According to gothic180, this puzzled rendition of David (yes, the American Werewolf in London has a name) was inspired by Last Exit to Nowhere’s Slaughtered Lamb t-shirt. This is a shirt that I like (I’ve even mentioned it before). and while David seems confused about wearing it, you have to admit that he wears it well.
Month: February 2009
Rick Baker’s Transformation Concept Art for The Wolfman
In the past, special effects legend Rick Baker has expressed a cetain reluctance about the use of computer-generated creature effects in film. Apparently this hasn’t stopped Rick from messing around with ZBrush, and he’s been sharing his progress and experiments over at the ZBrushCentral forum. Starting two weeks ago, he started posting concept art for The Wolfman. Judging from some of his back posts, these are probably proofs-of-concept instead of anything official, but it’s really exciting to see the different stages of the creative process getting posted to a forum by the artist. Amazing stuff!
Dylan Dog and Groucho Headed for the Big Screen
According to The Hollywood Reporter, production of the werewolf / vampire / zombie film Dead of Night starts today in New Orleans. The makeup effects are being handled by Greg Cannom and DRAC Studios, and if those names ring a bell, it’s probably because they just took home the makeup Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and they’re doing work on the forthcoming graphic novel blockbuster Watchmen.
Dead of Night is an adaptation of Tiziano Sclavi’s Dylan Dog, an Italian horror comic from 1986. According to Wikipedia,
Dylan Dog is a penniless nightmare investigator who defies the whole preceding horror tradition with a vein of surrealism and an anti-bourgeois rhetoric… Dylan lives with Groucho at 7 Craven Road in a cluttered apartment with a doorbell that screams. His hobbies include playing the clarinet and constructing model ship; he has many phobias, including claustrophobia, bats and heights. Dylan is also particularly susceptible to motion sickness, which is one of the reasons why he rarely travels.
Seems like a lot of dark humour is involved… let’s hope this one survives the transition to the big screen!
Fangoria Reviews “Werewolf By Night”
Mike Fish at Fangoria has posted a review of the first two issues of Marvel’s recently revived Werewolf By Night, written by Duane Swierczynski and illustrated by Mico Suayan (who’s been mentioned here before). What does Mike think?
With so many werewolf books on the shelf, it would seem hard for Swierczynski to stand out. But he does, like a full moon on fire. Words were never so right for a werewolf.
The art is great for the most part from Mico Suayan, looking like a cross between David Finch and Bart Sears. His werewolf has a great face and eyes, looking very menacing, but also cross-referencing the classic Lon Chaney look with the AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON ripper.
He goes to give the series three and a half stars (skulls?) out of four. Sounds like one to follow! Issue three drops on March 4th, and issue four comes out April 1st (no foolies). Watch Werewolf Events for more release dates as they’re announced.
Tony Slotslider’s Book Of Terror – “Thriller” With Werewolves, in 48 Hours
Say what you will about Michael Jackson… Thriller was an amazing video when it first came out in 1983, and it’s still pretty awesome today. Jimi Cuell feels the same way, and last October, he and his dedicated crew of dancers / zombies / 80’s fashion victims / filmmakers collaborated to create an homage that is both hilarious and impressive.
Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is an eight-minute short film that Cuell & friends wrote, shot and edited, all within 48 hours. Madness, you say? Nay, friends, it’s the Bloodshots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Contest. Cuell’s group was required to create a film in the werewolf genere, and they had a few other guidlines as well– they had to include an occult book as a prop, and use the line “this picture looks familiar” as part of the dialog. “We came up with the idea in something like 10 minutes,” Cuell told The Vancouver Courier. “And then we went straight home and started working on the song and that took three hours or so. We wrote the lyrics accordingly and went and grabbed a werewolf mask and just went from there.” See the results for yourself!
Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is being screened at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Centre on Friday the 27th (tomorrow!) at 9:30 AM, as part of the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth. Jimi Cuell will be in attendance, so be sure to impress him with your dance moves.
“Into Werewolf Returns” by AbyssWolf
Being a web developer by trade, I normally hate animated GIF images with a fiery passion, but what AbyssWolf has accomplished in 252 small frames is nothing less than magnificent. It’s hard to imagine all the energy and detail of a werewolf transformation being captured in a pixel-based animation, but here it’s expressed with drama and motion to spare.
AbyssWolf hails from Madrid, Spain, and a browse around his DeviantArt gallery reveals an artist with an eye for detail and a truly impressive command of pixels. Be sure to check out the minotaur, the dragon and an earlier version of the werewolf transformation above. Many thanks to Tandemonium for spotting this one!
Sci Fi to Air “War Wolves” As Part Of A Werewolf Movie Marathon
ArcLight writes in to let us all know that the Sci Fi original movie War Wolves will premiere as part of Sci Fi’s werewolf movie marathon on March 8th. Check out a synopsis and trailer below.
Jack Ford leads a special forces unit back to the United States to hunt down Jake Gabriel, a soldier who has been infected with the werewolf virus that turns man into wolf. Little does Jack know that three of the female soldiers serving in his unit have also been infected and have already transformed into she-wolves. The she-wolves forces of evil and Ford’s special op forces of good, are pitted against each other in the race to save mankind from turning into wolves.
War Wolves will be airing at 9PM local time, towards the end of a full day’s worth of werewolf movie programming on Sci Fi. