Skinwalkers is a 2006 Canadian horror-action film about werewolves directed by former effects technician James “Jim” Isaac (director of The Horror Show; Jason X and Pig Hunt) from a screenplay by James DeMonaco, Todd Harthan and James Roday.
Prolific Canadian co-producer Don Carmody began his career working on David Cronenberg movies such as Shivers and Rabid.
Jason Behr (The Tattooist), Elias Koteas (Crash; Let Me In), Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), Natassia Malthe (Lake Placid; Halloween: Resurrection; Bloodsuckers), Kim Coates (The Amityville Curse; Red Blooded American Girl; The Club), Sarah Carter (Final Destination 2) and Tom Jackson.
Two packs of werewolves, divided by principles, are signalled by the moon of the coming of an ancient prophecy.
Meanwhile, a young boy named Timothy (Matthew Knight) approaches his 13th birthday, unaware this marks the time of his transformation. Timothy has been raised by his grandmother Nana (Barbara Gordon), his mother Rachel (Rhona Mitra), his uncle Jonas (Elias Koteas), his cousin Katherine (Sarah Carter) and Katherine’s boyfriend, Adam (Shawn Roberts).
Rachel and Timothy have been unaware that the rest of the family are “good” werewolves who have guarded Timothy and his secret since birth. They know that Timothy is a “half-blood” who is prophesied to end the curse. But they also know that Timothy’s power will put him in danger, for there are other werewolves that revel and embrace their blood-lust and are bent on finding and killing the boy…
Reviews:
” … briskly paced and features a couple of clever twists on genre conventions before getting bogged down in a lengthy fight sequence during which the lupine adversaries resolve their diametrically opposed ideologies by fang and claw. Surprisingly, the emphasis is more on conventional action than on man-to-wolf metamorphosis effects and the subsequent beastly mayhem.” Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide
“It’s obvious at times that Skinwalkers tries to emulate Kathryn Bigelow’s awesome vampire western Near Dark especially when the evil werewolves patronize a divey redneck bar to snack on would-be rapists but without kickass character actors like Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen onboard, it ain’t the same.” Steve Newton, Ear of Newt
“Purely perfunctory, embarrassingly so, clearly designed solely to advance the plot, every word spoken is devoid of anything resembling personality or humanity. We’ve no empathy for the good guys, no reason to fear the villains, no reason to care even when it tries to introduce a surprise plot twist or two.” Jon Condit, Dread Central
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
Main cast and characters:
- Jason Behr as Varek—Formerly Caleb, Jonas’s brother and Rachel’s husband. Now the leader of the evil werewolves.
- Elias Koteas as Jonas—The Alpha of the pack sworn to protect Timothy, and father of Katherine. Like the others, he keeps himself restrained on the full moon and wants their curse to finally end.
- Rhona Mitra as Rachel Talbot—An assumed widow hard-pressed to cope with her frail son Timothy’s frequent illnesses. She doesn’t know her family and community is made up of werewolves.
- Natassia Malthe as Sonja—The Alpha female in Varek’s pack, and his mate. She was once human, with a seemingly miserable life until changed by Varek. She is very neurotic, completely loyal to Varek, and obsessed with him.
- Kim Coates as Zo—The second in command in Varek’s pack.
- Sarah Carter as Katherine—Jonas’s daughter and, like the rest of the family and friends, a werewolf as well. She has a boyfriend named Adam.
- Tom Jackson as Will
- Matthew Knight as Timothy Talbot—A half-blood, the offspring of Varek and Rachel. He holds the power to end the ‘curse’ of his family and the entire werewolf race along with him.
- Rogue Johnston as Grenier—One of Varek’s henchmen.
- Barbara Gordon as Nana—Timothy’s grandmother.
- Shawn Roberts as Adam—Katherine’s boyfriend, who is also a lycanthrope.
- Lyriq Bent as Doak
- Christine Brubaker as Justine
- Roman Podhora as Ralph
- Wayne Ward as Justine’s Husband
- Scott Anderson as Courtney
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