Late Phases (2014)★★☆☆☆

So, I originally found this film when I wanted to watch the 1999 movie Memorial Day for the Memorial Day holiday, but unfortunately couldn’t find it streaming ANYWHERE. There were a few places that had the DVD for sale, and I bought it! But I wasn’t sure if it would ship in time…plus there’s another movie by the same name from the same year, and I was a little worried I’d accidentally get THAT movie instead…

Well, I DID get the (correct) movie in time! But I already watched this movie just in case. It came up when I was searching for other Memorial Day horror movies. I don’t think it’s exactly on theme for today (though the main character is a veteran!), but it’ll work. Plus it has Larry Fessenden and Ethan Embry, so it seemed somewhat promising? And it’s available on streaming platforms.

…Too bad this is NOT a good movie, despite seeming promising. (Small spoilers ahead) Look, it starts by killing the dog. The seeing-eye dog of the blind veteran. And it goes downhill from there. The werewolf is too grotesque to be scary, the dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, and this movie feels SLOW.

I mostly believed the father-son chemistry between Nick Damici and Ethan Embry, but that’s about the only thing I believed. Actually, Nick Damici as Ambrose McKinley was the best and most believable part of this whole movie. But he couldn’t turn this around into something good.

Larry Fessenden makes an appearance looking as disheveled as always. I have to imagine he wakes up like that. I didn’t really recognize anyone else, or care about any of the characters at all.

And ultimately, this is just a werewolf story. It doesn’t add anything original to the concept, it’s not scary (but it IS gory), and it’s not all that entertaining. There are wayyyyy better werewolf movies out there. I’d suggest checking out Ginger Snaps instead, which DOES have an interesting take on the concept, AND has Katharine Isabelle!