Under no circumstances should you waste your time with this film. Not only is it the worst werewolf film I have ever seen it is arguably the worst film of any genre I have ever seen. I won't waste any more of my time talking about this steaming pile of turd. I'd rather kick my own knees off than watch this again. The disc went straight in the bin as soon as the film finished.

LATE PHASES is another low budget werewolf film that feels a bit like a 'mumblegore' effort. The cast play run-down, depressed and dirty old characters eking out a living in a close-up forest town. Mysterious deaths plague the vicinity and it soon transpires that the culprit is, you guessed it, a were-beast. Sadly I found this film pretty routine and uninteresting. It has a few decent bits of werewolf action and some good transformations for the budget, but the rest of the film singularly lacks suspense and finesse. Tom Noonan plays the priest and is the only actor I recognised.

Puzzled by a series of bizarre animal attacks, a blind war veteran begins to suspect that a werewolf resides in his retirement community in this offbeat take on the horror subgenre. While the film has some unnerving attack scenes and very graphic transformation effects, much of the horror is implied and the film manages to be unsettling with overt horror kept at a minimum. Nick Damici is excellent in the lead role with a world-weariness that reflects the film's title (late phases of life) and yet also a passion for a life that he does not realise himself until the werewolf threat surfaces. Indeed, while the werewolf combat scenes are few and far between, it is the scenes of Damici investigating the mystery, consulting a gun salesman and so on that highlight a newfound zest for life despite his earlier claims that he is ready to die. The film has lots of effective dark humour too, such as the police who dismiss the animal attacks as somewhat expected (!) given how defenseless old people are and do not think twice about them. Damici also does a great job making light of his blindness where possible. For all its virtues, the film falls apart a bit towards the end as the werewolf attacks heighten; the sentimental note that the film ends on also does not quite feel right. There is, however, a lot to like in the idea of a blind person being the best equipped to take on a werewolf with all other senses heightened as a result of not being able to see. The film is blessed with several solid supporting turns too, especially from Ethan Embry as Damici's worried son and Tom Noonan as the local priest.

If you like films such as the original Halloween, this is a good entry in the modern library that respects the classic ideal of horror films rather than a blood-spattered slash-fest. Werewolf movies are far and few between, compared to vampire movies, and this is definitely quite a good entry. In spite of complaints of "B" movie effects I found the fact that you don't actually see the monster till the 3rd act (late in the movie) a plus. Great horror movies rely upon atmosphere, music, and the actors to bring us into the story and this film does a damned good job of bringing us into the story through the main character. I highly recommend this to horror fans that want a suspenseful film that builds to a poignant finish rather than a non-stop slash fest.