Bad Moon

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Bad Moon
DVD cover
Directed by	Eric Red
Screenplay by	Eric Red
Based on	Thor by Wayne Smith
Produced by	James G. Robinson
Starring	Mariel Hemingway Michael Paré
Cinematography	Jan Kiesser
Edited by	Carroll Timothy O'Meara
Music by	Daniel Licht
Production company	Morgan Creek Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	November 1, 1996 (1996-11-01) (United States)
Running time	79 minutes
Countries	United States Canada
Language	English
Budget	$7 million[1]
Box office	$1.1 million[2]

Bad Moon is a 1996 Canadian-American horror film written and directed by Eric Red, and produced by James G. Robinson. The film is about a mother and son who are threatened by her brother, who struggles to overcome the curse of lycanthropy. It stars Michael Paré, Mariel Hemingway and Mason Gamble.

The film is based on the novel Thor by Wayne Smith, which mainly tells the story from the dog's viewpoint. Thor was published in the United States (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press hardback, Ballantine paperback), and in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, in English, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian. Bad Moon received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.

Plot[]

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During a work expedition in Nepal, photo-journalists Ted Harrison and his girlfriend Marjorie are attacked by a werewolf. The werewolf snatches Marjorie and Ted attempts to rescue her but gets bitten in the shoulder and thrown to the ground. He crawls to his shotgun and manages to shoot the werewolf's head off but not before the beast kills Marjorie.

With the intent of living in isolation, Ted moves back home into a trailer in the woods hours away from his lawyer sister Janet Harrison (Mariel Hemingway). One day in an effort to reach out to her and his young nephew Brett (Mason Gamble), Ted calls them up and invites them for a meal at his home by the lake. Upon seeing him, the family dog, Thor, begins to sense something wrong with Ted and goes into the woods tracking a smell, which leads him to human remains hanging on a tree branch. Meanwhile, Ted tells Janet that his girlfriend Marjorie broke up with him and returned to her home in Seattle, hiding the truth from her, and in an attempt at comforting her brother, Janet invites him to stay with them. Shaken and fearful of hurting them, Ted declines and Janet, Brett, and Thor leave before the sun starts to set, at Ted's insistence.

The next day, there is an investigation going on in the woods near Ted's trailer where the mangled bodies of several missing hikers and a Forest Ranger were found. Under fear of being found guilty, Ted calls Janet and tells her he's changed his mind. He parks his trailer in her yard, however, Thor is aware of Ted's nature and becomes suspicious and eventually hostile towards him. Later that evening, Thor becomes frenzied until Janet lets him out of the house. Tracking his scent, Thor follows Ted into the woods and finds him turned into a werewolf and tied to a tree. Meanwhile, Janet starts looking for Thor and goes into the woods. Aware of her danger, Thor manages to find and distract her back to the house before she finds Ted.

While making breakfast, Janet sees on TV the news coverage of the killings and confronts her brother about not telling her his true reasons for visiting her and invites him to stay permanently. While Brett throws out the trash, Ted tries to warn his sister and advises her to start listening to Thor and his sudden change in behavior and drops hints that the murders had been done by a wolf. She ignores his pleas and he retreats into his trailer where Thor follows him. Ted encounters a suspicious Thor but eventually leaves the trailer with the hopes of chaining himself again. With the sun setting Ted screams for Janet to take Thor away and when she does he rushes into the woods. Thor is afraid of Ted hurting his family and begins to bark until Brett lets him out of the house. He makes his way to the woods to find that Ted was too late and wasn't able to handcuff himself and has made his way into the backyard. Ted attacks Thor but the dog fights back which wakes up Janet. Ted is scared away when she turns on the deck lights. Janet sees Thor's injuries and, fearful of Ted's advice, calls the Sheriff and goes into Ted's trailer to notify him. She does not find Ted but instead finds a book about werewolves, with gruesome pictures of Marjorie's body and some of Ted's victims attached to it. She also finds a journal in which Ted details his pain and his turmoil with not finding a cure for his "disease" and his hopes of finding peace by his family's side. Later that night, a traveling salesman who had previously tried to frame Thor for a false bite goes into Janet and Brett's yard with the intent of killing Thor but is instead attacked and fatally wounded by Ted.

The sheriff then shows up and questions Janet about Thor and informs her of the salesman's attack by a wild animal; his mutilated body having been found 100 yards away from her property. Remembering Thor's injuries Janet asks if the culprit could have been a wolf but the sheriff dismisses this and advises her to give up Thor to the dog pound. Not believing Thor could be the killer, she confronts Ted, who provokes Thor to attack him. As a result, Thor is taken to the dog pound. Seemingly more confident and accepting of his bloodlust, Ted "marks his territory" by urinating in Thor's doghouse (as Thor had done to his trailer earlier) and shows hostility towards Brett. That night, Brett pretends to go to sleep but packs his backpack and sneaks out of the house to free Thor while Janet confronts Ted in the woods. In the woods, Ted accuses his sister of not listening to his warnings and knowing the truth all along. As he begins to transform, Janet flees in panic back to the house with Ted on her trail and manages to retrieve a revolver hidden in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Brett reaches the dog pound on his bicycle, breaks in, and frees Thor, who takes off running and gets to the house just as Ted is about to attack Janet. A vicious fight ensues between them with Thor savagely biting and injuring Ted several times with Ted retaliating by throwing Thor across the room and seemingly killing him. Brett, having followed Thor and worried about his mother, goes into his room and is strangled and held up by his throat by Ted. Seeing an opportunity, Janet fires several rounds into Ted, who releases Brett. Hurt, he growls at Janet, however, Thor gets up, and throws himself on Ted, knocking them both out the window and into the yard. Ted is severely injured but gets up and retreats into the woods. Though Thor, injured as well, follows Ted and tracks him down until sunrise. Now human, Ted emerges from behind a tree bruised, beaten, and bloody. Standing his ground and ready to attack, Thor whimpers in reluctance, but Ted tells him to "do it" and with no more hesitation Thor lunges at him and finishes him off.

Cast[]

• Michael Paré as Ted Harrison
• Mason Gamble as Brett Harrison
• Mariel Hemingway as Janet Harrison
• Ken Pogue as Sheriff Jenson
• Hrothgar Mathews as Jerry Mills
• Johanna Lebovitz as Marjorie
• Gavin Buhr as forest ranger
• Julia Montgomery Brown as reporter
• Primo as Thor

Reception[]

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Critical response[]

Bad Moon received mostly negative reviews from critics upon its initial release. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was highly critical of the film, panning the film's script, poor special effects, and unconvincing monster costume.^[3] Joe Leydon from Variety felt that the film was "too silly to be suspenseful, yet not quite awful enough or intentionally funny enough to qualify as camp", and criticized Hemingway's performance as being unconvincing.^[4] The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov gave the film one and a half out of five stars, highlighting the film's direction, unconvincing special effects and monster costume, and unbelievable characters.^[5]

Home Media[]

The film was released on DVD in a snap case on October 3, 2000.^[6] It was released for the first time on Blu-ray on July 19, 2016.^[7]

See also[]

• Second weekend in box office performance § Second-weekend drop

References[]

External links[]

• Bad Moon at IMDb
• Bad Moon at AllMovie
• Bad Moon at Box Office Mojo
• Bad Moon at Rotten Tomatoes