Cry Wolf (stylized as Cry_Wolf) is a 2005 American horror film directed by Jeff Wadlow, co-written by Wadlow and Beau Bauman, and starring Julian Morris, Jon Bon Jovi, Lindy Booth, Jared Padalecki and Gary Cole. The film follows a group of teenagers at a remote elite boarding school who find themselves in legitimate danger after playing a group parlor game called Cry Wolf, ensuing in rumors of a serial killer when a young woman is found murdered near their campus.
Plot[]
A group of prep school students consisting of Graham, Mercedes, Lewis, Randall, Regina, Tom, Dodger and Owen play a game called Cry Wolf, where someone is marked as a "wolf" and the group tries to figure out who it is.
After meeting his new journalism teacher, Mr. Walker, Owen and Tom meet the others for lunch. They discuss the police finding a girl's body, Becky, after it was dragged through the woods by a wolf. The group considers who could have murdered Becky, when Dodger proposes expanding Cry Wolf to the entire school. Owen suggests creating a fake e-mail telling everyone about a serial killer who goes from campus to campus stalking and killing students. They describe the killer as wearing an orange ski mask, a green camouflage jacket, steel toe combat boots, black tactical leather gloves, brandishing a hunting knife or a high-powered handgun. That night, they send out the e-mail.
The next day, the entire school has spread the story in the e-mail. Owen receives an instant message from someone using the name 'Wolf'. Tom and Owen accuse Dodger, but she claims she was studying with Regina.
Tom and Owen find their dorm room trashed. When the instant messenger comes up on Owen's laptop, they find a piercing stud and blood on Owen's keyboard. Tom blames Regina, who has a recipe for fake blood. When accused, she insists she was on a field trip.
Believing Dodger is lying, Owen confronts her. Dodger informs him that she was visiting her mother. Deciding that Randall is behind the odd behavior, Owen tries tracking him down, to no avail. Owen again seeks out Dodger, and finds her kissing Mr. Walker.
In his journalism class the next day, when Owen reaches into his bag for supplies, a hunting knife falls out. Mr. Walker escorts Owen to the Headmistress's office. Owen tells Mr. Walker that he knows about his relationship with Dodger, and that he will tell the headmistress if Walker reveals the knife. Mr. Walker agrees not to say anything.
On the night of Halloween, 'Wolf' attacks Owen. Thinking Tom was trying to prank him, Owen goes to leave with Tom's car, but sees Wolf behind him. The attacker ends up being Mercedes, who was trying to prove that attackers can be women.
The following day, Owen and Mercedes meet with the headmistress, who decides that Owen's fate will be decided over the weekend. The rest of the group is forced to stay at school over the weekend. Owen contacts them to meet in the chapel. Owen, Dodger, Tom, Lewis and Regina meet and try to get to the bottom of the attacks. While Lewis is on the phone, Mercedes is apparently attacked in the bathroom by Wolf. Lewis runs out as Owen tries to call for help.
Owen, Regina and Tom find Randall's body in a confessional. Owen goes looking for Dodger, and sees Lewis get attacked. Owen runs to the parking lot to see Mr. Walker still on campus. Owen runs to Mr. Walker's office as his phone rings. Owen answers to Dodger crying on the other end; she has found Mercedes dead. Dodger tells Owen she is coming and can see him through the window. He looks out to see Wolf kill her. Afterwards, Mr. Walker enters the room. Upon noticing that Mr. Walker has a jacket, an orange mask and a knife, Owen shoots him. The door is suddenly opened by Dodger, Tom and Regina.
Owen is arrested for murder while the group admits that it was a prank to get Mercedes and Owen back for making them stay on campus. Randall, Mercedes and Lewis are alive and well. Mr. Walker was involved with Becky, the gun in his desk having been used to kill her. Dodger visits Owen, who has been released on bail, and says she would never have played the game if she knew Mr. Walker was cheating on her, revealing she organized everything. Dodger killed Becky because she was jealous of Mr. Walker's relationship with her and had set up the game knowing that Owen would blame Mr. Walker for the killings, thereby killing him and making her happy. Despite Owen threatening to report her, Dodger replies that no one will believe him and leaves.
Cast[]
- Julian Morris as Owen Matthews
- Lindy Booth as Dodger Allen
- Jared Padalecki as Tom Jordan
- Jon Bon Jovi as Rich Walker
- Sandra McCoy as Mercedes
- Paul James as Lewis
- Kristy Wu as Regina
- Jesse Janzen as Randall Hodge
- Ethan Cohn as Graham
- Gary Cole as Mr Matthews
- Anna Devere Smith as Headmaster Tinsley
- Erica Yates as Becky Roberts
- Ashley Davis as Laura
- Jane Beard as Mrs McNally
- Michale Kennedy as Custodian
Quotes[]
Planning the "murders" scene:[]
- Randall (to Mercedes): Dark hair, brown eyes, killed while looking in the mirror. A victim of her own narcissism.
- Owen: Anyone else?
- Mercedes (to Randall): The self-mutilating de-vriginizer, eviscerated in the chapel ..
- Dodger (to Randall): Oh no, it should be special for him, lock up the misogynist pig and let him bleed to death right after castrating him, very slowly.
- Mercedes (to Lewis): laugh it up drama boy, you're next. Primadonna wannabe actor trynna play the big balcony scene has his intestines ripped out.
- Owen: Who else?
- Lewis (to Dodger): Let's not forget the campus queen. Her sharp wit was dulled when she choked on her own severed tongue.
- Owen: You people are deeply unwell.
- Dodger: Four years in the same place with the same people, what do you expect?
- Randall (to Owen): And last but not least, the good guy that fell for the bad girl, died of a broken heart.
Trivia[]
- Jeff Wadlow's feature debut. He got the chance to make Cry Wolf (2005) after winning $1,000,000 at the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival.
- Originally an R rated film, it was trimmed down to a PG-13. The Uncut version restores the original rating because of added scenes of violence.
- The teen members of the cast bunked together on set to make them more familiar with one another.
- America Online helped to publicize the film by launching an alternate reality game for AIM users by sending instant messages to each other, which ran for the duration of the film's promotion. The game itself is similar to "Mafia", replacing townspeople and mafia with sheep and wolves.
- During the rehearsals for the lying game, the cast had to stay in character. If they ever said their own names by mistake, Jeff Wadlow would kick them out the room.