Bullet Points: High Moon
Werewolf themed movies have been a part of cinema for decades. From the Lon Chaney Jr. movies from the 1940’s, to the resurgence of werewolf movies in the 1980’s like The Howling, An American Werewolf in London and Silver Bullet, to the more recent WolfCop films… one could theorize that every possible premise for a werewolf movie has already been done.
Then a movie like High Moon comes along and blows the lid off that theory…
- Seven Minutes in Heaven: The movie opens in Canyon Creek, Texas circa 1863. Colt (Chad Michael Collins, Sniper: Reloaded), a gunfighter with a vendetta is waiting for some outlaws to come through town… but these aren’t just your garden variety outlaws, these are lycanthrope outlaws! This is a fact that the sheriff finds out the hard way when he tries to reason with them and they transform into werewolves and kill the sheriff and his deputy. We then get to see Colt in action as he slays the beasts… including killing the leader of the pack, Willie Price, with a silver tipped scepter. With his mission of vengeance complete, Colt buries the outlaws before he allows himself to be killed by a ninja. Werewolf outlaws, a badass gunfighter and a ninja all in the first seven minutes of the movie?! Let’s do this thing…
- Something Wicked This Way Comes: After the opening credits we find ourselves in the present day. Canyon Creek is now known as Temple Wells and Sheriff Ethan Hardy is about to begin the worst day of his life. A dead body was found in the creek surrounded by coffins from the 1800’s… empty coffins. The cause of death would appear to be an animal attack, but what animal would specifically target all the major organs of a human being? And what about the two kids who saw the “monsters” kill the man? Good luck figuring this one out Sheriff Hardy.
- Fish Out of Water: Fortunately for the folks of Temple Wells another coffin was unearthed… the coffin containing our werewolf killing hero, Colt! Colt pops out of his wooden coffin as Lucy Andrews (Chelsea Edmundson, Daylight’s End) is on her morning run. To her credit, Lucy decides to help Colt… Lucy takes him home, allows him to rest and even gives him some of her deceased husbands clothes to wear. Colt is in full fish out of water mode here, making Lucy think he may be an escaped mental patient, but that still does not deter her and she continues to help Colt, even taking him to the “saloon” per his request.
- The Wolf Pack: Meanwhile, Willie Price and his fellow werewolf outlaws have happened upon a group of bikers about to go out for a ride… the head of the motorcycle club goes into alpha male mode when Willie gets a little too close to one of their choppers… so he gets in Willie’s face and Willie gets in his chest, ripping out his heart and taking a bite out of it!
- Saloon Fight: Colt goes to Temple Wells’ local watering hole to see what he can find out about Willie Price… but when Sheriff Hardy (who again is having a really bad day) sees this strange outsider in his small town on a day a lot of strange things are happening… he goes to take Colt in. This leads to the obligatory action movie bar fight… or in this case, Saloon Fight. Hardy eventually gets his way but as he is transporting Colt to the police station he gets word about the motorcycle massacre.
- Exposition: After the police have their initial showdown with Willie Price and his gang at an abandoned factory and Colt bails their asses out, Sheriff Hardy gives Colt a chance to explain what in the hell is happening… Colt shares his story from back in 1863 when Willie Price and his pack killed Colt’s wife and how Colt was trained by a man from another dimension known as The Keeper (aka the Ninja from the beginning of the movie) to kill Willie Price and his kind, but now they are back! Hardy is buying none of it and orders that Colt should be locked up… a decision that Hardy will regret and reverse once the body count continues to rise.
- Works Every Time: With Colt free to do what Colt needs to do and Sheriff Hardy swallowing his pride and working with his rival Mayor Barlow, the town of Temple Wells now stands a chance, but it is not going to be easy…
High Moon is the type of movie you could probably hate if you dig too deep. But if you don’t overthink things and go along for the ride and accept that a gunfighter from the Old West who comes back from the dead to take on a motorcycle gang of werewolves that also came back from the dead is completely plausible, then you are going to have yourself one helluva good time!
If you want the good times to keep on rolling, check out these Bonus Bullet Points…
- Familiar Face: Sean Patrick Flanery plays Bob Barlow, the mayor of Temple Wells. Flanery is a real scene stealer in this one as the smarmy politician who was once partners with Ethan Hardy when both men were part of the Dallas Police Department. Now Barlow is involved in nefarious activities like gun smuggling and he’s also sleeping with Ethan Hardy’s wife!
- AKA: The original title for High Moon was Howlers.
- If You Ever: …wanted to seen an Old West gunfighter learn how to drive a car, then this is the movie for you.
- Double Duty: High Moon was written and directed by Josh Ridgway
