The Wolfman (Unrated)

Clap for the Wolfman -- a New Universal Classic!
The mysterious, Gothic feel of The Wolfman was really well-done. First of all, it was great of Universal Pictures to release this film on a full moon. Unfortunately the full moon hit Valentines' weekend. *shrug* What do you do??

Unlike the 1941 Lon Chaney, Jr. version, which took place in the then-contemporary pre-WWII Europe, this picture takes place in 1890s England, apparently right outside of London, in the inevitably named "Blackmoor." Nice.

Benicio del Toro seems a bit miscast at first glance. But viewers find out early in the film that Sir Talbot married a Latin woman, so Benitio's Latin looks makes sense. Without the "Why me?" look of Lon Chaney, Jr., Benicio had the fear of God in him instead.

This fear seemed real and sincere, as he discovers he is cursed. Cursed from the bite of a werewolf. He implores the local gypsies to help him but this version of Maleva is not much help. Her advice is to put Larry Talbot out of his misery...

"Even a man who is pure at heart . . ."
I LOVED IT!
Of course, we all know the basic Wolfman story, from the outstanding portrayal of the creature by the late Lon Chaney. This time, we have a remake with Anthony Hopkins (as Daddy Talbot) and Benecio De Toro (as Laurence Talbot), plus some special effects that we not available in the old days.

We begin on a full-moon night in England, in 1891. Daddy Talbot's other son is walking through a wooded area and attacked by a horrible monster that slashes him apart. The Talbot man's fiancé writes his brother (Larry), who is living in New York. Expressing concern for her fiance's disappearance, she asks Larry for his help.

Larry arrives at the family estate, an old English manor in disrepair and finds his estranged father alive and well, accompanied by the family dog and a man-servant from India. The son/brother's body had just been recovered. Larry travels through the English countryside to a small town to see his brother's body, which is...

Good old fashioned horror
Plagued with delays, reshoots, on set bickering and changed release dates Director Johnston's remake/homage makes it to the silver screen, and is a good old fashion scary movie.
Interestingly, the DVD and Blu-Ray release will feature a further 17 minutes of footage, aka "Directors Cut" which according to an interview with the director is mostly in the first half of the movie to build tension, and fill in some back story.
It was said that here (the cinematic) release wanted to be concise and get to the first transformation sequence in as soon as possible to keep the audience attention. This ideal I can understand, as all too often one must sit through an hour of build up to get to the meat of the action (no pun intended) and see what has been teased in trailers and TV spots. Time will tell as to whether these 17 minutes make a whole lot of difference, my view is that it will be a nice to have, rather than a need to have. For me the picture felt pretty complete.
Del Toro...

Click to Editorial Reviews