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There’s nothing more frustrating as a reviewer than watching a brand new film that totally rocks, only to realise that to give anything about it away will possibly dilute all the great stuff. Do you dance around the fact even though you’re dying to let the cat out if the bag, or do you just wade right in and hope that the spoiler warnings you drop are enough to preserve the surprise? Well, to be fair, seeing as the big surprise behind The Cycle was accidently spoiled for me thanks to a casual page turn in a magazine (it’s OK Fangoria, it was totally my fault), I can assure you that even if you have pre-knowledge of the secrets that drives Jordan Downey’s awesomely broody feature, it doesn’t stop the movie from kicking all types of ass.
However, while I feel that this gives me the go ahead to be a little bit spoilerish, if you want to go in blind – which I urge that you do – ditch the review immediately and get on The Cycle ASAP, because it proves to be the unexpected horror mash-up of the year.
The discovery of a mauled mother and daughter prove to be upsetting enough, but while the brutal, amimal-like attack comes with it’s own set of impenetrable mysteries, the real head scratcher here is the discovery of a third body close by that seemingly is unrelated to the frenzied mutilations. While the previous two victims have virtually been torn apart, the third one is in one piece, despite visibly having been dead for far longer, and in an attempt to shed some forensic light on this oddity, crack anthropologist Megan Garland has been summoned to view the remains.
However, there’s another reason why she’s specifically been picked to deal with this bizarre case, and that because the partially preserved mystery corpse is the body of Peter Stump, aka. Megan’s father who ran out on her and her mother 36 years ago. Obviously, the news proves to rock Meg back on her metaphorical heels, but after assuring father and son police duo, Ian and Marks, she gets on with a thorough examination and discovers that along with a whole mess of healed injuries, her father seemingly did himself in by hanging himself somewhere around a month ago. But matters get even more confusing with the addition of Lou Bishop, a disfigured man mauled almost to death the same night Stump left his family; and another violent murder that sees someone else ripped to shreds by an inhuman assailant.
What connects all these threads to a bestial killer – and what’s more, why is Meg somehow in the middle of all this despite not seeing her father since she was four? Is there something abnormal at work here that somehow ties a dead body with a series of mutilations? The answer will have Meg realising that despite being an expert in almost all forms of death, she hasn’t quite seen it all yet…
The Cycle is one of those delicious little films that starts as one film and suddenly switches around the halfway point to become something else entirely, and when you get to that mid-film twist, you’ll see how fitting it is that this movie suddenly chooses to metamorphosize with spectacular results. For the opening half, director Downey sticks mostly to hard facts as he treads the procedural paths previously traveled by films like The Silence Of The Lambs, and the movie dutifully delves the moody and macabre world of forensic science. Using Deborah Ann Woll’s expert in dead bodies as our guide, we not only try to unravel this grisly riddle via some fairly intricate autopsies, but we get a tour of something called a body farm, where the FBI have a compound literally dotted with human corpses in various conditions as to see how the human form decomposes in different environments. It’s grim, but it’s also fascinating as hell, and the knowledge of how the body reacts proves to be key when unlocking this freakish conundrum.
Woll is on top form as the emotionally compromised anthropologist, as her personal and professional life collides and she gradually shifts from studious geek to driven professional as the outlandish facts in the case of her missing father gets more fucked up by the minute. While Downey turns up the brooding atmosphere, the movie evokes André Øvredal’s The Autopsy Of Jane Doe as impossible clues are gleaned from opening Stump’s body up like a tin of beans. Giving appropriately stoic support from the sidelines are Jeffery Donovan and Will Hochman as father and son cops who have enough issues of their own to keep them nicely well rounded. However, the film opts to change things up once we get to the middle point and if you’ve been paying attention, there’s a good chance you might actually guess where The Cycle is going – but even if you do, chances are you won’t be prepared for how deep the film ploughs into its new direction.
Bearing in mind that spoilers are now fully in effect, The Cycle suddenly shifts into creature feature territory as the brooding murder mystery shapeshifts into an aggressive Werewolf flick that ends up easily being the best of its kind for years. Not only does Downey manage to keep that brooding presence alive as the threat escalates, but he even does the genre right by relying solely on practical effects that look legitimately amazing. Giving us the kind of transformation effects bequeathed to us by Rick Barker and Rob Bottin in An American Werewolf In London and The Howling respectively, effects genius Patrick Magee delivers a lycanthrope that resembles the toothy wolf-creatures Steve Johnson gave us in the likes of Fright Night. Frankly, the creature looks magnificent as it rips, tears and rends it’s way through its victims, but while the jump from forensic brooder to throat ripper may seem jarring, but the unraveling history of the beast is suitably tragic enough to stop the smarter aspects of the script from flying off the rails when the monster comes out to play.
While Shudder has another diamond on their hands, I have to say that it’s a shame The Cycle didn’t get something more of a bigger release. Both the mystery and monster aspects of the film do well to elevate each other, with the build-up creating a legitimately creepy puzzle and the creature carnage remembering to stick to the established emotional connection to heighten the drama. Obviously, some who prefer their horror/thrillers to be a bit more singular in vision will find that the central switch might break, rather than make, the overall package, but they’d be missing out on what truly is the best Werewolf movie of the last ten years at least.
A movie that shifts forms both narratively and physically in increasingly satisfying ways, The Cycle excels both in gloomy build up, and savage pay-off. A Werewolf movie that’s both subtle, smart and has the balls to hurl in extensive, old-school, practical effects work too? The Cycle truly proves that what goes around, comes around and I’ll be utterly stunned if you’re not lycan this.
Where to watch The Cycle: