Werewolf Triple Bill

Posted on January 30, 2025January 30, 2025 by fenrisfil

Rather than doing a regular review roundup for January, I’m going to take a bit of a swerve. Continuing the trend from my previously posted reviews, I’m reviewing three werewolf movies. So, if you follow this blog (Or my social media posts), you know I didn’t like the new “Wolf Man” (2025) movie. That’s an understatement. But it has driven me to find an actually good werewolf movie or two from the many that have slipped me by over the years. I’ve said before there are only five werewolf movies I think are truly great. There’s a handful more that are pretty good, but most of these movies are not worth bothering with. Perhaps sometime I’ll do a top ten.

I’ve always been keen on the werewolf as a horror character. Wolves actually have a lot in common with humans. Nature has only ever created two persistence hunters, the wolf is one and humans are the other. They are the ultimate feral mirror of ourselves. But beyond that the transformation from man to wolf provides the opportunity for all kinds of metaphor. Last but not least they always provide a challenge for effects and filming. As a result, these movies are often more about what you don’t see. They tend to have a very old school horror vibe to them. So for this round up I’m looking at “Wer” (2013), “Late Phases” (2014) and “Werewolves Within” (2021).

Werewolves Within (2021)

I’m going to start of with my least favourite. “Werewolves Within” is from director Josh Ruben and writer Mishna Wolff. Wolff is clearly a fan of the genre as she is also behind the series “Wolf Like Me”. Ruben has made one previous feature film, the horror “Scare Me” (2020). This horror comedy stars Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub and is an adaptation of the computer game of the same name. That game is basically a variation of the Werewolf social deduction game, itself a version of the game “Mafia”. Right off the bat you can tell the focus of this isn’t really the werewolves. It’s also worth noting, that set up somewhat similar to the movie “Cry Wolf” (2005), another film that bares a striking resemblance to “Mafia”.

“Finn Wheeler” (Richardson), is a Forest ranger assigned to cover Beaverfield, a small town where the residents are divided over a pipeline. The town is populated by a bunch of colourful and somewhat bizarre characters, the sanest of which appears to be the post woman “Cecily Moore” (Vayntrub). On his first night there all the generators are taken out by what appears to be a powerful animal and one of the residents are killed. This starts a long game of insinuations and conflict between the residents. It becomes apparent one or more of them are actually werewolves and the clock is ticking to find out who.

I Accuse You!

One of the standard types of horror comedies is basically a form of fatal slapstick. That is everyone ends up killing everyone else, often by accident. This is one of those. This obviously fits with the video game. I’ve never played it, but these games always work by eliminating who you think is the werewolf (or Mafia member) and the goal of the actual werewolf is to misdirect the other players to eliminate each other. This is exactly what is happening here. The trouble is, since this is an adaptation of the game, you know this going in. It makes the set up all a bit too obvious. It also means by necessity, you don’t actually see the Werewolf until the final moments of the movie.

The biggest problem the film has though is that it is not especially funny. It’s more “Quirky” than laugh out loud funny. That gives the film some charm, but I need a bit more to my horror comedies. That aside, the movie is perhaps most similar to “The Beast Must Die” (1974). Both movies turn the werewolf story into a bit of a murder mystery, with the colourful cast constantly pointing the finger at each other. The difference is I didn’t predict the werewolf was in the first act of that movie. Ultimately, this is almost a good movie, but just fails to really stand out in any way. It is a very average horror comedy. 5/10

Late Phases/Night of the Wolf (2014)

Mostly this movie is referred to as “Late Phases”, but it is also known as “Night of the Wolf” and that appears to be it’s official release title in the US and UK. No doubt that caused a lot of confusion with the marketing. Late Phases is a better fit for the film’s plot, but it doesn’t really say “Werewolf” loudly enough, so I can see why it was changed. Anyway, this is a movie from Spanish filmmaker Adrian Garcia Bogliano and his first in English. It is written by Eric Stolze, with cinematography from Ernesto Herrera and music from Wojciech Golczewski. The film stars Nick Damici as blind retired Vietnam war veteran “Ambrose McKinley”.

Ambrose has just moved into a quiet retirement community on the edge of a forest. Despite his disability he is fiercely independent and has a shaky relationship with his son. On his first night in his new home he is attacked by some kind of beast and is only saved by his dog (Who is mortally wounded during the attack). Ambrose quickly realizes he has been attacked by a werewolf and that when the next full moon arrives he will likely be killed. He isn’t going to go down easily and spends the time until the next full moon preparing and investigating. This brings him into conflict with the other residents of the village and his own son.

