process and that this could, if at best, have been a half decent movie. This could, and to be fair, be down to a lack of proper funding, if so then the parodying of the major American beer companies and their logos that are seen in "KELLY'S Roadhouse" might be understandable.The clichéd character development, too, is feeble and the lack of originality only separates its need to be taken seriously. All in all The Beast of Bray Road is a group of new family and old friends making movies, if it doesn't workout, then fine, lets make another. If one should hit the jackpot and stir up peoples imaginations then all the better for them, but in the meantime The Beast…will remain an okay movie, but it will never walk down the road of being a good movie.

I am quite familiar with "The Beast", as I grew up in the location of this film. This is a case where fact is far more interesting than the fiction of this film. Yes, Walworth County did indeed issue "Werewolf Licenses". But that is where the similarities end. There is such a wealth of information the writers could have used which would have made this a fabulous film. Breast shots are used to hold the viewer's interest and provide momentary relief from the scenes of endless drinking and poor costuming. It is not a bad film; I enjoyed several aspects of the plot and the acting was decent enough to hold my interest. I would hope that this effort does not prevent someone else from taking on this story at some future date and giving it a different, deserved artistic flair.

"The Beast of Bray Road" is a lot better than it should be.**SPOILERS**The new sheriff of Walworth County, Phil Jenkins, (Jeff Denton) is immediately assigned to a missing person case, and upon investigating it, he finds her friends Ray, (Joel Hebner) and Billy Loubes, (Tom Nagel) keeping her relationship secret. When a slew of reported sightings from the townspeople of a reported monster in the area, Quinn McKenzie, (Thomas Downey) a crypto-zoologist, comes in to offer his help with the investigation. He believes that the creature is a werewolf, which Phil isn't too keen to believe. When enough evidence is unearthed for Phil to finally accept that the killer may indeed be a werewolf, he takes a posse of the remaining towns-members into the woods and hunt down the creature.The Good News: I was actually surprised at how good this was. Like most good werewolf movies, the werewolf is incredibly vicious and angry, making it more terrifying. That makes the kills very, very graphic. We get a decapitation, a leg ripped off, slashed throat and far more. The werewolf has a preference for ripped people in half at the waist, so there's a large amount of scenes involving corpses that are cut in half with entrails falling out of the bottom or lying on the ground. This is certainly one of the most vicious werewolves ever, and is a real gore-hounds delight. The film is also pretty fast paced and never really slows down at all. The attacks come pretty rapidly and with their brutal nature, it's nice to watch. It was interesting to see the film attempt a little in the way of werewolf mythologies here and there. Mention is made of the attacks being done on a full moon, silver bullets is used quite often, and several other popular myths are used. Quite a nice touch. The opening attack is also the best of the lot, as it's quite creepily-filmed and actually has a jump or two in there. The biggest advantage is it's B-movie atmosphere. It has all the proper ingredients: a fun, fairly uncomplicated story, buckets of gore, cool characters and a vicious monster. It has that charm inherent in it as well, making it a fun movie.The Bad News: While it was nice to see a man-in-costume werewolf in a movie without it being CGI, the look isn't that good. It makes the creature look pretty laughable, as it looks incomplete as there's strings of hair falling of the body. The design of the face isn't vicious looking, and instead makes it look like an angry puppy. I'll give it points for going back to the costumed creature approach, but the look doesn't really inspire much terror.The Final Verdict: It wasn't as bad as it should've been, and instead is just a fun B-movie about a vicious werewolf. It's got a rather weird looking werewolf, but if that doesn't stop you from watching it, it will entertain. Definitely one for werewolf fans to look into, as well as gore-hounds and those looking for a fun B-movie for a Friday night.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and a mild sex scene