Wer (2013)

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Blistering performances.

Watched this movie a bit ago and in my opinion this is one of the greatest werewolf/horror/slasher films ever made! The special effects, atmosphere and gore are awesome! This is a memorable one just like the howling! Today in horror films, especially in the werewolf genre it is difficult to find a lasting movie that affects you and that you want to remember! This one is pure gold standard! From beginning to end it will keep you interested and has no cliché parts that other retarded films have! Pure addrenalin for sure!

An American family is camping in France (?) with their dog and all. At night and during the full moon, suddenly the dog vanishes, the father goes looking for it, then something attacks him and the rest of the family. This all filmed by them. The wife survives. She tells the police she was attacked by some tall thin hairy guy with huge hands. Next the police arrest a guy named Talan who lives in the area with his mother.His defense lawyer is for some reason an American lawyer living in France. She works with some Indian guy who procures information and she also calls one of her exes who is a scientist.They interview Talan, who's rather quiet, shy, and reserved. They inspect the mutilated bodies and conclude it was some unknown animal that attacked the family. They interview the mother and find out that the father died in a mysterious one-car accident. Talan suffers from some condition that weakens him and causes him to be bed-ridden on some days. The government is also after their land because it's suited for nuclear waste disposal.When a rancher's horses are attacked the police mount an operation and kill the culprit--a bear.The researcher discovers that the unidentified condition from which Talan suffers could be porphyria. To confirm they have to perform some tests on him--a corneal swab and expose him to strobe lights. The corneal swab result is positive. During strobe light exposure Talan flips out, kills everyone brutally. All this in front of his defense team and the cops.Talan escapes to a building where the police mount an operation to capture him. They shower him with bullets but he's unaffected. He just wipes out all the cops then jumps from the building to the ground and escapes to his home in the country.They mount another operation to capture him--at night for some reason. But in the meantime something is happening to the scientist. We learn that he was bitten by Talan during a jail scuffle and now he's changing. And he actually realizes that only he will be able to face Talan.Wer is yet another update on the tired old POV movie format. While things start out POV, after the family attack, there is no moron there to "film everything no matter what." In the end the movie is more of a hybrid POV. It's mostly third person perspective but retains some POV camera-work--the camera angles, and some movements. Fortunately we are spared the hysteric shaking camera as well as the awful cheap green nightvision. But Wer retains some of the POV weaknesses--a cast you can't care about and some logic-defying stuff.It is however a remarkable improvement in terms of budget, effort, effects, and story. The important thing is that there is here an objective story. It's not about some idiots bickering at each other for two hours and losing their minds. There's plenty of cool gore and some very neat special effects and wirework. They even use a chopper and explosions.Not only is it an upgrade of POV movies but also a good effort at restoring some credibility to the werewolf genre which has been terribly abused by greedy filmmakers who couldn't care less about the genre. With Wer and the great Dracula Untold perhaps we'll see an updated revival of classical monsters.

Wer isn't a pseudo-documentary or a "found footage" film, but it holds its narrative on similar techniques, employing hand-held camera and "improvised" video sources, such a security systems and TV news. For the rest, I found it an excellent horror film, which offers us a werewolf perspective which is simultaneously classic on its mythology and innovative on its presentation. Director William Brent Bell achieved a tense atmosphere, where the contrast between modern civilization and archaic folklore obstructs rational thought and confuses "reality" with myth. A.J. Cook brings a solid performance in the leading role, and I also liked the work from the rest of the cast, highlighting Brian Scott O'Connor, who is appropriately threatening in his character, and Vik Shay, who makes something completely different to what he used to in the TV series Chuck. The special effects studio Almost Human complements the realistic tone of the film with a creature who is simultaneously credible and respectful of European tradition, besides of delicious gory moments and some disturbing corpses. In conclusion, Wer is one of the most innovative werewolf films I have seen a long time. Its combination of traditional and documentary techniques was a valid decision which intensifies the suspense and the energy of the film without confusing its narrative. Bell's previous films had been the execrable Stay Alive and the mediocre The Devil Inside, but he has fully redeemed himself with Wer, and I will definitely be looking forward to his next film, with the hope of finding out that this film wasn't an accident, but the start of a new tendency in his career.

The movie is not something that has many surprising twists. It is nicely made though, the effects are good. The triangle relationship is nice, but also kind of overused. The actors still are sort of able to convincingly sell it to the viewer. Maybe you think it is overplayed though, especially because it might be distracting from the main story.Whatever the case, there could have been more social commentary, at least it looked like it would go that way, but it only stays on that in early stages. Maybe they planned more, I couldn't tell. After a slow start though, we do get a lot of action towards the end, which is either a relief or comes too late to save it for you