Old Dogs, New Tricks

This is a fairly unique werewolf movie. It plays the mystery angle to some extent, but is more focused on it’s non-wolf protagonist. Nick Damici really does hold this film together as the grumpy vet, determined to go out fighting. The film goes with a the traditional version of the monster with a design straight out of The Howling. In practice they aren’t the best looking versions I’ve seen but I do have to give them points for a very good transformation scene. Don’t expect to see a lot of them though. They appear at the start and end of the film, but the vast majority of it is in that period in between full moons. That’s not a big negative for this film though as it gives the film time to focus on Ambrose and see what makes him tick.

Obviously a werewolf movie already requires some suspension of disbelief. This movie asks us to go a little bit further in believing that this blind veteran can fight back against them. It turns out, it’s not as much of an ask as you would think! The movie does well with it’s budget and it doesn’t mess about with the plot. The bookended werewolf scenes and the direct drive and ticking clock of the rest of the movie means it doesn’t drag. Overall, while it’s not going to break the long standing record of only five great werewolf movies, this is pretty close. A good low budget werewolf movie, just about worthy of a 6.5/10.

Wer (2013)

“Wer” comes to us from writer/director William Brent Bell in his third feature and second horror film. I’m not familiar with his work but the film “Boy” (2016) seems to have been his most successful. Alejandro Martínez provides cinematography and Brett Detar, the music. The film stars A.J. Cook with support from Simon Quarterman, Vik Sahay and Sebastian Roché. All solid TV actors that occasionally pop up in lower budget movies. I have to admit it is hard to take Vik Sahay seriously after watching him in “Chuck”, but he does a good job so that is on me.

After a horrific attack in France on a family of holidaying Americans, the authorities arrest local man Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott O’Connor). There is more than a little controversy here though since all the physical evidence suggested a vicious animal attack far beyond what a human could do. Because of this expatriate lawyer “Katherine Moore” (Cook) volunteers to take the case of his defence. Assisting her are investigator “Eric Sarin” (Sahay) and animal expert “Gavin Flemyng” (Quarterman). Fairly early on she starts to suspect this is a fit up being done by a corrupt police captain “Klaus Pistor” (Roché). However, there is definitely something strange about Gwynek….

Of Wolf And Man

This is a very rare breed of werewolf movie in that it tries to take a realistic approach to the curse. As a result the make up style is a lot closer to the original Wolf Man than the more modern “Howling” style monster or werewolves that actually turn into wolves. Here the werewolf is a human suffering a rare disease that can be both inherited and passed on through infected blood. Those infected become notably hairier on a permanent basis, but most of the time are harmless. That changes on the full moon where they gain superhuman strength and become violently feral. This movie achieves everything “Wolf Man” (2025) set out to do in re-imagining the classic version of the monster. That it achieved it twelve years prior, just goes to show how little Leigh Whannell actually brought to the table.

The plot around the beast is a bit more of a mixed bag. The individual parts all work well enough, but the film shifts gears dramatically for the final act. Once the secret is out, the rest of those plot elements don’t seem especially important. This works fine first time through, but I can’t help but feel the early acts will lead to the film dragging somewhat in repeat viewing. I also have to say, I’m not a big fan of werewolves that don’t resemble wolves in any way. While this may be the best version of that I have come across, it’s not what I am after. I guess you could call it a “Lycanthropy” movie instead of a “Werewolf” movie. Anyway, that gripe aside, the movie is pretty good and worth a strong 6/10.

Final Howl

Werewolf movies are difficult to pull off and few have ever really found the formula. So when I am able to score one of these films at a six or higher out of ten I call that a win. Indeed if I do put together my top ten, “Wer” and “Late Phases” may well make my list. I want to note too that the gap between those movies was narrow. They are both worth checking out, if you are a fan of the sub-genre. Late Phases edged ahead because it felt 100% like a werewolf movie and still managed to find something new to say. As for Werewolves Within, it’s not really much of a werewolf movie. It is though reasonably fun and certainly better than “Cry Wolf” was. All three are better than “The Beast Within” (2024) and way better than “Wolf Man” (2025). Anyway, stay tuned as I may have more werewolves for you soon.

