User Reviews

FULL ECLIPSE is an unusual and offbeat type of werewolf movie. It's a bit different from other films of its genre in that the werewolves are depicted as performing a socially useful function- ridding society of criminals. This is certainly not something one would expect from lycans (as they prefer to be called). But in this instance the werewolves are police officers in a special squad of the Los Angeles Police Department. The squad, referred to as the Pack, is run by Detective Adam Garou. He is played by Bruce Payne, who is one of the finest actors around. Even though he plays to type in most of his roles, as the sinister but suave villain, he never fails to create an uneasy feeling in the viewer. He is very good at his craft and he delivers a sterling performance here. The good guy cop is Detective Max Dire, played by Mario Van Peebles. He is a troubled Officer, trying to deal simultaneously with the aftermath of seeing his partner shot and critically wounded during a police raid on a criminal's hangout and having marital problems at home. He is referred to the Department's police crisis counselor and we see that it is Detective Garou. For those familiar with the werewolf legend in Western Europe, this name holds significance. I caught it right away. The medieval French term for a werewolf is loup-garou, so I knew immediately what Bruce Payne's character really was. Garou invites Dire into his home, ostensibly to involve him in group therapy with a small group of other troubled police officers. But Garou's real motive is to recruit Dire into the Pack and have him become a werewolf, too. This is all being done with a clear purpose in mind. In their werewolf state, the Pack goes after the criminal parasites who prey on society and dispatches them in the style werewolves are famous for. No Miranda Warnings needed here. It's DIRTY HARRY MEETS THE HOWLING! Garou asks Officer Casey Spencer(PATSY KENSIT) to help "recruit" Dire. There's an obvious physical attraction between them and before too long, they're emotionally involved with each other. In a scene which I found unsettling yet tantalizing, the two of them are at the Los Angeles Zoo, sitting in front of the wolf cage. The white wolf in the cage looks at Kensit in a way that suggests he sees her as kin. Kensit is seen talking to a reluctant Van Peebles in a soft and seductive manner about joining the Pack and then she gives him an erotic lick on the mouth. Detective Dire isn't exactly sure just what he's dealing with here, but he knows there's something about this group that isn't kosher. His suspicions were aroused earlier when his partner, who had been mortally wounded, suddenly reappears looking fit, hale, hearty and none the worse for his ordeal. In a prelude of what will later become more apparent, someone had entered the wounded Officer's hospital room and injected a golden brown liquid into his IV drip. Next thing you know, the Officer is back in the saddle chasing down the bad guys like Superman. He can leap great distances and run like a gazelle. Nothing seems to faze him and he is seemingly impervious to harm. And then one day he shows up at one of the local police watering holes where his partner Dire is and blows his brains out right in front of him. Turns out the slug he used was fashioned from a silver dollar he carried for luck. And we all know what silver does to a werewolf. Anyway, Dire and Spencer wind up making love and while he's taking her from behind, we see her sprout fangs and claws and growl in ecstasy. She then explains to Dire that the members of the Pack are able to transform themselves into lupine entities by injecting a serum provided by Garou. She tries to convince him to try it. But Dire wants no part of this and starts to leave. She then shoots him and he falls to the floor, mortally wounded with a bullet in his chest. She then administers the serum to him and it miraculously cures the gunshot wound and "reorders" his internal composition. As it turns out, the serum is Garou's own brain fluid which he extracts with a hypodermic needle and then transfers into quick-shot dispensers. I'm not sure, but I think the FDA might have some issues with that. He then joins her on a two-cop raid against a heavily fortified local drug factory. They shoot up again, turn into fanged crusaders, rip down the protective steel barrier and proceed to turn the pharmaceutical entrepreneurs into hamburger meat. When Garou finds out that she had sex with Dire, he goes ballistic, sprouts fangs and rapes her to teach her a lesson about messin' with the new guy. This sets the stage for the usual macho duelling between two guys who are into the same babe- figuratively and literally. We know it's going to wind up in a fight to the death because Los Angeles isn't big enough for two good-looking werewolf dudes. When the fight to the death occurs, it happens during a full lunar eclipse. Garou is shot in the chest with a silver bullet- not by Dire, but by one of the female members of the Pack. He falls down and we think that's the end of him. But, in Michael Myers fashion, he suddenly gets up and plucks the bullet out of his chest. Hey wait- that's not supposed to happen. We all know that silver can kill a werewolf. Ah- but there's one exception apparently. Seems that a full lunar eclipse protects a werewolf against everything- including silver. Uh oh. Here comes Garou and now he's really pissed. He turns into the biggest werewolf I have ever seen- all fur and fangs and claws. He's like the title character in GRIZZLY. He chases Dire and they fight some more. It looks like he's got the upper hand(or paw) but suddenly the eclipse starts to wane as the Earth's shadow moves off the Moon. Now Garou is no longer protected and he falls off a raised container box that he and Dire had been fighting on. He has now reverted to his human form and we see that he has been mortally injured. He also looks a whole lot older- a sure sign that he's dying. We don't know exactly what does him in-whether it was the residual effect of being shot with silver that could now do its job with the eclipse having passed or whether some silver object pierced his body when he fell off the container. He is covered in blood though and as he lays dying, he makes an entreaty to Dire to carry on his work eradicating criminals lycan style. Dire touches his finger to Garou's blood and we wait to see if he will put it in his mouth. I won't give away the ending here except to say that it's more than a little unnerving. I liked this movie quite a lot and I'll give it an 8 out of 10.

