This is the first time I've seen a movie by David Lee Madison. I thought it was cool to see something in a room with the guy who filmed it, and it was a fun movie.
The movie seemed to suffer from filming during covid, I wasn't told this, but you can kinda read between the lines for it. You don't see shots with a lot of people in it, and it creates a lonely feeling that does seem intentional when you consider the themes throughout the movie. It's definitely capturing the mindset of the creator from his experience during covid.
Where the film seemed most impacted though was that David Lee Madison was both the star and videographer, so shots with him in it were all on a tripod, without a lot of movement. Presumably, with this being filmed during quarantine, I believe a lot of these shots were done this way out of necessity though, and it is understandable. Though, there's a part of my brain conditioned to want far more cuts and camera angle changes, and camera movement. I do wish some establishing shots were cut a bit shorter though.
The film is acted mostly by David Lee Madison and his personal friends, and is kinda reminiscent of clerks. If you liked clerks, you'll probably enjoy this, if not, you probably won't. The pacing is similar and it too is about regular people living regular lives (except for the werewolf thing lol).
The scenes in the comic book shop are by far the best scenes, particularly the finale, because you have this movement and cutting you don't get when David is doing double duty. If you have a long shot from a tripod, your ability to edit is stunted, but the finale suffers none of these issues.
I see some one star reviews here, and I think they're not thinking of the film within the context of how it had to be filmed. For a film with very limited crew, David Lee Madison did pretty well. He filled most of the roles himself and told a unique werewolf story, which he executed in a time when most people weren't able to deliver anything at all.
Sure, I'd like to see a version of this made with more crew, cameras, and polish, but I'm happy with what I watched. Weirdly, seeing David make this under these constraints has motivated me to try and make something myself even. With helicopter footage and coreographers staging fights between actors that look like they were chiseled from stone, against CGI monsters that require teams of artists, it has always felt like making movies independently was just impossible.
All in all, it was a fun time watching this movie, and without the Hollywood polish, you can see the heart in this that's not in most movies. It's a guy with his family and friends, filming in an area far from the Hollywood sets, with the gear he had on hand from a career of making movies. It's a unique experience that's pretty good if seen through the propper lens. After watching it, you definitely feel like you know David Lee Madison a bit better, because it's clearly not filtered through the voice of some massive multimedia conglomerate.
I'm glad I saw it.
