Jarrett (Marc Blucas) hasn 't got much of a life: He's working in a
dead end job in a hick town yet has to be happy to at least have a job,
and each night, he drowns his sorrows in alcohol, just like all the
locals. Then though he meets sexy Nora (Nicki Aycox), who seems to have
eyes only for him, and his life changes: Ok, he might have lost his job,
and that's less than great, but Nora persuades him to go with her to
wherever, leave his hometown behind once and for all - and of course have
terrific sex all the while. There is just one problem, Nora is not quite
human, she's a human/animal half-breed who has supernatural powers and can
turn from human to beast at will. That wouldn't even be too bad, but she has an ex, Vic
(Naveen Andrews), who just refuses to let her go - and of course, he is
also a human/animal half-breed. Jarrett wants to fight Vic over Nora, but
he is no match for him, and in the end, Nora agrees to go with Vic if he
promises not to kill Jarrett. Back at his place though, Vic puts Nora into a
cage and returns to Jarrett's hicksville, where he kills Jarrett's best
friend the barowner (Andy Comeau) and tries to blow up Jarrett in his car - who's
only saved thanks to barmaid Jane (Eva Amurri), who has been hopelessly in
love with him for years, and thanks to some animal powers that begin to
manifest themselves in Jarrett because Nora has bitten him. Jarrett and
Jane soon start a (sexual) relationship, and since he's out of a job, and
Jules' bar needs a new barman, they start a working relationship as well -
and everything could be sooo beautiful ... but Nora, who has let herself
put in a cage to save Jarrett's life (remember), breaks out of the cage
because Vic didn't keep his promise, and now she comes to hicksville to
reclaim Jarrett, whom she still loves. But Jane isn't willing to give
Jarrett up, and since she is a human/animal half-breed as well, the two
engage in a fight to the death, with Jarrett being reduced to being a
bystander. Jane defeats and kills poor Nora, but she is gravely injured -
not a good thing, because Vic has long taken up pursuit and finding Nora
dead, he wants revenge, and now it's up to Jarrett to fight him - and he
discovers his animal-powers just soon enough to defeat and kill Vic, and
save Jane, too. There is little to distinguish this routine
US-American low budget horror flick from the myriard of other routine
US-American low budget horror flicks of the 2000's: It's impersonally and
unimaginatively directed, the cast is mediocre at best, and the plot lacks
even traces of originality. What's annoying about this film though is its
reactionary undercurrents, reactionary in the just-say-no kind of way:
There is this girl, Nora, who not only gives the lead character hope in
the time of hopelessness, she also sacrifices her freedom to save his life
- yet she is killed and presented as almost a baddie, because she had sex
with him, and repeatedly, while the wholesome girl, plain Jane, the
supposedly good girl, seems to have older claims ... and why? Because she
was loving him from afar, and never offered her body to him - and yet she
never does a single selfless thing for him, and when she kills Nora, it's
consequently a purely selfish action, killing the competition instead of
giving her a chance. And she's supposed to be the good girl because she
did not seduce him? I mean really, that's not only a terrible message, it
also destroys a film that's not even all that good to begin with.
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