As Dion and the Belmonts might have put it, "Why must I be a werewolf in love?"
Bob Hoose (Plugged In) says the movie has potential but doesn't always live up to it: "The real drama of the story is Vivian's struggle to come to grips with her animal and human sides. … Director Katja von Garnier, unfortunately, doesn't help us struggle with her, setting up the possibilities but falling short and relying on tired monster-movie clichés and silver bullets to wrap things up."
Greg Wright (Past the Popcorn) is not a big fan of the film—or the genre to which it belongs—but he appreciates its restraint, offering "kudos to von Garnier and company for doing something a little sweet, new, and restrained with the genre—and for attempting to remake the genre as one of hope and reconciliation rather than one of pure nihilism. Sadly, genre fans will likely wish there were less chocolate here, and more blood."
David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) writes, "While relatively restrained in terms of sex and gory violence, director Katja von Garnier's 'Lost Boys'-with-fur doesn't work as a love story or a thriller, and despite its nocturnal Bucharest backdrop and some modestly stylish sequences the overall effect is bland. The actual werewolf transformations are hokey and the script is saddled with corny dialogue like, 'Ask the animal that's inside you; she will teach you.' It's enough to make Lon Chaney Jr. howl … with laughter."
Mainstream critics aren't biting.