Review #16: The Werewolf Cult Chronicles: Vietnam 1969 (2005) - Short film

Though technically a sequel, I don't believe this has too much to do with the first film (which is 2003's Chimera), so I don't feel my viewing will be affected by that. An interesting movie, I do wish the plot was a bit less convoluted. Still, there are worse ways to spend 20 minutes.

Source: YouTube

Length: 20 minutes

Number of Ratings from IMDb: 55

Country of Origin: Sweden

Director: Ola Paulakoski [The Werewolf Cult Chronicles: Vietnam 1969]

This takes place (obviously) during the Vietnam War, in 1969, and the story occurs northeast of Hanoi (which was the capital of North Vietnam). Three military men (Sergeant Jones, Private Maddox, and Private Turner) are on a secret mission. 

From left to right: Jones, Turner, and Maddox

The mission - to capture Hiep Thi Lee. Jones explains his experience with Hiep Thi Lee to his men. Enter flashback mode: Two years prior, Jones was on a "deep undercover, classified mission." He explains to Maddox and Turner that while he was "green," and "straight out of the world," he knew enough to be wary of CIA-related missions, commenting that it was likely to be a one-way ticket.

He gets into a dispute with Thi Lee - she believes she heard Chinese troops nearby, yet when Stone went to look around the area, he found nothing. Disregarding a suggestion by Stone (seen below, in the center) to check herself, she then asks both men what they know about "the Cult."

Confused by her question, they want to know what Lee is referring too. She replies with the quote:

Lee: Your senior officers put me on this mission to test me, and to give you guys a lesson.

Before anymore can be said, soldiers come into the room from both the door and behind Lee.

Jones says that they then got into battle with Chinese troops, and in the skirmish, Stone got killed.

I doubt Jones' mentioned this to his men.

Jones got away, and was told that Lee had double-crossed them. Turner is dismayed to learn that their target is a former CIA agent.

They move out and locate the house they believe the target to be stationed it. Jones and Turner move to take the target out, while Maddox covers them.

As they're moving out, they fail to notice they are being watched by something else.

Separated from the others, Jones gets hunted down and killed by what appears to be a werewolf.

Morning arrives. Maddox and Turner come upon the remains of Jones, to their disgust.

Grabbing Jones' weapon and bag, carrying relevant documents regarding the mission, they move away to a hopefully safer location. When they next stop, Turner demands that Maddox get out of the documents so they can read the classified information.

The documents expand on the flashback told by Jones, who left some information out when he was telling his men the former night. Things get a bit murky here, as I cannot make out all the words Lee says, due to her strong accent. Apparently, there is a "wolf cult," and someone stole the files from a general and gave them to Stone. Jones rebuffs this, claiming that he saw the files, but did not steal them, and hence, did not give them to Stone. This may be accurate, as Stone is seemingly confused by this whole conversation.

After Stone tells Lee to shut up, she turns into a werewolf (3-D style) and kills him.

Back in the present, Turner expresses disbelief at this document, to which Maddox states that while it's unclassified, it seems to be a legit report. After a minor outburst from Turner, Maddox reads on.

Reading from the notes, Maddox tells turner that a werewolf cult was founded back in the 16th century.  We are then blessed with another flashback, only this one in the same 3-D animation seen a bit earlier.

A group of cloaked men, from what I can tell, raise a demon for some reason or another, yet he does not obey the men - he turns all of them into werewolves, and gives them eternal life, so they are trapped in his (the Demon's) nightmare.

Angered that Jones tricked them, Maddox wants to try to kill Lee, but Turner thinks the best course of action would be to go to the rendezvous point. After picking the longer twig, Turner's plan wins out, and they head out, the wolf still alive, to the rendezvous point. Whether or not both of them make it is a different question, however.

This short strikes me as the type of film that could have been better if the story was more fleshed out. What, for instance, is the connection between Lee and the werewolf cult. Was she an original member of the cult? Did she just work for them, and turned into a werewolf later? We don't know, and the movie doesn't say.

Though this is sandwiched between two films (Chimera from 2003 and The Werewolf Cult Chronicles: Monsters of the Purple Twilight from 2005), there are actually many more stories in the series than what has been released. The Swedish Wikipedia page for the series has some interesting information, which I'll link here, which you can translate the text to if you wish to read it. The three completed films' plots can be read from this page.

Another thing to add is the actors - I don't have much problem with any of the actors aside from the man who played Turner. It's not even so much his acting - it's his accent. On IMDb, it says that this short was filmed in English, but I cannot help but listen to Turner speak and immediately assume it was dubbed. His accent is atrocious, and really detracts from his character in my point of view.

Aside from that, though, I didn't have much problem with this. I do wish the story was a little more clear-cut, but for what it was, I feel it was impressive. The 3-D animation left a little to be desired, but as much as I make fun of it, it is somewhat impressive in it's own right.

Apparently, there are still plans to film more stories in the Werewolf Cult Chronicles series, and I support them in doing so. While low quality, it's refreshing to see people dedicated to making a new horror series for fans to enjoy. I wish them luck in their endeavors, and while I wouldn't really recommend this film unless it was for a drunken party setting, I do feel they have the ability to, if they so wish, to produce some riveting shorts in this series.

My rating: 5.5/10

IMDb page 

-Michael