In the light of the moon, things are never what they seem.
This was a short lived TV show about cop John Kanin (Lou Diamond Phillips of ‘Stargate Universe’, ‘Numb3rs’, ‘The Big Hit’ and ‘The Triangle’) whose girlfriend Ruby (Mia Kirshner) goes missing. He quickly learns she is not who she claimed to be and tracks her to the town of Wolf Lake like an obsessed stalker as annoying music plays.
Wolf Lake is surrounded by a vast wolf filled forest perpetually surrounded in mist. The town itself has a lot of wolf motifs and is populated by weirdoes like the uninterested Sheriff Donner (Tim Matheson) and his spoilt brat daughter Sophia who is into local thug Luke Cates (Paul Wesley of ‘The Vampire Diaries’).
The Sherriff keeps lounge singer Miranda Deveraux (Kallie Waymire of ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’) either in a jail cell or shackled to a piano in a bar. Nothing creepy about that. Kanin meets Ruby’s parents Willard (Bruce McGill) and Vivian (Sharon Lawrence of ’Hidden Palms’) who are the big shots in Wolf Lake. Vivian is banging local drug dealer/big bad Tyler Creed (Scott Bairstow of ‘Killing Mr Griffin’) on the side.
Kanin gets drunk. Luke and other teenagers hang out being morons. There is wholesale ripping off of ‘Twin Peaks’. Kanin is chased and there is chanting about “Survival of the pack.” Yep, the townsfolk are all werewolves. This was bizarre but not as engrossing as ‘Hidden Palms’ which had scandal, suicide and murder. Some towns have all the fun.
Best Lines:
“You could always wait for the maid, course we’d have to hire one first.”
“Did I say I was leaving?”
“What we’ve got here is the enigmatic stranger.”
~
The Changing
A teenager girl is failing to complete her first werewolf transformation. The unimpressive opening credits debut. Kanin rants, he does that a lot. Luke and Sophia discuss transforming into a werewolf, she hasn’t done so yet. There is a creepy hospital and horrible teenage girls discussing transforming while eating an enormous amount of ribs.
Willard Cates is dying. The science teacher is all knowing. Miranda is for once not shackled to something and turns out to be a pill addict. Sophia annoys. Ruby appears. Kanin stumbles across a cemetery where all the dead are teenagers. He also learns about runes. This show has something, it was better than ‘Teen Wolf’ that is for sure.
There is a bizarre scene with slow motion, Willard ponders his successor, Sophia is obnoxious and Ruby looks out a window.
Best Lines:
“Get off this frequency or I’m calling your mother.”
“Went totally ‘Blair Witch’ running through the woods naked screaming her head off.”