Blood Moon is one of those movies you need to watch in the dark. Now, Nick is out of town so I'm all alone... I locked the doors and turned out all the lights for this. I mean, it stars Tim Curry so I figured it had to be good, right?

Sorta.

This is the tale of a travelling freak show. Curry plays the owner of the freak show. The beginning was indeed creepy. The freak show pulls into a wooded area in what appears to be late fall. All the trees are dead and deformed. ooooooh. I snuggle into my blanket.

Part of this show is a wolf girl. She is covered with fur from head to toe, but she is a perfectly normal young girl, late teens, inside... until she meets a boy who wants to save her and make her normal. See, his mom is a cosmetic researcher, and has come up with an injection for hair removal... but it's not been tested thoroughly yet.

Then ya have the band of ruffian kids that are no more than little jerks. They taunt Tara (the wolf gal) and go so far as to throw darts at her.. now if I saw a kid ever acting like this I'd have to hit em so hard their kids would be born dizzy. I'm sorry, but kids like that need to be beat. Sue me.

ahem.

Tim Curry has quite a track record with RHPS, 4 Dogs Playing Poker and The Three Musketeers. This one didn't live up to those, but it wasn't for a lack of acting on Curry's part at all. He plays this to the hilt as he does with all his movies. He wants his freak show to survive, but he really does care about his little family of freaks. He's both intimidating and warm in this. He even sings!

Lesley Ann Warren (Secretary, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Victor/Victoria) is the researcher, with a lab in her basement. I have always liked Warren. Here she plays the part of a hard working yet kinda snooty mom. At one point she says to her son (after being told he's dating a freak) Ugly people shouldn't be put on display like that. They should be left alone... to stay in their houses. Yeesh. Even as Warren delivers the line, her character gets the perfect facial expression, like she knows she just said something that isn't quite kosher. Loved it.

The real star of this show though is Victoria Sanchez (Satan's School for Girls, The Minion) as Tara, the wolf girl. Sanchez really pulls out all the stops. I mean you really sympathize with this chick. It ain't her fault she was born all hairy and stuff. She just wants to be normal. She wants folks to stop being mean to her. Is that really too much to ask? Sanchez is adept at letting all the hurt and anger show. Not over the top in any way. Excellent performance!

Blood Moon has the feel of an old scary movie, but it actually came out in 2001. In that respect, director Thom Fitzgerald (Beefcake, Hanging Garden) did a good job setting up the atmosphere. My main complaint is the pacing. He takes a very long time building character, and I found myself quite often in the middle wondering when he was just going to get on with it. I wanted to be scared, damn it!

I never really was.

This one runs about 97 minutes and is rated R in the US. that's a pretty hard R actually. A bit of language, some violence here and there, and lots of frontal nudity... on both sexes. I'm going with 16 and up.

There are no extras on the DVD.

So, it has a great creepy feel to it but don't be expecting true horror here. It plays more like a teen angst movie with dark undertones. The flip toward the end is no surprise at all, you see it coming very early on. Go ahead and get it, I mean it's like 6 bucks in the cheap bin at Walmart right now and that's less than the current price of admission to a movie. It's worth the 6 bucks. Yeah, go ahead.



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This has been a part of Sleeper54's most wonderous Halloween W/O .. I urge you all to join in the fun and write about something spooky. There is no funner time of year than Hallowscreeeeeeeeam! Ahoooooooooo

The rulez and participants:
http://www.epinions.com/content_3550126212

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older