Movies

You’ve got to love a good werewolf flick. From The Werewolf of London in the 30s and Teen Wolf in the 80s to New Moon last year, tales of these grizzly, often terrifying, and sometimes ridiculous full-moon beats have inspired filmmakers since horror films first hit the silver screen.

The Wolfman is one of the latest in a string of werewolf-revival flicks, harking back to the old-school films that first made audiences tremble in their seats. Starring a great cast including Benecio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt, this worthy remake of the 1941 original is fittingly dark and demented.

Oscar winner Del Toro, himself an avid fan of the original movie, stars as Lawrence Talbot: a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. After he is reunited with his estranged (and eerily strange) father, played by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, he learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers...

Determined to find his brother and destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor he stumbles upon an ancient curse, uncovers his own tortured past, and finds a more primal side to himself and a horrifying destiny.

Yes, obviously the story itself is a little on the predictable side, but I think in this case knowing what you’re in for before you get it seems to add to the film’s charm.

Inspired by the classics that launched a legacy of horror-howls, The Wolfman brings the myth of the damned lycanthrope back to its roots, shunning the modern tendency to use full CGI imagery in favour of a more traditional actor-in-makeup method of storytelling. Though computer generated imagery was used to illustrate the transformations from Del Toro’s character to the werewolf, makeup special effects expert Rick Baker was the talent behind the hairy, hulking finished monster, saying, “I think you really get benefit from an actor with some hair glued on his face”.

And I tend to agree. It was both strange and satisfying to see a horror character in this day and age that so closely resembled the original portrayals of werewolves in film, as opposed to eye-popping computer-created monsters.

If you’re any kind of fan of the old horror flicks and would like a taste of nightmarish nostalgia, check out The Wolfman before the next full moon!