I caught “The Wolfman” last night at RC KDH Movies 10, the remake of the classic Universal 1941 flick. I liked it. Here's the thing though, If you love Saw type movies, or PG-13 teenage horror, this film may not be for you. If you are a fan of the classics, like black and white Dracula, Frankenstein and the like, especially if you love the old school creepy sets, you should go check out The Wolfman.
Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot an American Actor who returns home to England after his brother's fiancee Gwen, played by Emily Blunt, asks him to help find her man who has gone missing. Also in the film, Anthony Hopkins who does a bang up job playing Talbot's father. A couple of gruesome murders, a group of paranoid townsfolk, and a few gypsies later and we're on our way. The film is set in the same old school era as the original.
I thought they did a pretty good job of blending the classic horror feel with a modern day horror movie. There have been so many werewolf movies over the years, I was expecting an over the top, full wolf, beast of a creature akin to those in Underworld, or An American Werewolf in Paris. Therefore, I was very excited the first time that the wolfman appeared on the screen looking much more like the throwback Universal wolfman (dude still had his clothes on). It made for more of a creature than animal feel which I though made for a scarier experience (loved the way they made the wolfman run). The updated monster effects, a healthy dose of modern day gore (the beheading scene was badass), and some very good, non-cheesy acting, brought the movie right up to speed with today's horror films.
I also liked some of the crazy flashback scenes that were reminiscent of An American Werewolf in London. The other cool thing that I appreciated about this film was the fact that , in the vein of classic black and white horror films, they took their time telling it. They also didn't over explain it, and allowed the viewer to put a lot of the pieces together for themselves.
All that being said, there were times when the film seemed to crawl by, and although the film touched on how the whole wolfman curse in this town started, it would have been cool to have a more in depth, scary, explanation on everything surrounding the wolfman. The only other part that bothered me was that Talbot seemed much more bent on revenge that trying to figure a way out of the wolfman curse. It just seemed as though some elements of the film were too glossed over.
There were certainly some good scares, but I thought that this was one of those films that was just more cool than frightening. If you go to see it, I'd recommend watching the original 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. version before you go-it will make the experience even better.
