Werewolf Winter: The Wolfman (2010)

And so we end our werewolf season where we began: with a Universal Pictures film titled The Wolfman. I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect with this film. While Universal Pictures gave us some of the most iconic werewolf films of all time, this 2010 near-remake of the classic was famous for being plagued with production issues, delays, and conflicts over scoring. One critic famously called the movie a consideration for one of the "worst movies of the decade."

That said, lead actor Benicio Del Toro has grown up as a fanboy for the original film (literally; he collects memorabilia), they used the same make-up artist from An American Werewolf in London, and with a cast including Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving, it seemed difficult to believe that this film could be all that terrible. I mean, it couldn't be as bad as Blood & Chocolate or, god forbid, The Howling III...... could it?

Am I in a bad movie...?

Not even close. Any reviewer who said that the 2010 The Wolfman is "one of the worst movies" in any category is either insane, or maybe just hasn't spent months watching terrible werewolf movies. If anything, I would say that this film is an amazing homage to the original, while still serving up a tense and original story that draws on all the best aspects of classic werewolf films throughout the ages. Is it a perfect movie? No. But for a story about a man who turns into a hairy beast on the full moon? It's actually one of the best I've seen.

For the record, the version of this film that I watched was the two hour "unrated" version, which is the closest to an extended cut or director's cut that has been released. This makes the film about a half-hour longer than the theatrical cut, with a few scenes extended or added, and with the gore being a bit more prevalent. I would recommend finding this version if you are going to watch The Wolfman.

Our movie opens with the same premise as its 1941 inspiration: Lawrence Talbot, the "prodigal son" of a wealthy family returns home when his brother Ben is found dead. The brother was living with their father and was soon to be married, but then was mauled to death by "some sort" of wild beast. The differences in tone become immediately clear, however, and set this film version apart from its predecessor. For one, the 2010 film takes place in the 1890s, far earlier than the original Universal film. This makes the look closer to Universal's other werewolf classic The Curse of the Werewolf, but the tone and look is even darker. This project clearly borrows its tone from the Gothic literary genre and is full of candlelight and shadowed manors with foreboding statues.

The music helps with this tone. The final cut of the film has a score composed by Danny Elfman, of Tim Burton movie fame, and the effect is music which sounds surprisingly like a 1940's horror film, grand and eerie.

Del Toro is also a very different Lawrence Talbot. While Lon Chaney Jr. was brilliant at expressing his emotions in a way that felt true and believable, Del Toro actually doesn't express his emotions much... and that can be equally as powerful. His Lawrence Talbot carries deep hurt and pain, causing him to withdraw. He's tense and moody, and for this tone of film it really works. The difference between the protagonists is also clear in their jobs. While the audience gets the impression that Chaney Jr.'s Talbot lived his life carefree in his time away from his father, Del Toro's Tabot has channeled his pain into acting. Specifically, he's a Shakespearean actor known for his portrayals of Hamlet, Richard III, and Macbeth. He's a very different character, and Del Toro channels this darker Lawrence Talbot well.

Everything about this movie is darker, in tone and in look, and often much more complicated. While both this movie and the original involve traveling gypsies, they are handled in very different ways. The original used the gypsies as a plot device; gypsies just happen to be in town giving fortune tellings, one is a werewolf, and then Talbot gets bitten by him. Simple. In the new film, the gypsies are victims of stereotypes; the werewolf isn't actually connected to them at all, but fear and racism causes people to storm the gypsy camp. It's a nice update which complicates the borderline racism of the original.

The werewolf itself looks great... when it's make-up or a model. Rick Baker, who did the makeup for An American Werewolf in London as well as consulting on The Howling and the movie Cursed, did an amazing job with the werewolf look (so much so that he won an Oscar for it). It is clearly based on the original Universal wolfman, but the claws and teeth are much more vicious looking, and there is a great detail of the wolf almost always having blood dripping off of the fur on its chin. As Cate Blanchett said at the Oscars when they showed an image of the wolfman on the big screen, "Oh gross!"

