THE CYCLE (2026)

The Cycle puts some bite back into the werewolf movie, with director Jordan Downey delivering an engaging and ominous crime horror featuring howling-good practical effects.

When talking about the best werewolf movies, so too must the discussion include the best practical effects work in horror. Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London. Rob Bottin in The Howling. Steve Johnson on Bad Moon. The list of legendary creature effects artists and their role in transforming man to beast is as legendary as the films themselves. We can now add Patrick Magee and The Cycle to that illustrious list.

Directed and written by Jordan Downey (Headhunter), The Cycle begins as a foreboding murder mystery. The bodies of a mother and daughter are found brutally slain - and partially eaten - in their home. Another body is also found not far from the murder scene, without a scratch on it, and is identified as the long-missing father of esteemed forensic anthropologist Dr. Meg Garland (Deborah Ann Woll). As she joins the investigation into who or what is terrorising the Pacific Northwest, Meg must also delve into the grisly mystery of her father’s disappearance.

Cue the excellent creature effects work by Magee and his Magee Effects team. Downey’s decision to bring a strong practical element to The Cycle grounds the film’s supernatural element without losing its bite. The werewolf scenes are startlingly good in their technical achievement and blood-drenched, teeth-snapping barbarity.

Deborah Ann Woll is terrific as the forensic scientist whose links to the lycanthrope terror run more than skin deep, effectively portraying the emotional and psychological trauma that her character must reckon with before the next full moon delivers bloody terror. The horror trope of the emotionally cold or quirky scientist is thankfully avoided in The Cycle (with thanks to Downey and co-writer Kevin Stewart). Woll gives her character the right blend of smarts and feeling to make for a striking lead turn.

It all results in an effective and frightening werewolf movie in which the dark and the crimson clash under the pale moon sky, with The Cycle worth the ride.