Lycan (2017)
When six college kids in a sleepy Southern town are assigned a group
project to rediscover a moment in history, one of them sets in motion a
horrific fate when he proposes they head into the Georgia backwoods to
tackle the legend of Emily Burt, the Talbot County werewolf. "Lycan" is a
Hitchcockian tale of horror set in 1986 that delves into a hundred year
old fable where our students are met with very real consequences that
go beyond any classroom lessons.
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
4 August 2017 (USA)Also Known As:
Talbot County
Filming Locations:
Upatoi, Georgia, USABox Office
Budget:
$250,000 (estimated)Company Credits
Production Co:
A half-dozen students pick the wrong subject to research for history class in Lycan,
a stuck-in-the-woods slasher film that flirts unsatisfyingly with
werewolf themes. The debut feature for director Bev Land, husband of the
picture's star Dania Ramirez, it intends to introduce novelty to its
overfamiliar setup, but uneven casting and a very thin script get in the
way. Commercial prospects are slim, even among horror die-hards.
Ramirez plays Isabella, a campus misfit randomly assigned to a group of students for a class project. Told to select a historical subject that needs reevaluation, these six pass over the opportunity to prove a black felon was wrongly convicted in favor of exploring a lurid old newspaper story about "The Werewolf of Talbot County." It appears that the gravesite of the suspected werewolf is on property adjoining the farm where Isabella lives; over her protestations, the team sets out on horseback to camp in the woods until they can dig up some evidence.
Land and co-screenwriter Michael Mordler offer the usual Breakfast Club hodgepodge of campus stereotypes — jock and smart-ass stoner, preppy grade-grubber, prissy sorority girl and her fashion-obsessed sidekick. Their banter is less clever than bitchy, ensuring that we won't mind much when they start dying off; trouble is, there might not be one of these kids we care enough about to root for.
The intentionally mixed signals sent out by the picture from its first scenes — is Isabella mentally ill, the victim of an ancient curse, or both? — are more muddy than tantalizing, and adding a romantic angle doesn't change that much: Hunky Blake (Jake Lockett), rather than hooking up with one of the sorority girls, longs for the troubled Isabella and can't understand why she's so skittish.
He'll find out soon enough. But not until after a series of violent encounters in the forest, nighttime scenes staged and photographed unappealingly by Land and lenser Colin Michael Quinn. Genre-savvy viewers will know to expect the eventual return of Isabella's landlady, a "crazy cat lady" played by Gail O'Grady. But while that resolves some of the plot's questions, it does little to raise the emotional stakes or make us more invested in these bland campers' survival.
Ramirez plays Isabella, a campus misfit randomly assigned to a group of students for a class project. Told to select a historical subject that needs reevaluation, these six pass over the opportunity to prove a black felon was wrongly convicted in favor of exploring a lurid old newspaper story about "The Werewolf of Talbot County." It appears that the gravesite of the suspected werewolf is on property adjoining the farm where Isabella lives; over her protestations, the team sets out on horseback to camp in the woods until they can dig up some evidence.
Land and co-screenwriter Michael Mordler offer the usual Breakfast Club hodgepodge of campus stereotypes — jock and smart-ass stoner, preppy grade-grubber, prissy sorority girl and her fashion-obsessed sidekick. Their banter is less clever than bitchy, ensuring that we won't mind much when they start dying off; trouble is, there might not be one of these kids we care enough about to root for.
The intentionally mixed signals sent out by the picture from its first scenes — is Isabella mentally ill, the victim of an ancient curse, or both? — are more muddy than tantalizing, and adding a romantic angle doesn't change that much: Hunky Blake (Jake Lockett), rather than hooking up with one of the sorority girls, longs for the troubled Isabella and can't understand why she's so skittish.
He'll find out soon enough. But not until after a series of violent encounters in the forest, nighttime scenes staged and photographed unappealingly by Land and lenser Colin Michael Quinn. Genre-savvy viewers will know to expect the eventual return of Isabella's landlady, a "crazy cat lady" played by Gail O'Grady. But while that resolves some of the plot's questions, it does little to raise the emotional stakes or make us more invested in these bland campers' survival.
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