I have a well-documented love of this movie. In fact, the only pull quote that I know of on any copy of this film (that being the recent DVD release) is mine. So it’s surprising that I haven’t written about it very often. I first saw PROJECT METALBEAST in 2002 or 2003, when I was in eighth grade and it began airing constantly on the Sci-Fi Channel. I taped it off the channel so that I could have a copy of my very own.
PROJECT METALBEAST deals with a secret government project to give a werewolf bulletproof skin, so that silver bullets cannot penetrate it, making it the ultimate killing machine. There’s also something clever about the admittedly lengthy prologue, too. The soldier tasked with getting the sample of werewolf blood injected it into himself. The viewer is treated to a front-row view of just what an asshole this guy is before the transformation even really takes place, but by the time the werewolf antics are off and running, you have that background knowledge that just makes the beast seem even that much meaner. He was stopped before fully transforming, put on ice, and is initially comatose when unthawed in the present, by a team of scientists who don’t even know the full extent of what they’re working on.
When we’re finally treated to Metalbeast in full, the design by the late FX genius John Carl Buechler is incredible. The concept is basically “werewolf on steroids” but if you were to just picture that in your head, I don’t think it would be far off from the way this creature looks. It truly is the embodiment of that. It’s also got kind of a spiky, porcupine quill situation, which is a unique design flourish that somehow works.
I've loved this movie since I first saw it on the Sci-Fi Channel in middle school, so nostalgia is definitely a factor here. I know this movie can be slow for some, is sometimes stiff and clunky, and I championed it extra hard in the many years it wasn't available to watch anywhere. But having said all of that, I love this movie. I love the werewolf design. I really dig the way this movie plays with the more folkloric elements of werewolves, ESPECIALLY for a film that is so centered on technology.
It feels almost more like a vampire film sometimes, given those elements, and those things are often missing from werewolf stories even though many of the folkloric origins are the same for both. I am a huge sucker for "science and supernatural just don't mix" narratives, so I'll admit, the movie leaning so heavily into that has always kind of been catnip for me. I also just love the childlike logic of the entire premise. Like the AXE COP of horror movies. "What's the only thing scarier than a werewolf? A werewolf with bulletproof skin." Perfect. No notes.
There are faults, of course, no doubt, and sometimes they're charming. Barry Bostwick plays himself at ROCKY HORROR age for the first 20 minutes of the movie and it is not an exact match.
Also, if I had a nickel for every time Kane Hodder played an iconic monster, in a classic appearance for the first portion of the movie and then a scientifically upgraded version of the monster later on, I would have two nickels, but it's weird that it happened twice.