Max Dire (Van Peebles) is one of the best and bravest officers on the LAPD. You might even say he has a talent for getting out of DIRE situations with MAXIMUM firepower (see, that's why they pay us the big bucks, heh heh). Because of his stellar track record as a crimefighter on the mean streets, he attracts the attention of Adam Garou (Payne), a mysterious man who wants Max to join his gang of underground vigilantes to clean up the streets in their own way. They even use a mysterious drug to give them superhuman powers. At first, Max is reluctant, but the clever Adam has Casey Spencer (Kensit) seduce Max onto his squad. The conflicted Max tries to make the best of the team of unkillable vigilante werewolves (how often do you get to say that phrase?), but in the end must face his demons on his own terms. Can he do it before the FULL ECLIPSE? We thoroughly enjoyed Full Eclipse. It's a lot of fun, and delivers everything you want. There's a lot to love and appreciate about this movie - not only is it a solid action movie in its own right, but it puts a nice spin on the cop/action drama. It even puts a spin on the vigilante movie, which we especially liked, because we love those, generally speaking, and if you add in werewolves, it's hard to lose. Another plus was the use of real, practical effects, no CGI garbage. And the great cast ties it all together, along with the fast-paced direction of Hickox.

Mario Van Peebles was terrific as Dire: not only is he a quality 90's coolguy with his ever-changing beard stubble, loose ties and sunglasses, but you can feel his conflict as it relates to the unfolding werewolf situation. On top of that, he shines in the action sequences, as he fires two guns while diving through the air in slow motion, in true John Woo style. The opening "punks take over the dance club" sequence was indeed a movie highlight. Fan favorite Bruce Payne matches him, giving a totally committed performance. Sadly, only fans like us (and by us I mean not just US, but you reading this as well) will appreciate this - Payne receives no awards, never gets to chat on the late night shows, but is far more competent than many that do.

The whole thing is classic 90's; just the type of thing you'd see on the pay-cable channels or in the video stores of the day. So while this even has a dash of the then-current "homie movie" (there is a drive-by shooting and Van Peebles has a tendency to say "yo yo yo"), Full Eclipse, in general, is a cut above the average DTV film, in our opinion. The only bad thing is that this was a point in time when annoying pop-culture references were starting to pop up in characters' dialogue.

But the 80's weren't that far behind, as you know that Dire's partner, who says he's "getting married", is "too old", and is nervous and complaining a lot, that he's not long for this world. Full Eclipse, in general, is the next logical step up from Wolfen (1981), and the outing in general is never dull. It sports a killer concept, and a nice execution that lives up to it. We recommend it.