Werewolf of London (1935)

Posted on October 20, 2024October 20, 2024 by fenrisfil

No October Review Challenge can be complete without at least one classic Universal monster movie. This time around I’m bringing you the first feature length werewolf movie “Werewolf of London”. While “The Wolf Man” (1941) was far more iconic, and added silver bullets to the lore, it is this movie that really defined the movie version of the werewolf. Specifically the impact of the full moon and the idea of a bite transmitting the affliction. These may not have been invented for the movie, but they became the standard because of it. Almost every werewolf movie that followed would use that lore (Most ancient werewolf tales featured neither of these tropes). Ironically, when a movie like “The Company of Wolves” (1984) goes for a more authentic take on the creatures, it feels like a novelty.

Werewolf of London is directed by Stuart Walker and features creature effects by Jack Pierce (The Man behind the iconic look of Universal’s Frankenstein’s Monster). Henry Hull stars as “Wilfred Glendon”, a world-renowned botanist who has just returned from a journey to Tibet to get an incredibly rare plant. On his journey he was attacked and bitten by a strange creature. However he survive the attack and succeeded in bringing the plant back to England. It seems however that was a werewolf and the curse has now been passed on to Glendon. Only the flowers of this rare plant can help stave off his transformations. But the plant doesn’t seem to want to flower and he has a rival for it’s effects, the wolf that bit him in the first place!

Of Wolf And Man

The first thing to note here is a bit of trivia in regards to the werewolf design. Originally the werewolf was designed to be more “bear” like and then something closer to what was eventually done for The Wolf Man. Finally they arrived at the minimalist design we see in the movie. The reason for this was simply that the script called for characters to recognise who the werewolf was. Henry Hull felt the heavier makeup jobs would make this seem unrealistic. The end result provided werewolf fangs and ears but not a lot else. Probably the most notable feature is the widows peak, which was later copied for Eddie Munster (Likely for simplicity rather than favoring this movie over The Wolf Man).

Now, that said, the look actually does work for the context of the movie. Unlike in The Wolf Man, there isn’t the issue of a werewolf appearing as a full on wolf and then it’s victim only turning into a hairy humanoid. This is at least consistent. What is interesting too is the werewolf howl is actually a combination between the actors voice and a real timber wolf’s howl. This, honestly, didn’t work so well. This is why sound design and Foley is such an art in movies. Going down the obvious route rarely provides the results that works for the audience. Of course these effects from 90 years ago have aged and that does impact watching the film in 2024. Once you’ve seen movies like American Werewolf and The Howling it is hard to go back and watch these old school wolf men.

Universal Appeal

The film provides a short, simple story somewhat similar to the plot later used for The Wolf Man. The difference is this version is less mystical and features a treatment, if not a cure, for the affliction. So in a way it is more complex than the more famous film that would follow. The truth is however this is really just an excuse to get the werewolves into the story. The later films simplified that further by making the initial attack more random in nature. This film, like those that follow is really more about how the victim deals with the affliction. What made The Wolf Man work so well was that it really emphasized the tragedy of the situation. Glendon, by contrast isn’t particularly likable at the best of times. We see the tragedy, but we don’t really feel it.

Visually the movie has all the charms you’d expect from a universal horror. A good use of light and shadows and some nice looking sets. The film shows Glendon’s transformation in stages by having the actor walk behind the scenery. Thus hiding his face and as he emerges the next stage of the makeup becomes visible. This is likely done because of the limitations of effects in the thirties. Yet it actually aged surprisingly well, partially aided by the lighter make up job. What has aged a little is the music. In 1935, movie scores were still relatively new and while the music is not bad, it is somewhat intrusive and distracting in places. It’s notable, but it has at least aged better than the pre-Kong Universal horrors like Frankenstein and Dracula (Which featured very little music and none of it original).

