CD Giveaway - 33Miles, "One Life"
Ends Aug 4, 2010
The country-pop sound established in their eponymous debut is a mainstay for this album as well, and even adds a little more southern flavor.
CD Giveaway - Phil Wickham, "Cannons"
Ends Aug 3, 2010
With an opening shot that hits the sonic pinnacle, this collection of spiritual Brit pop/rock is heavily influenced by Keane, Travis, Coldplay, and U2.
Rating: Country: USA Release Date: December 20, 2005 Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment Director: · Jeff Wadlow Cast: · Julian Morris · Lindy Booth · Jared Padalecki Grade: C+
I did not see “Cry Wolf” during its theatrical run, so watching the unrated DVD version was my first exposure to the film. What I expected to be just another teen slasher movie actually turned out to be a more or less thoughtful murder mystery propelled by earnest young actors, and an equally young and earnest crew. There is very little gore, no nudity, and only a few instances of profanity in the dialogue. This was surprising to me, especially for a DVD billing itself as “unrated.” There is nothing in this unrated version that I would imagine would earn more than the PG-13 rating the film had already received, but maybe due to the use of the “F” word it might be considered as R material now, assuming there weren’t any instances of the “F” word in the theatrical release.
The story itself concerns some students at a private high school, rich kids whose parents have shuffled them off to as much get them out of their hair as to help the kids. At least that is the implication given when we meet Owen Matthews (played by Julian Morris), the new kid at the school who quickly falls in with Dodger, the sultry Lindy Booth, who lures him into playing a game with some other students. The game is called “Wolf” and the idea is that one among the group is a liar, and the rest vote on whether or not each accused person is that liar to find the proverbial wolf in the fold.
A young woman was murdered in the town adjacent to the school, and the students, who are, besides Owen and Dodger, Owen’s dorm roommate Tom (Jared Padalecki), Kristy Wu as Regina, Sandra McCoy as Mercedes, Jesse Janzen as Randall, and Paul James as Lewis, decide to up the ante in their little wolf game. They create an e-mail that explains that the murdered girl was the victim of a serial killer, and that his M.O. is to take out others in a sequence of gruesome fashions. Later Owen receives a response via e-mail that leads him to suspect there really is a serial killer on the loose, and he begins a process of trying to discover who it might be.
Director Jeff Wadlow, a graduate of the USC school of Cinema-Television, walks his actors through their paces firmly but without a lot of creative vision. He co-wrote the screenplay by Beau Bauman, and there is nothing particularly striking about the plot, story or outcome. I get the impression this film is more or less a learning experiment for Wadlow who is probably trying to improve his technique and practice his craft. It will be interesting to see where he goes next. He really didn’t make anything of real value with “Cry Wolf,” but I couldn’t find much in the way of anything technically wrong with the production, either.
As for the DVD special features, there are some deleted scenes and several short films made by the filmmakers for your perusal, as well as commentary. Not much in the way of anything special here.
Essentially, “Cry Wolf” the unrated DVD is a rather pedestrian effort in terms of creativity, and I don’t think fans of the horror genre will be pleased with it or have much use for this film. It is more or less a polished student production that breaks no new ground and just kind of lies there flat. I don’t recommend this DVD, but if you must see it, then you must see it.