Mario Van Peebles is one of those underrated actors who should know better than to take this silly werewolf movie as a project. Van Peebles is Max, a heroic L. A. cop. In the first five minutes of the film, we see Max's partner talk about his impending nuptials and retirement. That's right, just paint a target on his head as they go to a dangerous hostage situation. After Max's partner is shot, the fiance and Max grieve at his bedside. They did not stick around long enough, as someone comes in and injects what looks like iced tea into his drip tube. Suddenly, Max's partner is back at work and feeling great. Plothole: why didn't anyone take notice of this miraculous recovery at the hospital? Anyway, soon the rejuvenated partner is jumping over fences, getting shot again, and living through it all with nary a scratch. Those old detective instincts kick in as Max gets suspicious. Max's partner goes to the local watering hole and shoots himself in the head in front of all of his friends. Max goes to the partner's house, where he notices some books about werewolves, and that his partner melted down a lucky silver dollar in order to make the bullet that killed him. Those old detective instincts kick in as Max gets suspicious. Max is also having marital problems, and a police counselor calls him in. Detective Garou (Bruce Payne) invites Max to his gothic apartment where he meets a group of troubled cops called the Pack. They take Max on a raid, where they inject themselves with the same iced tea substance, attack a gun dealers' party, turn into monsters, and kill everyone in sight. Those old detective instincts kick in as Max gets suspicious. Max is drawn to troubled cop Casey (Patsy Kensit) and they eventually, uh, "assume the position." During the act, she makes some growling noises and grows canine teeth- something not a lot of women are capable of doing, I don't care how good looking Mario Van Peebles is. Casey then shoots Max. She injects him with the iced tea, and he heals from his sucking chest wound in record time. They then raid a drug lab, and kill everyone in sight. Those old detective instincts kick in as Max finally realizes something is up. To make a long story shorter, Garou is not your average werewolf. He has been around for a few hundred years forming these renegade cop Packs to clean up the streets. He is a werewolf who can control his changes, and he is giving everyone in the Pack the serum to turn them into werewolves as well. As we learn, the innocuous iced tea everyone is injecting themselves with is actually fluid out of Garou's very own noggin. Max gets a conscience, and decides to defeat Garou in another bullet riddled climax, complete with the old "thank goodness the villain is dead, everyone relax...no, wait, he is alive!" routine. The ambiguous ending flies in the face of everything we think we know about Max, and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Van Peebles is too smart to play such a dumb character. We figure out the werewolf angle immediately, especially if you look at the video box or movie poster, but Max does not quite get it until almost an hour into the film. Payne is fine, he just plays the same suave villain he has played before. Kensit is wasted, her death scene is so glossed over, I had to rewind to make sure she died. The unrated version is extra violent, leaving nothing to the viewers' imagination. There are more men flying through the air with guns in both hands than a John Woo film festival. Some of the actions scenes impress, but the anger behind them gets tedious. I can just picture the pitch that got this film made: "He's a cop- and a werewolf!" Sadly, someone forgot to fill in the gaping plot holes the film makers left in their speed to get this done. I cannot recommend "Full Eclipse."

As someone else had previously pointed out, the 1993 action-horror film "Full Eclipse" plays out a lot like a mad combination of "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "The Howling" (1981), mixed in with the feeling of a gore-filled superhero/horror comic book. The plot to "Full Eclipse" is probably one of those stories that comes up out of a 10-second brainstorming session and the filmmakers just run with it; these end up being some of the best films ever released, so that's not a jab at Hollywood brainstorming. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half the films that came out of Hollywood in the '80s and early '90s probably started out in such a fashion.

"Full Eclipse" is a movie that begins like an ultra-violent cops & robbers action flick, and ends as a gore-filled, special effects-laden comic book-styled horror film - although it's an admittedly high concept for a low-budget, made-for-TV film directed by Anthony Hickox ("Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth").

In Los Angeles, violent crime is out of control and the streets aren't safe. Detective Max Dire (Mario Van Peebles) and his partner Jim Sheldon (Anthony John Denison) are out patrolling one night when they get a call about a hostage situation out at a downtown night club. To make long stories short, Max and Jim go in without a S. W. A. T. team back-up and Jim is critically wounded during the ensuing gun battle.

