Skinwalkers (2006)

TOPICS:

Posted By: brian@brianschell.com April 5, 2023

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This one focuses on the action while keeping the horror elements simmering in the background. It’s well-acted, moves well, and the effects are good. The story is a little predictable, but it’s still entertaining.

Synopsis

“A war has been raging between those who want the curse to end and those who embrace the powers of the beast. According to legend, a thirteen-year-old boy will bring an end to all Skinwalkers.”

A man runs through the forest, encountering dead bodies along the way. He sees how close the pursuer is and tries to burn his map. He’s soon captured and awakens, hanging upside-down, surrounded by four people. They have his map, and the woman says that they will track down the other camps and kill the boy. “It’s already begun,” says the hanging man before they kill him. “We find this boy, or it’s the end of us,” she demands.

Somewhere else, a group smiles that there are only four more days. They go into the basement and three of them get put into very elaborate restraints. The power goes out, so the only free man goes back up to check it out. He dies, and the other hunters come downstairs to interrogate the three who are already restrained. “Where is the child?” Varek is the leader of the hunters, and Sonja is worried that they’ll soon be plain humans again.

Elsewhere Will and Rachel take care of young Tim, who’s having a seizure. Tim has premonitions, and his mother shows him the red moon outside. Will says that the moon is exerting more and more power, and Tim will probably get worse before it’s over. Rachel tells Jonas that she and Tim need to leave the group soon. Jonas’s dead brother is Tim’s father.

Rachel drives into town, and everyone asks if Tim’s doing better. She thinks it’s crazy that everyone in the town knows their business. Meanwhile, Varek and his gang load up and head to town as well along with their pet hawk.

Tim and Nana are shopping in town, and the hawk spots them first. Nana spots Varek and looks stunned. The old lady pulls out a big pistol and Varek shoots her. The mailman pulls out a shotgun. The shopkeeper pulls out a shotgun. Everyone in town is armed, but they’re all really lousy shots. Most of the good-guy characters jump in a truck and drive off, leaving badass granny Nana behind. She’s extremely bullet resistant.

Jonah relates the werewolf stuff to Rachel about Tim. It’s going to happen in three days. “We’re cursed. We kept you in the dark all these years for his own safety.” He tells Tim that they’re all werewolves.

That night, the truck continues on with all the skinwalkers in restraints in the back. Will, an old Native American explains, “My people have been taking care of these people for a long time.” Rachel watches them all turn, so she believes the whole story now. In the morning, Will releases all of them once they revert to human form.

Tim passes out, so the group takes him to the hospital. The nurse says Tim has a very unusual blood type. Tim says “We need to leave.” Yes, the bad-wolves are already in the building. Sonja goes into the room with Tim and Rachel and attacks them. There’s another gun battle as fewer of the good wolves make it back to the truck. Varek calls Jonas, “Brother,” a surprise we saw coming a mile away. Rachel sees that Varek is her former husband—and Tim’s father. Varek didn’t realize Tim was his son, but that doesn’t stop him from taking Katherine, Jonas’s daughter, as a hostage.

A bit later, Jonas tells Rachel that he thought Caleb, or Varek as he’s known today, was dead. The good guys go into a bunch of caves to hide. The good wolves go back into the restraints in the truck for safety as one more red moon passes over.

The next morning, Jonas figures out that son-in-law Adam has gone after Katherine, alone. He finds her and brings her back. Why would they let her go so easily? She says Varek stood up for her and let her live, but she doesn’t remember all of it.

Night falls, and Katherine starts acting strangely as the others get into restraints. She kills Will, and she’s going to kill Adam and Jonas. She’s turned bad. Adam’s got a gun, but he won’t shoot her; she has no trouble shooting him. Jonas tries to talk her into fighting the hunger. Jonas is finally able to reach his gun and shoots her.

The truck runs off the road as the three remaining biker wolves approach. “We only have to make it till midnight,” Jonas explains to Rachel and Tim as they walk to a nearby farm. Jonas locks them inside a steel barn and goes outside to fight.

Jonas and Varek fight in werewolf form while Sonja goes after Rachel and Tim. Sonja loses pretty quickly, but then Varek and Rachel have a staring contest—they used to be married. He slashes her before Jonas returns to continue the battle. Jonas can only win by biting Varek, which immediately turns him evil.

Rachel shoots Jonas several times. Varek gets up, not dead at all. The clock strikes midnight, and the moon gets bright red. Varek bites Timmy, and the bite makes Varek sick. The moon turns white, and now Rachel, Tim, and Varek/Caleb are a family again. Tim’s blood is the cure for the werewolf curse.

Commentary

The idea of a civil war among werewolves is cool. The acting is good, and the action scenes and special effects are good. The story doesn’t really hold many surprises, though. If Tim’s blood is the cure for werewolfism, then why wait for that one particular night when he was born with that blood?

We never really see anyone transform into a werewolf, but the makeup effects are pretty good for the wolves we see. Still, they could have put in a transformation scene, since that’s usually the main thing in a werewolf film.

It’s well made, never gets boring, and looks good, but the story is completely predictable.