Full Eclipse

If you are like me, you've seen plenty of renegade vigilante cop movies and plenty of werewolf movies, but I'll bet this is the only one where the renegade vigilante cops are werewolves. Gimmicky enough premise for you? They're pretty good cops any night, but they can really kick some ass during a full moon. And when there's an eclipse of the full moon - fuggitaboutit!

Of course, it kinda sucks when they get assigned to the day shift, or when they have to speak at those "career days" at the local schools.

Madge: Full Eclipse is a renegade cop movie, and Certs is a breath mint.

Earl: No, it's a werewolf movie, and Certs is a candy mint

announcer: Hold on, there. Don't fight. You're both right. Full Eclipse is a movie where the renegade cops are werewolves, and they enjoy Certs as a snack, as well as to fight off that pesky "doggie breath".

Is it a good movie? Let me put it this way. It's just about exactly as good as it sounds. If you're intrigued by the premise, they execute it reasonably well. I can safely say that it is the Casablanca of Werewolf Cop movies. (You just know they will quote that on their video box someday.)

Actually it is quite strong on atmosphere, visual imagination, and effects, and I did think it was kinda cool that the werewolves exhibited wolf pack behavior, growled at each other occasionally, had an alpha female, etc. That at least showed a touch of imagination.

But it lacks any other virtues. What can I say? Clichéd dialogue, often silly acting, even sillier make-up, over-the-top premise, "passionate, animal" sex scenes where they leave their clothes on, minimal humor, slow pacing, Mario van Peebles, and werewolf cops.

In addition, you will see:

There are two places where the movie seems to be over, but it just keeps coming back. "Oops, I forgot to tell you. Silver bullets can't kill me during a total eclipse". Then, at a point when it doesn't seem like the end of the film, it is.
In the final transformation of the baddie, there is an eclipse of the full moon, which enables him to go beyond the regular werewolf stage and become a super werewolf, sort of like the third game allowed you to become Super Pac-Man. All well and good, except that they couldn't come up with a super werewolf costume, so the top half of his body is a bear suit, and the bottom half is a regular pair of black pants. In stop-motion, you can even see that he's wearing shoes with laces in one scene. (Man, it must be tough to teach those kindergarten werewolves to tie their shoes with claws.) In other words, Van Peebles is battling Gentle Ben in wing tips.

NUDITY REPORT

There is a full frontal view of a completely naked (and stacked) female corpse in the morgue.

Patsy Kensit and Van Peebles have a sex scene, and patsy is seen topless from the side. Unfortunately, Patsy is not exactly Dolly Parton, and the viewer sees only the merest hint of a breast curve, except for one camera angle where a woman with a really muscular back and full breasts is seen body-doubling for Patsy in a werewolf transformation.

I'm not sure, but I think Patsy is wearing something to bind her breast down in that scene.

In her other sex scene, with Bruce Payne, roughly the same thing happens - we see quite a bit of her chest, but no real hint of a breast.

DVD info from Amazon.

no widescreen
no features

The were ... er .. wolf?

I think most of you will think that the summary sounds cheesy, but if it does sound good to you, the film is technically competent, and even stylish at times, so have a ball.

The Critics Vote

BadMovies.org did one of their brilliant full presentation on this movie. Audio clips, caps, movies, you name it.

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 5.2

With their dollars ... it was made for premium cable

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C-. It's pretty slick, and probably watchable if you're a werewolf movie fanatic. If not, I believe you'll find that it bites more than just a victim or two.