You would think that at this point the movie would be about Max going out to get revenge or being partnered up with a young inexperienced rookie - a la, "Lethal Weapon" - but the movie is only just beginning. Jim mysteriously makes a miraculous, full recovery and he and his old partner Max are back out on the streets fighting crime. Except that Max suspects that something is different about Jim and he's right, especially since bullets don't faze him and he's able to perform seemingly superhuman feats like being able to run like the wind through the streets and surviving a motorcycle crash head-on and without a scratch.

But unexpectedly, Jim takes his own life. Max, who is already going through a crumbling marriage, is then placed in a support group for troubled police officers. The group is run by a highly decorated veteran detective named Adam Garou (all-purpose villain Bruce Payne). It turns out that Garou secretly runs a rogue squad of vigilante police officers who go out at night and exact their own form of justice on the streets.

This is where the horror elements kick in. Garou has developed a serum that gives subjects superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes, and damn-near invincibility - in order to put them on an even playing field against violent, drug-addled criminals. In other words, Garou is actually a werewolf, and he has his right-hand woman Casey Spencer (Patsy Kensit, Mel Gibson's ill-fated love interest in "Lethal Weapon 2") seduce Max into joining their pack as its newest member.

"Full Eclipse" has an interesting story concept behind it, and for a low-budget made-for-TV (HBO) movie from the early '90s, it's carried out quite competently - given its financial limitations and lack of real star power, aside from Mario Van Peebles. Admittedly, the "Lethal Weapon"-/"Dirty Harry"-inspired opening moments really do fool you into thinking it's going to be another cheap action film, and then the horror elements unexpectedly kick in and the film takes on a new dimension while still retaining a running cops & robbers theme.

The performances aren't bad (Bruce Payne seems to be having the most fun here, even if he seems to be hamming it up a bit), and the special effects, make-up, and gore are quite impressive - the latter of which was reportedly toned down somewhat so the film could get an "R" rating (this review is based on the restored unrated version of the film). The werewolf transformation sequences are nowhere near the strength of "The Howling" or that other big werewolf movie from 1981, the landmark horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London," but the make-up employed to realize them seems like something straight out of an "X-Men" comic book. (In fact, the whole story feels like it could be a gore-filled horror comic book series.)

"Full Eclipse" is an impressively realized horror film, even if it falters in several aspects of its story and performances, but its high-concept - albeit comic book - premise, and special effects give it an edge for being a low-budget made-for-TV film.

I wish more low-budget movies like this came out in the early 1990s.

6/10.

Mario Van Peeples is a cool cat, and he's been in a couple of really cool movies. I love Posse, for instance, but in my opinion his best role is probably as Max in Full Eclipse. This is an underrated, superhero-inspired dark action flick about a secret police task force who are really werewolves. I call them "Team Wolverine", because, well, they're like a team of Wolverines! Max is the promising rookie cop who gets inducted into this task force (without being made a werewolf - at first), among other things by being seduced by the delectable Patsy Kensit, whose role here is also one of her very best.

This movie's got style and coolness oozing out of every orifice. Stylistically, it is brilliant. Lots of cool scenes, cool lines and situations that are just outrageous enough to be very cool and very funny at the same time. As when the team returns to the police station with torn, smoking uniforms and the steering wheel of their van, demanding of the receptionist, "We need a new vehicle". These are some dad-burned cool mudderfokkers!! Of course, the movie is not for everyone. It's a B-movie, sure. I understand why some people would find it silly, or even bad. But it's got a style all its own, and I love it.

9 out of 10.

I made a commitment over the Summer to try and binge watch as many werewolf films as I can. Some of them were great, some of them were good...Most of them were bad. Going into Full Eclipse, an HBO Original Movie from the early 90s that hardly anyone seems to remember, my expectations were staggeringly low. Thankfully, I'm here to tell you that Full Eclipse has no right being as good as it turned out. While it does suffer from several cons common of Made-For-TV movies, the film's developed characters, interesting themes, strong performances and (At moments) genuine suspense make it well worth a watch for fans of the werewolf movie genre.

