Moonchild — Moonchild( Blu Ray & CD)
Moonchild is an SOV dystopian sci-fi film which blends in fairly impressive action scenes, touches of horror, and a few neat man-to-wolf transformations. The mid 90’s film was helmed by prolific low-budget American filmmaker Todd Sheets, and it really is impressive what he managed to milk out of a tinny budget and minimal locations. From the folks at Visual Vengeance, the retro low-budget/ SOV label of Wild Eye Releasing is a Blu-ray & CD release of the film.
Moonchild appeared in the year 1994- it was the 27th film directed by Sheets. In total, the writer/ director has an impressive forty-nine credits to his name- these move from haunted house gorefest Misty Darkness (1986), Sorority sisters conjuring up a demon comedy horror Sorority Babes in the Dance-A-Thon of Death (1991), halfway house horror Fear Of The Dark (2005), and demonic clown comedy horror Clownado(2019).
The film opens with Jacob Stryker (Auggi Alvarez) a pony-tailed, trenchcoat-wearing twenty-something who has just escaped (off camera) from a secret government lab, where his genres have been spliced with that of a wolf. On the hunt after him are a group of government goons- headed up by a gruff 'n' cross goateed man- with an impressive car and pick-up truck, battle/ chase going on.
Jacob escapes- but is quickly caught by the underground resistance headed up by no-nonsense brunette Athena (Kathleen McSweeney). Jacob tells Athena and her rag-tag group of followers that the government still have his eleven-year-old son (Stefan Hilt), so they agree to help- and so their quest begins.
As the film unfolds, we get dusty hand-to-hand fighting, a few more bike and car chases, dodging 'n' battle with a group of cyborg bounty hunters including the nearing OAP Medusa (Carol Barta). Before dropping into the hands of white crime scene suited living underground cannibal collective led up by the shouty Hades (Rod Will). The whole werewolf suggestion in the film’s title/ set-up is somewhat missing leading- yes, we do get two transformations in the film's length, but these are like the other horror elements are slight. The main focus here really feels like an ultra-low budget tribute to the Italian dystopian/ Mad Max rip-offs of the 1980s.
The whole film runs at one hour and twenty-four minutes, and remains relatively pacy/engaging. Cast wise both leads are good enough, though we do get a later love interest between the two with some way too close and lengthy French kissing scenes. The rest of the cast is mostly passable for quite a low-budget fare, with the soundtrack being a blend of dynamic and bombastic synth tracking, and rock ‘n’ metal. If you’re looking for a cheap ‘n’ cheerful example of dystopian sci-fi action, then Moonchild will be your thing, just don’t really expect much of a werewolf/ horror film.
Moving onto this region free Blu-Ray & CD set. And on the Blu ray we, of course, have the film which is given an SD remastering- and this makes the film looks as good as it possibly ever could be SOV. On the new extras, we get two commentary tracks- one with director Todd Sheets and star Auggi Alvarez, and the other with Sheets and Visual Vengeance’s Rob Hauschild. I played the first of these, and it’s a wondering/ chatty track which certainly has its worth. They go from talking about how the lead villain was influenced by Darth Vader and Japanese warriors. We find out much of the film was captured in the west Bottom area of Kansas City, and how the area has now become trendy. Alvarez did his own stunts, they used car headlights for scene lighting, and we find out how they managed to shoot from a few viewpoints to expand the scope of the locations. We get talk about the too-long kiss and find out the film's budget was between $1000 & $500. There are clear onset memories of certain scenes, discussions about locations and more.
Otherwise, on the archive side of things, we have a making of- Wolf Moon Rising ( 31.39), and cast interviews (9.30). Original VHS trailer, Deleted Ending, Music Video by Descension, Short film: Sanguinary Desires.
The second disc is the CD, and this features twelve tracks( which I presume) are all from the film. Sadly, we get no track listing- so I’m not sure what is what, but it’s a fairly entertaining ride. Going from the epic and bombastic synth march of the films lead theme, onto a whole host of amateurish-though largely charming metal( be it power, thrash, or glam) and rock. The lack of track listing doesn’t help one reviewing the disc- but we have to soaring-to-faint growled power metal of track three, with great post-nuke lyrics. There’s track number five, which starts off a little like Metallica’s "Fade To Black" but with bass ‘n’ swagger- before launching into bounding ‘n’ chugging metal craft. Or the highlight to me is track eight with its galloping pace and snapping drums, in the background devil chuckles, and cheesy as hell Christian metal chorus of ‘something you better resists is six hundred, and sixty-six’.
The release is finished off with a mini film poster, a four-page inlay booklet, and an Ltd slip sleeve. In finishing another nicely presented release from the folks at Visual Vengeance- if you’re a fan of micro-budget Sci-fi action- this will most certainly be your thing. I guess it will still appeal to the general SOV fan, but if you're looking for a bit more horror, bite, & crawl you may find this a tad tame.