Director – Andrew Dyson, Screenplay – T.C. Dewitt, Andrew Dyson & Blair Hoyle, Producers – Andrew Dyson, Blair Hoyle & Matt Kiser, Photography – Dalton Pope, Music – Stephen J. Cote, Makeup Effects Supervisor – Katie King, Makeup Effects Design – Tinsley Transfers, Production Design – Joey Dash. Production Company – Judacalla Films/Slash Gang Productions.
Cast
Blair Hoyle (Max), Anna Broadway (Hannah), Tyler Stafford (Bobby Kyle), Jordyn Tracy (Jaycee), John Lineberry (Vernon), Tierney Leigh Cody (Marlene), Kelsey Willard (Harley), Katie King (Willadeene), Matt Kiser (Eugene), Taylor Upchurch (Dustin), Ian F. Scott (Josh)
Plot
Max takes his girlfriend Hannah with him to visit his family for Christmas. While she is in the nearby woods, Hannah sees a deer and approaches it, only for it to bite her hand. That evening, Hannah starts to transform into a weredeer. As the others search for her, the transformed Hannah appears, viciously killing her way through the group.
Weredeer comes from South Carolina based filmmaker Andrew Dyson. Dyson and his co-writer/lead actor Blair Hoyle had previously made The Recapturing episode of the horror anthology Night Whispers (2013) and the full-length The Beckoning (2013).
The werewolf film has been with us since the silent era, gaining its feet in the 1940s. There have been assorted comedy treatments from the wackily titled likes of Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory (1961), Werewolves on Wheels (1971), Curse of the Queerwolf (1988), My Mom’s a Werewolf (1989) to Joe Dante’s parody/homage The Howling (1981) and outrightly comedic efforts such as Full Moon High (1982), Teen Wolf (1985) and WolfCop (2014). (I have a more detailed essay on the genre here at Werewolf Films). Few of these films have ventured into depicting were-creatures other than wolves. There was the unserious Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and the more serious likes of the Bollywood film Junoon (1992) about a were-tiger and 1313: Cougar Cult (2012) about were-cougars. On a similar subject to Weredeer, there was previously John Landis’s Masters of Horror episode Deer Woman (2005) about a vengeful Native American deer spirit who appears in the form of a beautiful woman.
Anne Broadway as the weredeer
Weredeer would seem to be intended be intended as one of these parody treatments – at least going by the title. On the other hand, in watching the film it gives all appearance of taking itself seriously. There is no comedy or spoof element. If such is the case it would not appear to be something that does not extend past the title, although what that gives you is a film where you are unsure whether you should be laughing or taking proceedings seriously. When the film does aim for humour, like the scenes with the two hunters in the woods in the prologue or with the couple preparing for their holiday, the humour is awkward and not particularly funny.
The actual weredeer transformation is another part that it is hard to take seriously. The image of Anne Broadway with hoof gloves and deer-like makeup looks rather tatty and you can’t be sure whether you are meant to laugh, or it is just a case of cheap filmmaking. Certainly, Andrew Dyson progresses through the various attack scenes with a bloody ferocity – one where Anne Broadway gores assorted people with her hooves and much blood (despite which the white top she is wearing throughout manages not to get a drop of blood on it). The film never really amounts to much and is all over in a surprisingly brief 69 minutes.
