There is a long tradition of supernatural felines
in Japanese ghost stories. There is also extensive shapeshifting lore about
kitsune fox-spirits, but Japanese lycanthropy typical does fit the lupine mold.
Nevertheless, a Japanese werewolf wreaks havoc on an American frontier town in Eduardo
Castrillo’s The Last Wolf of Ezo (trailer here), which releases today
on DVD from Maverick Entertainment.
Karukan’s clan was honor-bound to hunt down
and kill the savage werewolf, but when it hopped a steamer for America in human
form, the Emperor was content to leave it be. However, Karukan was still obligated
to follow it on his own. It is not exactly a great time to be Asian in the Old
West, but Karukan forges an alliance with Langdon, a gunslinger-cardsharp that evolves
into a bickering friendship. When they hear of a beast terrorizing River City
(honest, that is what it’s called), they make haste, but find a dodgy band of
bounty-hunters has been retained to dispatch the beast. Of course, they have no
idea what they are getting into.
The pitch for Ezo practically speaks for itself: Kung Fu meets The Wolfman.
However, it needs to do better than a C-level execution, given its budget
constraints and the recent mini-boomlet of weird west competition. In fact, it
has pretty terrible timing, releasing the same week Bone Tomahawk hits theaters and not long after Jeremy Wooding’s
over-achieving Blood Moon launched on
DVD and VOD. Although Wooding’s resources were probably just as limited as what
was available for Castrillo, Blood Moon’s
vivid characters and dynamic energy make it a B-movie delight.
Unfortunately, the same is not exactly true of Ezo.
There are a few laughs in the right places and
the Japanese flashback scenes look better than you might expect, but the entire
film basically feels like everyone is trying to get from point A to point B
with the least amount of fuss. Professional kickboxer Daniel J. Kim has the
right strong, silent presence, but here he is working with sub-standard fight
choreography. Alex Renteria probably makes the strongest impression as Langdon,
playing his roguishness to the hilt. However, there are simply too many bounty
hunters and outlaws, washing in and out and blending together. Still, Lexy Gama
(as Karukan’s young love) and the rest of the Japanese cast are surprisingly
solid. Maybe Castrillo should have kept that wolf off the boat.
