Late Phases (2014)
Debi Moore
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Starring Nick Damici, Ethan Embry, Lance Guest, Erin Cummings, Rutanya Alda, Tina Louise, Caitlin O’Heaney, Karen Lynn Gorney, Dana Ashbrook, Tom Noonan
Directed by Adrián García Bogliano
After the recent death of his wife, blind and curmudgeonly Vietnam war veteran Ambrose McKinley (Damici) is taken by his son, Will (Embry), to set up residence at his new home amongst a gated retirement community. Accompanied by his beloved dog, Shadow, Ambrose quickly sets about upsetting the locals with his caustic, stubborn mannerisms but makes a quick friend in next door neighbour Dolores. Unfortunately, his welcome to the neighbourhood isn’t particularly friendly as the first night in his new home sees Dolores attacked and killed by a vicious creature, which then busts through the adjoining wall. Protecting his master, Shadow successfully drives the beast off but sadly dies in the process.
A smart man, Ambrose keeps his ears open amongst the locals as he tries to piece together what happened and quickly comes to the (unbelievable to all but him) conclusion that this community is home to a werewolf which makes victims of the residents each full moon. As he sets about attempting to uncover just who the lycanthrope is amongst the various characters, while also turning his house into a defendable fortress in time for the next full moon, his odd and aggressive behaviour continues to alienate the only family he has left.
The werewolf genre does generally fall onto the mystery side of things, and while Late Phases does the same with its central ‘whodunnit,’ it slyly avoids taking the customary route of unveiling random suspect behaviours to the audience in order to have them try to unravel the threads in parallel to the protagonist. Instead, director Bogliano puts us firmly alongside Damici’s Ambrose for almost the entire time. We’re nearly as blind to what’s going on around him as he is, knowing only what he knows – exposed only to that which he is exposed to – as the pieces gradually come together. As we approach the home stretch for the final act, Bogliano opens the film up to a wider view in preparation for a climactic tooth and claw siege. The approach works incredibly well in making Late Phases much more character study than schlocky entertainment.
Nick Damici is undoubtedly the star of the show here, and he carries the film effortlessly with a stunning performance that elicits as much sympathy as it does frustration for the stubborn-to-a-fault McKinley. This is a man who seems to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, a man who just can’t help himself when it comes to his attitude even when he obviously doesn’t intend to keep pushing away the people bringing the only light into his life. Damici delivers every nuance with aplomb in what is easily the performance of his career so far.
Bogliano’s pacing works very well alongside Eric Stolze’s script, both of which unfold the story at a well controlled, measured pace without ever feeling needlessly drawn out. Thematically, Late Phases is also a deeper beast with much to say about many issues, not least of all the treatment of veterans who have sacrificed so much by a society only too happy to (quite literally here) throw them to the wolves when the fighting is done.
Speaking of the wolves, they are perhaps the weakest link amongst Late Phases. Werewolf films can live and die by the strength of the effects work and creature design, and while Bogliano’s film does include a very cool, and superbly edited, transformation sequence, the werewolf designs and suits do lack finesse. Facially they’re like strange, stunted little dogs that initially leave you rather taken aback, and one particular sequence involving a wide shot of one of the beasts running along the road and leaping through a car windshield is, unfortunately, laughably awkward and unconvincing. The suits are better served, though, in the more intimately shot mano-a-mano bouts that make up most of Ambrose’s final fight for survival.
The stronger nature of everything else in Late Phases absolutely saves it from this goofiness, however. Investment in Damici’s character is so strong that the initial shock of the sub-par creatures is quickly set aside by concern as to where things are heading. In the end, Late Phases offers much to chew on – a solid central character portrayed par excellence by the leading man, thoughtful themes, splashy gore, some well done humour and an emotional punch in the finish. If this is anything to go by, then it would seem that the perpetually worrying werewolf genre is going to be just fine. It can be hard to find a good one these days, but Late Phases is most definitely the best werewolf flick in years.
4 out of 5
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