Mixing horror and comedy is a tricky proposition. Leaning
too heavily on one element over the other can lead to an imbalance, and too
many attempts to synthesize the two genres result in movies that are neither
scary nor funny. That’s what makes Juan Martinez Moreno’s “Game of Werewolves”
(AKA “Wolves of Arga”) such a treat; it seamlessly blends legitimate laughs
with earnest frights and gore.
It’s been 15 years since Tomas Marino (Gorka Otxoa) has
returned to his hometown of Arga in the Spanish countryside. Now he’s going
back to be honored as a local boy made good. It never once occurs to Tomas that
no one has read his book, which is also a critical failure, and that there
might be some ulterior motive to the invitation. Tomas is more inclined to play
soccer with his dog than actually work or think about the big picture. So he
packs up his Jack Russell terrier Vito, and, against his grandmother’s
warnings, heads home. Upon arrival he reunites with his pasty, mustachioed
childhood best friend Calisto (Carlos Areces), and discovers the horrific
secret that haunts Arga and the part his family plays in it.
100 years ago a rich, powerful woman, desperate for an heir,
abducted a gypsy performer, forced him to impregnate her, then murdered him and
his fellow travelers. Before the last gypsy expired, she placed a curse on the
baroness. You never mess with gypsies. We should all know that at this point. They
will curse the living hell out of you. But apparently Tomas’ ancestors didn’t
watch a lot of horror movies, or they’d have known that. So a werewolf has
terrorized Arga for the past century, and the only way to break the curse is to
feed the beast a male Marino on the eve of the 100th anniversary of
the curse. Guess when that is?
“Game of Werewolves” walks a fine line between splatter and
slapstick. Tomas and Calisto have a sharp, quick back and forth, and when Mario
(Secun de la Rosa), Tomas’ sketchy editor/literary agent, shows up, the trio
constantly cracks on each other as they attempt to unravel the mystery and
escape the villagers. There is a classic small-town movie mob, but with
shotguns and flashlights instead of pitchforks (okay, there are some
pitchforks) and torches, and the werewolves resemble the classic Universal
Wolfman costumes. You can’t help but smile at these nods to horror history.
Between blood geysers and wisecracks, the running city
versus small town conflict, and trying to escape from the remote village, “Game
of Werewolves” actually has a heart at its center. In true horror traditions,
the truest monsters aren’t the hairy ones that try to rip out your esophagus.
The relationship between Tomas and Calisto goes deeper than just jokes and
frights. There is history here, and some wounds remain fresh even after years.
And the specter of the Spanish Revolution looms large over the village and the
film. The violence and troubles of their collective past hound the villagers in
more ways than just a growling, tourist-devouring creature.
The pace of the film keeps you constantly moving from one
fiasco to the next. There’s very little time wasted. The situation is set up,
characters are introduced, and the troubles commence as the action kicks off.
Tomas, Calisto, and Mario, with Vito always in tow, bounce from harrowing
situation to harrowing situation, pausing only to cut off a couple of fingers
(it’ll all make sense when you watch) before things get increasingly,
incessantly worse.
“Game of Werewolves” has all the makings of a great midnight
movie, and I hope it finds an audience at the Seattle International Film
Festival that helps boost it into the wider consciousness. It is fun, fast
paced, and full of schlocky, glorious gore and personable characters that you
like and feel for. It seamlessly blends slapstick and splatter, and the end
result is a blast from end to end.
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