The Cycle - The scoop and digest

Unrelated to 2009 film of same name, aka The Devil's Ground, Jordan Downey directs and co-writes supernatural horror with Kevin Stewart.

Deborah Ann Woll - Dr. Megan Garland

Jeffrey Donovan - Detective Marks

Will Hochman - Detective Ian

Jack Doolan - Lenny

Carl W. Crudup - Lou Bishop

Jeb Berrier - Ratterman

Gretchen Corbett - Joni

Phillip Andre Botello - Daniel

Danika Golombek - Katie

Don Keith Opper - Frank

David Myers Gregory - Peter

Summary

In February 2025, brilliant anthropologist Dr. Megan Garland runs a body farm, a facility where human remains are left to naturally decompose for scientists to research time of death and duration of decay.

27 days later, Detective Ian turns up and delivers the shocking news that the body of her father Peter has been found, who disappeared 34 years ago in 1991.

However, he only died a few hours prior, leaving everybody dumbfounded.

Meg joins the police to solve the mystery of Peter's 'frozen' timeline, but their investigation uncovers a terrifying secret.

Bad Moon Rising

The opening hour or so is an absorbing crime procedural, but then becomes a howling good creature feature, with some posters bizarrely ruining the big twist.

Early doors, it's said that Peter abandoned his family, but the reason he took off was because he contracted a lycanthropic curse decades prior.  To protect Meg and Joni from his carnivorous lunar activities, he isolated himself deep in the forest while attempting to break his own 'cycle' of carnage.

Oh, title doesn't just refer to the lunar cycle of the moon, but also to a hereditary, generational curse.

Patrick Magee's practical make-up hits the hairy high notes, particularly the initial transformation sequence, with wolf itself performed by Trevor Newlin (known for the 'primary' Xenomorph in Alien: Romulus and The Monstrosity in Smile 2).

Unfortunately though, some stuff looks a bit rough around the edges, and shaky cam during close ups fails to disguise the fact.

Climax turns the gore up to eleven, as Peter rips through the police.

Escaping outside the compound, Meg is forced into fatally wounding monster by driving a harpoon through its body, causing Peter to reverse-transform back into a human.

1 year later, Meg is back at the body farm, reliving the same exile as her father.