- Directed by: Thom Fitzgerald
- Written by: Lori Lansense
- Stars: Shelby Fenner, Shawn Ashmore, Tony Denman
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-gEhbgzAY
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a story about a traveling circus sideshow with a serving of horror on the side. There is a lot of music, dancing, freaks, and strange talents filling the movie, and it’s a unique take on a werewolf tale. Despite many interesting people to look at, it’s not quite as interesting as it should be, managing to drag a bit here and there. We liked it more than disliked it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on teenagers walking through the woods, looking for something. Krystal, Beau, Cory, and Whiffler run into Ryan out there, and they pick on him. Suddenly, the circus drives by. It’s not a whole circus, just the sideshow, freaks and geeks and monsters, as the song plays.
The leader of the show, Harley Dune, stops and tells the others to set up here. The main attraction is Tara Talbot, the Wolf Girl. She talks to Athena, the fat lady, about what it was like back when Athena wasn’t so fat. All the teens from earlier stand in the woods and watch the wolf girl do mundane chores.
We cut to the big evil factory across the way, where the scientists talk about developing new genetic enhancements. Dr. Klein steals one of the lab rats and hides it in her purse. She’s Ryan’s mother. They talk about a wolf being loose in the area, and there’s a posse out looking for the wolf.
The sideshow opens, and we watch the orchestra of Little People as Christoph/Christine sings a whole song as the other attractions wheel through behind her. Ryan peeks through the window as Tara gets ready for her act. Harley Dune sings a song about plucking the bearded lady.
Beau and the other teens knock on Tara’s door, and they have a hunting dog, ready to cause trouble. Harley interrupts their fun and throws them out. Tara’s act is next, and Harley makes it all sound really interesting. Beau, in the audience, throws dog poop at her.
After the show, she washes the poop off her face. Harley and Athena talk about how terrible audiences are today.
The four troublemakers walk home through the woods as wolves howl all around them. Beau beats up Ryan as a real wolf watches from not far away.
In the morning, Tara finds a note that says she can get help for her problem. It’s from Ryan, and she goes to see him. He takes Tara to his mother’s lab where she works on depilatories. He shows her a hairless mouse. He injects her when she decides to go along with it.
As she walks home, Tara hears wolves howling. She goes to the pet groomer’s and eats a poodle. No, it’s just a sudden craving and fantasy.
Before her show that night, Tara gets a bad headache. The four baddies are back in the audience for tonight’s show as well. Beau and Krystal throw darts at her this time. In pain, she breaks out of her cage and attacks Beau. Harley distracts the audience with a dwarf-striptease act. He wonders how Tara was able to break through the bars on her cage.
Tara and Ryan go off alone; they really like each other. Ryan says her attacking Beau was a side-effect of the drug, but she argues that it was all just part of the show. He promises another treatment tomorrow. In bed, she dreams of hunting and killing sheep.
Morning comes, and we watch Tara shower. Yep, she’s hairy all over, but she’s also losing globs of hair, so the treatment may be working. Ryan’s mother interrupts, so Tara ends up dosing herself, this time larger than before. Ryan tells his mother about dating “an oddity.”
Ryan and Tara go to a diner, and the waitress is weird about it. She talks about her birth and how her parents hid her away and took her to Harley for protection. Beau mouths off, and she claws him. She goes to the restroom and drinks from the toilet bowl.
At home, Beau looks at himself naked in the mirror and cries. He’s poorly endowed, and he doesn’t like it. Tara accidentally sees him, so he follows her back to her trailer and shoots at her. This results in the two of them chasing each other around the woods. She tears him apart.
In the morning, Tara’s lost more body hair, but now crawls around on all fours. She also finds bloody clothes, which she does not like.
Back at Ryan’s house, the pet rabbit eats himself. His mother says experimental animals do that sometimes. Tara wants another treatment, but he’s not willing to continue because the rabbit went psychotic.
Krystal, Cory, and Whiffer find Beau’s body and laugh at his little “thing.”
Back at the show, Harley introduces the Wolf Girl, but this time, she attacks him. Someone yells that she killed Beau, and there’s a whole stampede, literally bringing down the house.
Tara runs into the woods and injects herself again. There’s a mob of people with torches out searching the woods. Harley confronts Ryan about what’s happening to Tara, but Ryan runs away. Kristen, with her gun, runs into Tara, but she doesn’t recognize her without all the fur.
Tara looks perfectly normal now but bites Krystal anyway. Ryan shows up and grabs the pistol and fires. He shoots the real wolf as Krystal wakes up and can’t find her tongue.
In the morning, Harley packs up the whole show and leaves town. Athena cries at leaving Tara behind, but they don’t need the trouble. Tara, on the other hand, watches them leave and crawls around the woods naked, hairless, but more wolflike than ever.
Brian’s Commentary
There’s a story here, but it’s way overshadowed by the sideshow acts and musical numbers. This was filmed in Romania, and it’s never quite clear in what year this takes place.
Tim Curry playing an unequivocally good guy? Who knew that was possible?
It’s an interesting take on the usual werewolf story, but it’s also a little on the dull side. I didn’t hate it, but I’d also have a hard time really recommending it.
Kevin’s Commentary
Any movie with Grace Jones in it is automatically at least pretty good. The rest of the freaks, geeks, and oddities were interesting as well. And their take on the werewolf aspect was unique. It still managed to drag a bit here and there. It was entertaining, but not great.