HIGH MOON (2018)
Shot under the title Howlers, High Moon is one of those films you go into knowing in not to take overly seriously. I mean, with a plot that involves Old Western outlaws who are actually werewolves and the cowboy hunting them being resurrected in the modern day, it’s obviously not a straight-up creature feature. Did I mention there’s also a ninja?
Colt (Chad Michael Collins, Sniper: Ultimate Kill, Assailant) is tracking Willie Price (Tom Zembrod, Knucklebones, Silhouette) and his band of outlaws. Their crimes include killing Colt’s wife. He’s about to settle things with them when the sheriff and his men show up. Western clichés turn into something very different as the outlaws transform into werewolves and slaughter the lawmen. Colt vanquishes them with an array of silver weapons. He buries them and then is killed, at his own request, by a ninja.
High Moon then picks up in the modern-day when a flash flood unearths the bodies. Somehow, this resurrects all of them. The gang proceeds to slaughter a biker gang while Colt is rescued by Lucy Andrews (Chelsea Edmundson, Daylight’s End, 14 Cameras). The stage is set for a rematch. But can Colt prevail in a town caught between cynical Sheriff Hardy (Matthew Tompkins, Doom Room) and corrupt Mayor Barlow (Sean Patrick Flanery, Lasso, Hunter’s Moon) who’s sleeping with the sheriff’s wife (Grace Montie, Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich)?
Writer/director Josh Ridgway (The Sector) never lets High Moon become overly serious, but doesn’t play it as a comedy either. The result is a fast-paced, bloody film that will keep you entertained even if it isn’t overly scary. There are plenty of killing and loads of blood and body parts. A bit too much of the blood is CGI, but thankfully not all of it. The werewolf effects are good enough but hardly elaborate. But considering it had a budget of under $400,000, (for some reason IMDB claims it was $6,400,000), that’s to be expected.
There are all manner of little bits that help make High Moon so much fun. From the motorcycle riding lycanthropes, (there are more scenes of them riding than in Werewolves On Wheels), to some of the interplay between Colt and Hardy. Two very similar men a couple of hundred years apart. And did I mention there’s a ninja?
High Moon is available on streaming and VOD from Archstone Distribution. You can get more information on its website
Hey Jim! Thanks very much for reviewing our film HIGH MOON! We are glad that you enjoyed our fun little action-horror-western film. Just a note – this was an indie production all the way, with a budget of under $400,000. Boy do we wish we had $6.5 million to play with! But that wasn’t the case, despite what some yahoo on IMDB entered as the budget (which we keep fighting for accuracies’ sake, but to no avail).
Hopefully, this point in the review can be amended if and when you have the time. But until then, we thank you for watching and your support!
All the best,
The HIGH MOON Producing Team 🤠
No problem, it’s been fixed 🙂
Much obliged, partner! We appreciate you!
Also, if you or anyone on your staff would like to interview one of our talent – Chad Michael Collins, Chelsea Edmundson, Writer/Director Josh Ridgway – we’d be happy to connect you! Drop a line to info@highmoonthemovie.com if so!