# Werewolves (film)

Werewolves is a 2024 American action horror film directed and produced by Steven C. Miller. It stars Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera, James Michael Cummings, and Lou Diamond Phillips. The story takes place on the night of a supermoon event that causes humans to turn into werewolves, which first occurred the preceding year, and follows the attempts to control the situation. The film was released theatrically in the United States on December 6, 2024, to mixed reviews.

## Plot

One year ago, during the supermoon, humans transformed into monstrous werewolves that hunt humans. During the supermoon night, anyone exposed to the moonlight becomes one. In response, humanity is preparing for another supermoon event, barricading their homes with weapons and self-defense traps, and military personnel caging humans who were exposed to the moon a year ago while scientists try to reverse the mutation caused by the moon.
Wesley Marshall, a former U.S. Army soldier and molecular biologist, lives with his sister-in-law, Lucy, and her daughter, Emma. He works on fortifying the house against the werewolves. Reagan, a neighbor, comes to visit them before leaving for the supermoon night. As the family stocks up, Lucy convinces Wesley to head back to the laboratory, where they are working on a solution to cure the werewolf mutation since he is working for them, but Wesley is hesitant because it would leave them unprotected despite the precautions.
Dr. James Aranda and his team of scientists, including Wesley, have developed a special serum called "Moonscreen." It is designed to block moonlight from affecting the human genome when exposed. Dr. Amy Chen is one of the scientists working on the serum. Military personnel and scientists construct a highly secured facility to keep their test subjects in cages while injected with the serum. The scientists wear moonlight preventive suits and inject the serum into the test subjects before opening the roof to expose the subjects to the moonlight. At first, Miles and the test subjects remain human, but eventually, they transform into werewolves. A panicked guard attempts to shoot at them, but they are accidentally freed and rampage across the facility. In the chaos, Aranda is exposed to the moonlight and transforms into a werewolf.
Wesley and Amy flee into a storage room, where they inject themselves with the serum since the inoculation effect lasts for only one hour, so they bring vitals with them so they can remain human. They then gear up with protective clothing and weapons and leave the facility in a van. Wesley suggests heading to his home, which has more protection. However, their vehicle was caught in a crash with a bus, so they were forced to proceed on foot. They carefully navigate through the ruined streets overruning with werewolves. The serum's effect wears off and they flee from the werewolves into the tunnels. They head to a convenience store to cool down the serum before injecting themselves another dose. Wesley and Amy are caught in a crossfire between heavily armed survivors and werewolves. Surrounded by the werewolves, Amy distracts them by exposing herself to the werewolves, but they do not attack as the serum has shielded her from the moonlight. Wesley and Amy try to flee in a car, but Amy is dragged away by a werewolf, forcing Wesley to head home.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Emma bunkered down in their fortified home. A crazed veteran neighbor, Cody Walker, shoots at one of the werewolves outside, but his house is struck with debris, causing him to be exposed to the moon and transform into a werewolf. He attacks Reagan at her home, and she flees to the Marshalls, pleading with them to let her in before Cody kills her. The noise attracts other nearby werewolves who attack the house, forcing Lucy to defend herself and Emma. Wesley arrives and kills the other werewolves before his serum wears off. As dawn approaches, Wesley exposes himself to the moon, transforms into a werewolf, and kills Cody. However, before he can attack Lucy and Emma, the sun rises, and Wesley transforms back into a human. Wesley reunites with his family, knowing that the serum was a success.

## Cast

* Frank Grillo as Wesley Marshall
* Katrina Law as Dr. Amy Chen
* Ilfenesh Hadera as Lucy Marshall
* James Michael Cummings as Cody Walker
* Lou Diamond Phillips as Dr. Aranda
* James Kyson as Miles Chen
* Kamdynn Gary as Emma Marshall
* Lydia Styslinger as Reagan
* Ian Whyte as Lead Wolf
* Dane DiLiegro as Wolf
* Ian Feuer as Wolf

## Production

In June 2022, it was announced that a horror thriller film directed and co-produced by Steven C. Miller, originally titled Year 2, had begun principal photography in Puerto Rico, with Matthew Kennedy writing the screenplay. Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera, James Michael Cummings, and Lou Diamond Phillips made up the main cast. In February 2024, the film had been retitled Werewolves and C. Miller announced the post-production was close to completion.

## Release

Werewolves was released in the United States by Briarcliff Entertainment on December 6, 2024.

## Reception
### Box office

In Russia/CIS the film released on December 5, 2024, and earned $76,323, and in the United States the film released alongside Y2K and Pushpa 2: The Rule on December 6 and earned over $1,052,998 in 1,351 theaters on its Opening with a total gross of $1,867,399.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 42 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.