Wimpy Derek Cowley (the likable Trevor Duke), his scrappy tomboy best friend Samantha "Sam" Marche (an appealingly spunky performance by Kimberly J. Brown), and four of Derek's obnoxious college classmates go to a remote cabin in the woods owned by Derek's stepfather to party hearty. Things go sour when a vicious werewolf shows up and kills everyone except for Derek and Sam. Derek suspects that the werewolf is really his mean, jerky, abusive step dad Mitchel Toblat (excellently played to the sneering hateful hilt by Richard Tyson). Derek, Sam, and Derek's uncle Charle (the solid Christopher Shyer) all join forces to try to figure out a way to stop Toblat before he kills again. Writer/director Lance W. Dreesen offers a fresh and novel spin on the standard werewolf premise by cleverly blending the more horrific elements with a surprisingly potent and touching domestic drama. The main characters are unexpectedly engaging (Sam in particular is simply awesome, thanks mainly to Brown's winningly sparky portrayal of her), the acting overall acceptable, and the story unfolds at a constant steady pace. Popping up in nice cameos are Clint Howard as grubby hick Fulton Chaney and David Naughton as friendly Sheriff Joe Ruben. The nasty, hulking, wisecracking werewolf makes for a ferocious and frightening monster: the savage beast rips off heads, tears people to pieces, rapes women, and even brutally castrates one poor guy (ouch!). Dana Nu's spooky'n'shuddery score, Stephen Crawford's bright, polished cinematography, and the funky special effects are all uniformly up to par. Moreover, we even get plenty of unflinchingly graphic gore, a pleasing amount of tasty female nudity, a wickedly funny sense of pitch-black twisted humor, and even some soft-core sex. A nifty little sleeper.