Four Werewolf Movies

WAR WOLVES

The back cover of the War Wolves DVD states that the film is about a “Special Forces unit” in search of “Jake Gabriel, a soldier who has been infected with the werewolf virus.” That implies that the tale will focus on a werewolf. When I watch a werewolf movie, I expect to see a person transform into a wolf (and ideally go on a rampage or three). War Wolves does not include any full-on lycanthropy action. There’s a pack of three female werewolves who sprout fangs a couple of times, and they later sport tiny snouts that look like bad homemade make-up jobs for a Halloween party, but never does an infected individual completely change into a wolf. The story follows the adventures of Jack Ford (head of the Special Forces unit) as well as the she-wolves, who also seem to be after Jake Gabriel for some reason that I never fully gleaned (I believe there was some chatter about making him their wolf leader). The plot mostly unfolds through talking heads spouting exposition with a periodic poorly-constructed fight scene thrown in. Absolutely avoid this project (which premiered in 2009 on the SyFy Channel) unless you intend to riff on it in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000.


NEVER CRY WEREWOLF

Imagine the classic 1985 film Fright Night with a female protagonist and a werewolf instead of a vampire. That’s essentially the template for Never Cry Werewolf, a movie about a teen girl (Loren) who grows to believe that her new neighbor (Jared) is a killer who can transform into a wolf at will. When the cops don’t take her seriously, Loren sets out to stop the beast with the help of an actor (Redd Tucker) who plays a big-game hunter on television.

The second half of Never Cry Werewolf is significantly better than the first and includes a memorable scene in which Jared’s pet dog transforms into a creature I might run across in a nightmare the next time I sleep. The story includes some new variations on werewolf mythology (in this film, werewolves are immortal and can exert a sort of telepathic contact, a device used to rather silly effect via voice-overs during the finale).

The parallels between this story and the original Fright Night (not to be confused with the remake thereof) are numerous. A new neighbor moves next door to the protagonist, who later looks through windows to see the neighbor kill a woman. A somewhat dorky sidekick gets transformed into a monster. Cops don’t take the hero seriously. An unlikely ally is a fixture on local TV.

Despite its unoriginality, Never Cry Werewolf is watchable, though beware of periodic bursts of pop music that seem disproportionately loud compared to the dialogue on the DVD’s soundtrack. Not awful, not great.


WOLF MOON

Wolf Moon (alternately titled Dark Moon Rising) features a distinctly misogynistic tonal undercurrent, sixty minutes of story stretched across a two-hour running time, and one interesting experimental flashback sequence that begins with newspaper headlines projected behind an old story-telling lawman and then cuts to the cop’s confrontation with a prisoner he’s been describing in an unusual grainy film stock. The plot ostensibly revolves around a young woman named Amy, though she takes little action as events unfold in the story’s final act. Amy falls in love (rather quickly and unconvincingly) with a fellow (Dan) who happens to be a livestock-killing werewolf. Dan’s father, also a werewolf, shows up to confront his son for some sketchy reason. A final showdown involves Amy’s dad (who has been trying to keep Dan and Amy apart), Dan, the sheriff, and a livestock farmer all versus Dan’s father (Bender), who has kidnapped Amy.

I’ve read some reviews that claim Wolf Moon is essentially the first Twilight Saga movie with a werewolf instead of a vampire. I can’t comment, as I’ve never seen a Twilight film. I can say that on its own terms, Wolf Moon is pretty excruciating to sit through. The bland characters all behave in unbelievable ways (like when the female sheriff opts to go on a date instead of obsessively pursuing clues in the various murders and other crimes piling up around her and when Amy barely reacts when Dan confesses to her that he’s a lycanthrope). There are periodic cheesy voice-overs in which Amy muses about the nature of love and fate. The ending stretches on and on with an unnecessary epilogue. If you seek a quality werewolf film, avoid this junk and instead track down the Collector’s Edition DVD of Ginger Snaps (a fine movie).


THE WOLF MAN (1941 version)

The 1941 version of The Wolf Man focuses on Lawrence Talbot, a fellow who returns to his ancestral home following his brother’s death in a hunting accident. Lawrence peeps on the neighborhood through a massive telescope and spots a beautiful young woman in a room over an antique shop. Lawrence goes to the store, befriends the girl (Gwen), and insists that he’ll pick her up that evening. Lawrence, Gwen, and her friend Jenny go to have their fortunes told in a Gypsy camp. The night ends badly when Jenny is attacked by a werewolf that Lawrence kills with a silver-headed cane, but not before the wolf bites him. Tragedy ensues as the now-infected Lawrence grows to realize that he has become a monster.

Decades after its original release, the old black-and-white version of The Wolf Man still evokes primal fear through its images of a fanged and clawed predator stalking its way through fog-enshrouded tree silhouettes. With its simple story and short running time (70 minutes), The Wolf Man might be a good introduction to the horror genre for younger movie buffs (I recall being glued to the television as a kid whenever channel 43 broadcast this or any old Universal monster movie).

The most-often quoted dialogue from this film is the “even a man who is pure in heart” speech, but what I found more touching was this bit that Maleva (an old Gypsy woman) recites over the bodies of two deceased werewolves: “The way you walked was thorny – through no fault of your own. But as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end.” Such is the poetry of screenwriter Curt Siodmak.

The Wolf Man is a marvelous basic tale of lycanthropy peppered with truly spooky imagery. Start here before moving on to more recent advanced fare like the Ginger Snaps trilogy.