THE WOLF MAN
Directed by Joe Johnston
Genre: Gothic Horror
THE MOVIE
The Wolf Man doesn't know quite what it wants to be. At it's heart, it longs to be a faithful re-invention of the classic Universal movie starring Lon Cheney,Jr. or possibly an elegant neo-Gothic period film a la Bram Stoker's Dracula, or maybe a Hammer-style horror movie, but in a world of Twilight, Underworld, and meddling studio executives there was probably intense pressure to make it, if not hip, than at least intense and violent enough to be able to appeal to a good chunk of youngsters. It was a troubled production with too many cooks in the kitchen and when the always-reliable Joe Johnston came on to direct, the movie had already picked up its own clunky momentum.
The movie stars Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro as the cursed Lawrence Talbot, in a bit of casting that is interesting but not quite right. In some ways Del Toro has the same kind of world-weary, hang-dog quality that Lon Cheney, Jr brought to the role, but he seems uncomfortable with the language and out-of-place in the Victorian period. Whether this is due to his acting or simply a badly-written script, I'm not sure, but I never quite bought him as the famous Shakespearean actor who returns home from America to his English country manor after his brother is violently killed.
The great Anthony Hopkins plays his father, the lord of the estate, who knows more than he is letting on about the attacks. Talbot has an uneasy relationship with his father, who he remembers standing over the body of his Gypsy mother when he was a boy. In The Wolfman and Thor, it seems Hopkins is making a career out of playing fathers with violent or stormy relationships with their sons.
When Talbot goes to visit the local Gypsies, he is cryptically told that his brother had been possessed by a "great evil." He then witnesses another attack on the camp by a wolf-like creature. Lawrence is bitten in the attack and, as anyone who has ever seen a werewolf movie before knows, he gets the werewolf's curse.
Lawrence eventually ends up in an asylum in London, in a sequence that really showcases the brutality visited upon mental patients during that period. To cure him of his werewolf delusions, he is strapped down during the full moon in full view of a group of doctors and students, where he transforms into a werewolf and escapes to the country for a final confrontation with his father.
The Wolf Man won an Academy Award for its make-up effects by Rick Baker, who is no stranger to werewolf effects, having done the great An American Werewolf in London many years before. Where the movie really shines is its really beautiful cinematography and art direction, which capture a perfect mood of Gothic horror. From the dilapidated country estate house on the foggy moor, to gas-lit nights of Industrial Age London, The Wolf Man is appropriately dark and moody.
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
While I am not anti-CGI at all, I feel like werewolf movies are less fun in the era of digital effects. With movies like An American Werewolf in London, or The Howling, there was a real sense of ingenuity to the special effects. Effects artist were using all of the tools at their disposal to try and deliver amazing and ground breaking transformation sequences and creatures. Nowadays, effects artists are limited only by their imaginations and budgets and that often makes for uninspired creature designs.
In its werewolf design The Wolf Man seems to be trying to have it both ways. It seems to want to have an old-school Universal Wolf Man but, it also knows we expect a little more from our werewolves than a very hairy guy with fangs. I have a feeling this was one of the difficulties of getting this movie made, trying to create a design that is recognizably Wolf Man but still up to modern standards of design and special effects. The result, for me, is not that satisfying, but then I like my werewolves more wolf than man.
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
Widely available on DVD and Bluray with lots of special features that document the production and the make-up. Baker and the other filmmakers seem to take pleasure in pointing out how happy they were when Del Toro was cast in the role because they were "already half way there," and how it wouldn't take that much make-up to transform him into the Wolf Man. Ouch.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
The whole sequence in the asylum really stands out as a graphic example of the barbaric treatment of the mentally ill during the time period. Lawrence is subject to electrotherapy and basically being water boarded as part of his "treatment." This might be the only time in the movie that it achieves anything like real horror.
TRAILER
Patrick Garone
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Author of City of the Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
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