Posted on 10 February 2010

The Wolfman
Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving
Directed by Joe Johnston
Release date: February 11
Rating: TBC


In 1941, riding on the success of their first series of classic monster movies, Universal released The Wolf-Man, with actor Lon Chaney, Jr. immortalising the role of everybody’s favourite full-moon-afflicted lycanthrope. The Wolf-Man went on to become the most successful entry in Universal’s second wave of horror movies.

Fast-forward 69 years, and a retelling of Lawrence Talbot’s haunting story will finally hit cinemas – the film was originally scheduled to see the light of day in 2008, but its release date was pushed back several times and a couple of re-shoots took place, mainly, to alter the way the beast moved…

It's common knowledge that, usually, when a studio pushes back the release date of a movie it’s because  there's something really wrong with it (add here the obligatory exceptions to the rule, like 2009’s Star Trek).

Fortunately, even though it’s easy to see why Universal was so worried about releasing The Wolfman (I’ll get to that in a moment), there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it!

What Joe Johnston (of Jumanji fame) – who took over directing duties after Mark Romanek quit the project due to creative differences – crafted here is not a mere remake of the 1941 classic, but a heartfelt tribute that thematically and stylistically stays true to the aesthetics of the 30s and 40s horror flicks.

Johnston is not interested in a cheap CGI-orgy, but in taking the audience on a trip back in time to the days when tension was created through well crafted music (Danny Elfman does a great job capturing the essence of the era) and magic was achieved thanks to perfectly-timed camera movements and beautiful cinematography – in this case courtesy of Shelly Johnson.

Johnston was also smart enough to get makeup maestro Rick Baker (who won the first ever Oscar for makeup for his work on the 1981 cult-classic An American Werewolf in London) to create the wolfman’s look. Right off the bat you should know that the moon-howler in The Wolfman mantains the look of the original, and has little to nothing to do with modern over-rendered versions of the creature as seen in Underworld, Twilight Saga: New Moon and the excruciating borefest Van Helsing – which, ironically, was supposed to play like a tribute to the classic Universal monster movies.

All these throwbacks to the past are what make The Wolfman such a breath of fresh air, but also what will have a considerable percentage of the audience – hoping to see the latest in crappy teenage-horror with “cool” visual effects – pounding their fists in anger.

It’s also worth mentioning that, overall, the performances are pitch-perfect: Emily Blunt is amazingly convincing in the archetypical “beauty-loves-the-beast” role; Hugo Weaving exudes charisma as Scotland Yard inspector Aberline; Anthony Hopkins is at his menacing best (something he hadn’t been able to pull-off since The Silence of the Lambs) as the paternal figure; and Bencio del Toro… well, not to take anything away from his masterful performance, but the guy barely needs to grow a beard to become a convincing werewolf (or “Che” Guevara, for that matter).  

Verdict:
Here’s the deal: If you’re looking for a film with hot, imbecile, teenagers running around half-naked for no good reason while getting butchered by, err, CGI, look somewhere else. But if you like your horror with a bit of B-goodness and nostalgia added for flavour, then The Wolfman is right up your alley.

Hernán Alcérreca