The main problem with this film's wolf, however, is the transformation. It's painfully obvious CG, which was the most common detail for movie reviewers to comment on. It's still not as bad as An American Werewolf in Paris, but it is a sharp contrast to Baker's practical effects and make-up. Baker apparently had said he wanted to work on the transformation effects too, but the infamous production issues meant that they just didn't have time, and so all of the transformations were done in post-production. It still isn't the worst transformation ever, but in comparison to some of the classics that Baker has worked on before, it is a bit annoying and jarring.

I'm also not completely sure what to say about the gore in this movie. For lack of a better word, it's comical. This is a strange change of tone given how dark and serious the rest of the movie is. However, as heads are cleanly ripped from necks and claws literally impale someone's skull, it's hard not to chuckle at how overdone it is. This could be either a negative or a positive, depending on your point of view. It releases some of the tension from the seriousness of the rest of the plot, but it also makes the movie feel a bit uneven.

When you make a dead man look like a walrus
via werewolf claws, you have to be shooting for humor.

But effects and gore aside, the triumph of this movie is its original story. Like The Howling, much of the film relies on the question of who the wolf is who bit Talbot. Unlike the original The Wolf Man, where the first wolf dies right at the beginning, the original wolf in the 2010 film stays free and continues to kill. Because Talbot is also "cursed," the town blames him; therefore, the core conflict of the movie is for Talbot to confront the original wolf and save the town. It's a much more intense story line, and a lot is packed into relatively little time.

The added gravitas is that the wolf is clearly close to Talbot and his home; as he searches for answers, Talbot remembers the death of his mother. The story implies that she committed suicide, but some of Talbot's old memories resurface and he recalls that his mother (who was also a gypsy) was actually killed by "a mysterious creature," namely the same wolfman who he now hunts.

This also gives much more to the complicated relationship between Talbot and his father (played by a delightfully scenery chewing Anthony Hopkins). We learn that the elder Talbot actually sent his son to an insane asylum after the mother's death because the boy kept talking about what he saw. This further convinces the town of his guilt as well (because Talbot must be insane and thus dangerous), and we see Talbot sent back to this horrifying environment after his capture as 'The Wolf Man.'

I don't want to give much more away, since the realization of the other wolf's identity is part of the experience of the film; it becomes obvious somewhat quickly, but I still recommend going into it spoiler-free if possible.

I will say that the end of the movie borders on cheese. Like Wolf and even Kibakichi, we end with a massive werewolf fight. The effects are good, and story-wise it couldn't have ended any other way, but it does make the movie more clearly a B-movie and, like the gore, pushes it into the more silly side.

However, the movie also brilliantly borrows from The Curse of the Werewolf and An American Werewolf in London in saying that "a werewolf can only be set free by one who loves him." The final scene with Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt is beautiful and a great ending to the film, despite the nearly silly action before it. Emily Blunt's Gwen has much more reason to care for Talbot than Ankers' Gwen did in the original (all questionable consent issues are taken away as well) and Blunt's character also assists in the plot and stopping of the wolf much more directly.

Ultimately, the 2010 The Wolfman took the entire history of werewolf stories from 1941 through the 2000s and tried to create a story and film that took what was best from each. Haunting seriousness, family issues, a tense mystery, laughable and fun gore, great make-up, and just enough of a hint at the end to imply a continuing story. I'm teetering between a 4.5 and a 5 for this one; it's not perfect, but it definitely is one of the best. I think ultimately the CG and the final fight scene have to stop it from receiving a completely perfect score, but just know that, if you like werewolf movies, don't be scared away by the low score from reviewers. Despite all the production issues and rushes to release the film, the movie is definitely a love letter to werewolf movies, and a great way to end our extended 'Werewolf Winter' season.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 bites