PRESENTS

Smart, quirky, understated and spooky, Josh Reuben's screen adaptation of the much less successful VR video game feels a little like Fargo, Napoleon Dynamite and An American Werewolf in London stirred into a soul warming witch's brew. The corny and derivative, albeit entertaining, gaggle of townsfolk/supporting cast members is balanced by two brilliant performances from leads Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub who's on screen puppy love reads as adorably earnest and believably awkward.

For viewers like myself, easily tired by the now heavily trodden quirky-cute indy movie vibe, Werewolves Within keeps things fresh with a smatterings of blood, guts and scares that rival it's more gruesome undead sister films. Not to be upstaged, the charming and alluring decor - from props to costuming - is so beautifully photographed it makes it easy to look past the meandering story which is jarring at times, but never so much so to lose the audience completely.

Werewolves Within hits the sweet spot between horror and humor making for an impressive flick considering its video game inception or not.