Werewolves (2024)

Werewolves opens with a premise big enough for a whole franchise, a supermoon that turns people into werewolves, then spends most of its time on one guy crossing town. It’s a year after the first one, and a second supermoon is on the way. Frank Grillo plays Wesley Marshall, an ex-Marine turned molecular biologist, who boards up the house for Lucy, his sister-in-law, and her daughter Emma before heading to the lab, where Dr. Aranda’s team is testing a serum with the very serious name Moonscreen. The test goes wrong, naturally, and Wesley and Dr. Amy Chen have to cross a city full of werewolves on doses that wear off every hour. That ticking clock is the smartest idea here. The rest is schlock: loud, quick and never as fun as the setup promises, building to a final fight that fizzles. Critics gave it 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 3.9 because a great hook deserved a wilder movie. $92.87 says you peek at the moon tonight before you take out the trash.

What works: The serum that wears off every hour is a clever ticking clock, and the movie knows it’s schlock and doesn’t pretend otherwise.

What doesn’t: The big world it sets up shrinks to one trek across town, and the final fight it builds toward falls flat.

Who it’s for: Late-night monster-movie fans happy with a quick, scrappy B-picture, as long as the werewolves show up on time.