Conclusion

This movie is an important part of horror movie history. It was the first feature length werewolf movie. It gave us the trope of turning to a wolf at the full moon and gaining the curse from being bitten. The minimalist approach to the make up influenced the werewolf make up in “Wolf” (1994) the TV series “Penny Dreadful” and of course for Eddie Munster. The basic plot (Botany aside) has been revisited in almost every werewolf movie that followed. However, compared to all of those other movies this film is lacking. A lot of the film feels comedic (Probably intentional) and the lead isn’t likable enough to really feel the tragedy of the situation. This movie is a starting point. An outline for werewolf stories to come, but without the detail filled in. As a result it more a curiosity than a recommendation. 5.5/10

Wolfen (1981)

Posted on October 8, 2023October 8, 2023 by fenrisfil

Tonight’s horror movie is cult 80’s Werewolf movie “Wolfen”. I came across this via a cult movie facebook group and being a fan of Werewolves it was a no brainer to check out as part of my October Challenge for this year. The movie is based on the Whitley Strieber novel “The Wolfen” from 1978 (Strieber also wrote “Communion” and “The Hunger”, both becoming cult movies in their own right. If you know about “Communion” you will be aware that Strieber claims to have been a victim of Alien abduction himself, though that abduction is alleged to have happened several years after writing “The Wolfen”.

Huff and Puff

The movie is directed by Michael Wadleigh, who is mostly famous as a cinematographer for live music documentaries. Most notably he directed the Oscar winning Woodstock documentary. This however is his only feature film which makes him a peculiar choice. Similarly the screenwriter David Eyre had only penned one previous movie, the Western “Cattle Annie and Little Britches” (1980). No lack of experience for the movies star though, Albert Finney who had a very high profile career in the 70’s.

The main support comes from Diane Venora, though there is a smaller supporting role for Edward James Olmos, who plays a Native American suspected of knowing something about the attacks. Omost was always able to shine even in small roles and he does once again here.

One of the first things of note is the James Horner soundtrack. The thing with Horner in this period is his soundtracks largely were interchangeable. This movie is in between “Battle Beyond the Stars” (1980) and “The Wrath of Khan” (1982) and the soundtrack is incredibly similar to both, despite this being a Horror and those Sci-Fi Space Operas. However, even if similar it’s still good and even the more grandiose themes actually fit with this particular horror, so I’ll give the similarities a pass.

Wolf-Vision™

In regards to effects and gore, this movie has become quite dated. The visual effects to show the “Wolf Vision” are reminiscent of Predator and given this movie is from several years earlier it’s entirely possible Wolfen influenced the later more famous movie. However in Predator those effects actually mean something (The Predator seeing heat), while here it’s literally just to let us know we are seeing the monster’s point of view. It’s not like the visuals reflect how a wolf would see things (Which would mostly be smells).

The gore meanwhile is somewhat lacking for an 80’s movie, but advancements in that department were fairly new and this movie was probably in production before those techniques had really spread through the industry. The movie features a lot of dismemberment, but each time it is done by showing the victim about to be hit, then showing some nearby pavement and someone off camera obviously throws the fake limb to the floor. It’s actually sort of funny. Still, despite that, the film mostly practices a “What you don’t see” approach and that part works very well for it.

Wolfen Down Your Senators

Despite being from 1981, this is a movie that definitely belongs among 70’s horror and the backdrops, filming style and especially the “Technology” has 1970’s written all over. Really everything outside of the Soundtrack fits better in the Seventies. Not that this is a problem, since the tone of the story is more in line with movies from that decade anyway. It actually feels more like a Drama or Science Fiction Film for the most part. Reminding me a lot of the Quatermass movies/shows and I think Finney would have made a great Quatermass has the opportunity came up.

It’s important to note thishis isn’t your standard Werewolf story. The Wolfen aren’t technically Werewolves, they are an entirely different species of intelligent, supernatural wolves that have lived secretly among mankind for centuries. This is actually a “Man shouldn’t mess with Nature” story, with strong ties to the Native American community.. These it’s worth noting are changes from the book, Wadleigh is an environmental activist so it’s not a big surprise to see him rework the story in this manner.

Bark At The Moon

Really for a first time director, Wadleigh did a pretty good job and his inexperience likely lead to some of the more creative choices, including the Wolf-Vision™. But is this a great Werewolf(ish) movie? Not really. It’s hard not to compare this to “American Werewolf in London” and “The Howling”, both of which also came out the same year. But while those were ground breaking and have been heavily imitated since, Wolfen’s paws are firmly in the past. This is a 70’s movie at heart for good or ill.

However as I mentioned this isn’t really a Werewolf movie, so it deserves some slack in that regard. The movie definitely has a lot of charm to it too and I can see why it became a cult favourite. The performances and music are above average, the visuals are mixed bag of good and bad and the plot is unique but not especially compelling. This just about hits a 6/10.