Werewolf Game (2025) Review: A Battle Royale Homage

Introduction

Werewolf Game, directed by Jackie Payne and Cara Claymore, emerges from this genre with an intriguing premise inspired by the classic social deduction game. Set to hit streaming platforms on January 21, 2025, this film invites viewers into a nightmarish scenario where twelve strangers are trapped in a deadly game, forced to navigate a maze of suspicion and betrayal. With a cast led by the iconic Tony Todd, the film promises a blend of tension and dram

Yet does it deliver on the thrills and horror fans crave? In this review, we’ll dive into the strengths and weaknesses of “Werewolf Game,” examining whether it successfully blends its influences into a compelling viewing experience, or if it falls short in its execution.

Written by Jackie Payne

Directed by Cara Claymore and Jackie Payne

Review by Mark Walker

Werewolf Game (2025) Review

 
Twelve strangers kidnapped play a death game voting to murder one another nightly. “Werewolves” among them kill “villagers.” Days repeat until one group remains. Adapted from Dimitry Davidoff’s 1986 social deduction party game. (IMDB)

In one of his final appearances, Tony Todd portrays The Judge,  gamesmaster of the deadly Werewolf Game that sees 12 seemingly innocent people kidnapped and forced to fight (literally) for their own survival. The game has them playing as “villagers” as they try to work out which of their number are actually werewolves.

The Judge tells the group three of them will play as werewolves (although it appears to be only two by the end of the film) and that the wolves will kill one villager every night when they are allowed to hunt. Each morning, following the hunt, the remaining villagers vote on who they believe may be a wolf, and that individual is killed.

It’s not entirely clear when the rules suggest the game will end, but the whole premise is much like a mash up of Battle Royale, The Hunt, Cube, The Hunger Games and a dash of Big Brother. The motivation of Welfin, the company behind the game is not revealed to the players at the start and they are left in the dark as to why they have been forced to play the game or how they are expected to play. Cue a tense game of cat and mouse where allegiances are formed and tested as suspicion and rivalries grow.

Werewolf Game sets itself up well. It may not have an original premise, but it involves a sub-genre that I always enjoy, being a big fan of Battle Royale and anything that sees people fighting for their lives in a game where the odds are stacked against them. It also wastes no time getting into the story, with The Judge onscreen almost immediately to explain the rules to his hapless victims.

It’s a blatant exposition scene, but it works well in the confines of the film and provides a convenient introduction to the victims, a range of the kind of stereotypes we would expect to crop up in this sort of movie including the dude, a soldier, a nurse, the quiet girl, the loose woman and the tech guy. This works well as we feel familiar from the off, but also because it is not obvious from the start who may be a suspect, and the film makes sure it keeps the secret of who the Werewolves are until the very end of the film.

But will you care by the time we get to that point?

Yes and no. 

I enjoyed Werewolf Game, but it is no Battle Royale, and I didn’t find myself feeling particularly sympathetic towards any of the characters, so was not entirely invested in who survived or not. That can limit your enjoyment if you have no one to root for, but at least none of the characters was annoying enough to make me want to cheer on the Judge and the mysterious Welfin security team.

With a run time of 97 minutes, Werewolf Game isn’t overly long, but it struggles a bit to keep the pace going and I did find myself drifting a little towards the end. Once we do get to the end and find out what Welfin is up to, it is a bit underwhelming and the “ambiguous” ending felt a bit more confused than clever. 

Ultimately, perhaps, that doesn’t really matter as we aren’t here for that; we are here for the horror! And that was the main problem for me. Most likely a ‘me problem,’ but there was a distinct lack of horror in a film that is from a sub-genre which revels in violence and murder. Very few deaths occur onscreen and the ones that do are subdued and sanitised.

When you have killers dressed in wolf costumes with metal claws and infrared, Predator-like HUDS, you should expect to see the claret flying everywhere, but there is very little blood and guts. So little that The Hunger Games makes it look like a Disney film. I appreciate this probably makes me sounds like a blood-thirsty nut job, but a filmed based around killing, needs to be a little more physical and visceral, but Werewolf Games is very sanitised; a little too nice. Of course this may well be a budget issue, and they probably spent a lot on the wolf costumes which, to be fair, are pretty cool.

The cast are decent enough, with a few not great moments of acting, but the presence of Tony Todd chewing scenery in his limited screen time is worth the price of admission. 

Werewolf Game is a well-constructed low budget romp but, despite the potential for death, destruction, gnawing and tearing of flesh, the film, overall, lacks bite.

Werewolf Game, from the Horror Collective, will be available to stream from 21^st January 2025