Much like the previously reviewed Spawn (Which I also loved), the most glaring and distracting issue with Full Eclipse is the special effects. However, while Spawn suffered from laughable CGI, Full Eclipse suffers from laughable practical effects. Whoever thought that werewolves with Wolverine-esque bone claws was a cool idea seriously needed to take a long time back at the drawing board. They're goofy, distracting, unconvincing and constantly make me think of the X-Men rather than The Wolf Man whenever they show up. The film also suffers from a pretty lackluster transformation sequence. If you go to werewolf films specifically to watch a memorable, frightening and realistic transformation from man-to-werewolf, you're not going to find that here. The budget just simply didn't allow for very convincing or effective practical effects.

What really saves Full Eclipse and elevates it to the upper tier of werewolf films is the acting. Bruce Payne completely steals the show here playing one of the most underrated villains of the 90s. Payne has such a natural charisma, charm and likability as Officer Adam Garou that for the first 2 acts, he genuinely had me on his side. He's the kind of villain I both sympathized with and had difficulty rooting for the hero to overcome. Payne's helped by some great character writing that keeps his seemingly generous and selfless, while also making him an intimidating threat. It's not until the 3rd act hits and we see the massive ego and power trip this character is on that he truly becomes a monster worth our hatred. Payne plays that revelation frighteningly, while never seeming like a different character from the idealistic, security obsessed Police Officer we were tricked into loving in the beginning. To Garou, the dashing hero he was in the first 2 acts wasn't a ruse. It's the rest of the world who doesn't understand his efficiency and isn't strong enough to handle his ethics. This kind of sympathetic, relatable villain was rare in action films of the 90s and what Payne pulls off with him is rather impressive.

While Payne is easily the best performance in the film, Mario Van Peebles is an excellent lead and I really found myself gravitating towards the character of Officer Max Dire. Peebles does an excellent job portraying a deeply confused and lost soul overwhelmed by a feeling of complete and total powerlessness. Powerlessness in his crumbling, failing marriage, powerlessness in an increasingly dangerous job, powerlessness keeping his fellow officers safe and powerlessness to his best friend's recent suicide. After the tragic death of his friend and partner, the realization sets in that the increased stress and hardship of his life as an L.A cop could very well mean that he's the next one to swallow the bullet. Peebles has a real wide eyed fascination to the world of possibilities, power and purpose that Adam Garou offers him, his impassioned delivery and subtle facial acting really invest me in the journey of a cop trying to re-discover his purpose in a time of existential crisis.

This brings me to another point of praise for the film, how unpredictable it is. The character arcs of both Garou and Dire manage to avoid the various cliches that plague both werewolf films and cop films while still feeling natural and logical. They act like actual characters rather than stock archetypes in a cop or werewolf film. The film is surprisingly inventive in terms of subverting the cliches of its genres and I wasn't easily predicting plot points left and right like I thought I would be doing. Genuine effort was put into the characterizations of this movie.

Thematically, the film has a lot more depth than one might expect for a movie about werewolf policemen. Full Eclipse does a wonderful job commentating on the seduction and superficial appeal of fascism, the kind of emotional and mental state that would allow someone to accept such a blatantly corrupt and unethical authoritative police state. Compliance to that level of absolute power is a very slow and steady progression of acceptance and the film really makes an effort to show just how easily any of us could find ourselves in Dire's subservient and complicit position to brutal authority if any of us were in his position.

Credit should also be given to the action of this film. It's wonderfully bombastic, inventive and electrifying, allowing for some very creative and enjoyable over-the-top sequences straight out of a 90s John Woo film. Those who appreciated the hyper-stylization of the action in Face/Off are very likely to enjoy the action showcased here. The appeal of the spectacle is several degrees more than what you'd expect from such a small production.

The miniscule budget and resources of Full Eclipse hold it back from its full potential, but this is still a highly entertaining and surprisingly smart werewolf film with some outstanding performances. Come for the premise, stay for the acting.