Sonic: Night of the Werehog

Sonic: Night of the Werehog (2008)

It's that time again, Hedgehogs Can't Swim readers. We are a mere 48 hours away from Halloween, the spookiest night of the year and my personal favorite holiday. As I usually do in late October, I celebrate the occasion by writing about something creepy, scary, or at least a little spooky related to the "Sonic" franchise. This is not always easy to do. "Sonic" is a series meant for children, of course, so it tends to shy away from frightening shit... Except for that one time it made a classic horror trope a core gameplay mechanic in a flagship title. 

Now, I love old monster movies. I live for that shit. Yet I'm not really a fan of the Werehog, as I've expressed in the past. There's a couple of reasons for this. Mostly because I think "Sonic Unleashed" is a mediocre game, yet one more in a long series of mediocre "Sonic" games. I also always thought it was weird that Sonic, already a cartoon hedgehog, could turn into a cartoon werewolf thing as well. Even this is not the real reason I dislike the Werehog premise so much.

The truth is... It's not scary. Sega introduced the idea of werewolves into Sonic's world but didn't let him do anything werewolf-like. He pretty much just acts like a slightly grumpier version of Sonic. They even gave the Werehog a bizarre superpower, of rubbery, stretchy limbs. Ya know, like... werewolves are... known to have??? It was simply a stupid game mechanic, that didn't really affect the characters or narrative in any significant way. It just meant the cool, 2D side-scrolling parts of the game had to pause so we could play a tedious, half-assed brawler. If Sega was going to monsterify Sonic, they should've tried a whole hell of a lot harder. 

Nevertheless, my petty old fanboy bitching aside, the Werehog is beloved in certain corners of the "Sonic" fandom. Mostly by people who played "Unleashed" when they were kids. (That game now being thirteen years old is far scarier than any movie monster could ever be.) And "Unleashed" did lead to a number of amusing side-projects. Such as "Sonic: Night of the Werehog," a haunted house-themed eleven minute short film released in, uh, late November to help promote the video game. 

The plot of "Night of the Werehog" concerns a towering mansion somewhere in the countryside, occupied by three ghosts. That would be Lah, a cutesy female spirit, and two buffoonish male ghosts, Su and Uh. The boys try and win Lah's affection by snapping photographs of visitors to the mansion after they've frightened them. For undefined reasons, Sonic and Chip step into this mansion. Upon seeing a photo of Sonic — which Su and Uh snapped some pics of while photographing the easily spooked Chip — Lah is enamored. Su and Uh go into a jealous rage and attack Sonic, who quickly transforms into the Werehog. 

If nothing else, I enjoy the spooky ambiance of "Night of the Werehog." Even though there have been a few vaguely Halloween themed levels over the years, Sega has never truly embraced a spooky aesthetic before in the games. So just seeing Sonic hanging out inside a rickety old mansion, with creepy old portraits and dusty furniture hanging around, is fun. The moment Su and Uh possess old suits of armor and harass the heroes feel like Sonic and Chip have dropped into the middle of an episode of "Scooby-Doo." And I can definitely appreciate that. 

Sadly, "Night of the Werehog" does not focus solely on spooky vibes and goofy, ghost-adjacent tomfoolery. Like all "Sonic" media is cursed to do, this degrades into juvenile action theatrics eventually. Su and Uh fuse together into a beefy cartoon bull guy, that the furverts have definitely drawn porn of, and trade fisticuffs with the Werehog. I didn't quite understand how the ghost could shift in and out of the physical realm in this sequence. The fight mostly seems designed to show off the stretching powers Sonic has in this form. Which I've already declared to be my least favorite attribute of this character. I guess I think it would've been funnier if this spooky dilemma was resolved as a wacky misunderstanding and not an all-out brawl. 

Still, I do like the ghosts a lot. Su and Uh — I'm assuming those goofy names are weird Japanese puns that didn't quite translate — have amusingly cartoony designs. They remind me a lot of the nineties version of Casper's uncles, which strikes me as a likely influence. The mansion they hang out in has a really cool asymmetrical design too. And Lah, of course, is by far the most popular character to emerge from this film. That's probably because she's a kawaii anime girl. I genuinely like her design though. How the spectral body tapering off to a point is made to look like a dress or a mermaid tail, with a big pink bow on the end. How she's done up in these bright purples and pinks, even having a little heart on her cheek. Even though this is Lah's only real appearance in any “Sonic” media, you can still find fan art of her very easily. She's about as popular as a one-off can be. (Funny enough, the far less popular Su and Uh are the ones that actually appeared in “Sonic Unleashed,” albeit only as cameos.)

Another reason Lah might be popular is, well, she has a crush on Sonic. Or, more specifically, the Werehog. Yes, this cute little ghost girl is a certified furry and another potential love interest for Sonic. Even though this is a horror movie inspired cartoon, romance is really what's on its mind. Su and Uh hope to please Lah with their photographs, even after her fixation on Sonic begins. The concluding moment of “Night of the Werehog” has the ghost disguising herself with Chip, so she can get a selfie with the big fluffy werewolf. Some have interpreted this as a “say no to simping” moral, though Su and Uh's experience seems to have done nothing to discourage their attachment to Lah. Honestly, I sort of wish these characters would show up in the comics or something, as I'm curious about what the hell their story is.

Even though this cartoon is thirteen years old, it still looks pretty good. The animation was done by a company called Marza Animation Planet, which is a spin-off of Sega's game studio made to do CGI cartoons. Unsurprisingly, they have mostly worked on video game spin-offs, including last year's “Sonic the Hedgehog” feature film. The textures are pretty good, the lighting looks great, and the characters are expressive. Honestly, the degree of squash and stretch on display here would've been a smart thing to incorporate into the video games. It's pretty lively and nicely captures a feeling that is both cartoonishly silly and boo-haunted-house levels of laid-back Halloween fun.

The only real complaint I have about the animation is that maybe it's a little too detailed. The weird cartoon human designs from “Sonic Unleashed” are maintained, which I really don't like. So much of the plot involves taking pictures of characters' faces as they scream. So we are greeted to countless close-ups of Chip's face as his mouth hangs open and his tongue extends out. I'm not sure I really needed to see that. We probably could've done with a lot less of that. 

I don't know why it took me so long to watch “Night of the Werehog,” though I guess my indifference to “Sonic Unleashed” was probably a factor. It even got a push outside of the internet and gaming circles, as it was available to watch on Comcast's On Demand service back in the day. (It also played at some of those fancy arcades Sega has in Japan.) I bet kids would enjoy it and I managed to have some fun with it, even if it's still a relic from an era of “Sonic” history I'm not eager to revisit. It's probably the second best thing to come out of "Sonic Unleashed," after that one interview John Carpenter gave about the series. I'd say that's probably worth a [7/10.] 

Lastly and most importantly, Happy Halloween to all Hedgehogs Can't Swim readers! Get out there and trick or treat, if you can. If you can't, scarf down as much candy and sweets as possible. Watch spooky movies, read scary movies, carve a pumpkin, and generally revel in the spirit of the season.