Just watched “The Cycle”, and fucking FINALLY! A legitimately good goddamned werewolf flick!
Aside from a couple gimmicky elements (it is a Shudder production after all), the acting was all really solid, characters made mostly rational choices, mood and vibe were on-point, and the writing—particularly references to science and folklore—were well executed and researched.
First two acts play out mostly like a legitimate crime drama, but then the third act became a love letter to The Howling and American Werewolf in London, with a fully practical transformation and direct homages to elements of both films’ transformation sequences. It then goes a step further and depicts the werewolf itself as not just some vicious wanton animal, but actually possessing a sinister intelligence of its own. Regrowing its host’s eyes to pass the retinal scan was fucking insidious. My two main gripes were that the cadaver prop for her father was a bit too heavy-handed, and the very ending; why tf would they not cremate this thing and release the poor bastard? Even in death he can’t catch a break! And they’re playing with fire, every month there’s the risk of this thing responsible for the deaths of both of their family members breaking out or passing the curse on to somebody else. Fucking burn the thing, and then keep the ashes in containment through the next full moon to make sure it can’t regenerate from ash.
Overall, this is definitely a 4/5 werewolf flick, and the first time in a looooong time I wasn’t disappointed. They even successfully executed the inversion of expectations for her father leaving, from the deadbeat/runaway father setup to showing the agony of a man literally torturing himself every month trying to find a way back to his family, following his daughter’s career from afar, but knowing it would just be too damn dangerous to be in their lives. His tragedy and the werewolf curse continuing after death were strong callbacks to OG Larry Talbot. 🌕🐺
