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.
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