Uncaged (2016) Review

Starring: Ben Getz, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Zack Weiner, Garrett Hendricks, Paulina Singer, Michelle Cameron, Gene Jones

Director: Daniel Robbins

Writer: Mark Rapaport, Daniel Robbins

Running time: 96 minutes

Rated: None (for graphic violence, language, adult situations)

Reviewed by Michael Juvinall – Horror Society

UNCAGED is available on DVD and Digital Video on February 2^nd from RLJ Entertainment!

It’s great to see my favorite monster making a comeback in independent cinema these days. The werewolf has always been an underappreciated monster when compared to vampires or Frankenstein’s monster that usually get more press. It’s hard to get the right tone when making a werewolf film. Either it’s a straight out horror movie or it tries to be a horror/comedy combination that very few films have been able to achieve (i.e. An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Dog Soldiers, Late Phases, Wolf Cop). Uncaged is a werewolf film that tries to take the horror and comedy route. Does it achieve its goal of mixing both genres well? Read on to find out.

In the beginning of Uncaged we’re introduced to six-year-old Jack getting ready to go to bed in his room. We hear some type of disturbance outside his room that sounds like his mother and father fighting and then we hear a gun shot. His mother comes into his room and tells him to remember that when he turns 18 everything will change for him. As it turns out, Jack’s mother had killer his father and he grows up living with his cousin Brandon. Cut to twelve years later as Jack (Ben Getz) is now in college and 18-years-old. Jack’s uncle invites him up to his isolated cabin for winter break because he is going to be away on business. Jack and his best buddies, Cousin Brandon (Zack Weiner) and Turner (Kyle Kirkpatrick) decide it would be a great place to get away and party.

Soon after arriving at the cabin, things begin to get strange for Jack. For the next couple of nights, Jack seems to sleepwalk and is waking up the next morning naked outside in a strange place. Jack’s friends don’t seem to think anything of Jack coming home in the mornings naked and wrapped in a garbage bag. They chalk it up to a couple nights of debauchery. Freaking out by what is happening to him; Jack decides to strap on a GoPro camera the next night to see what is going on. The next morning when Jack again wakes up naked, in the middle of nowhere he zips home to see what the camera shows. He’s horrified to discover that the past night showed him all furred and fanged up ripping an innocent man to shreds by the train station.

The film then goes off in another tangent that make no sense at all about befriending a ruthless drug dealer’s wife to help her get away from her husband.

What Jack discovers is he has been cursed to become a werewolf when he turns 18 because he remembers what his mother told him when he was a child and now all hell is breaking loose at the cabin.

I hate ripping on a film, I really do but Uncaged missed its mark by a long shot. There are so many things wrong with this film that I don’t know where to start. Let’s begin with the script – it’s terrible! I’m not sure how the writers thought this script was anything but crappy. Hardly any of it makes sense at all. First a kid discovers that he has been cursed as a werewolf and has murdered people, and then instead of trying to solve his problem he gets caught up with a drug dealer and his wife!?! Turner murders Jack’s mom and then gets all bent out of shape and then is all holier than thou when he finds out Jack is a werewolf. Then we have Brandon who is the comic relief for the film but turns out to be a goofy acting dweeb instead.

The worst part of the film is the werewolf makeup effects. The Teen Wolf TV series has better makeup effects than this film. I have seen nearly every werewolf film ever made and this is one of the worst looking werewolf makeups. All the makeup artists seem to do was put a fake nose on the actor and slap some fur around the outside of his face with a long beard, it was laughable. If you’re going to make a werewolf film, the one thing you had better get right is the werewolf makeup.

The acting was decent but nobody looked really comfortable in their roles. The film was at least shot pretty well, I can’t complain about the cinematography.

The film tried to be funny in several scenes throughout but nothing seemed to work and just fell flat. In fact, the only comedy to me was the unintentional comedy of the movie being so bad. The comic relief by Zack Weiner as Brandon wasn’t funny at all, it actually bordered on him being a creepy character.

I love werewolf films so much that I really wanted Uncaged to be great and I take no pleasure in disliking the film. I give anyone a lot of credit that actually gets a film made because I know how much time and hard work it takes to get a finished product, so I have to congratulate the filmmakers on finishing their goal of getting something made. It’s just unfortunate that it wasn’t a competent werewolf movie. I say put Uncaged back in its cage then lock it up and throw away the key forever!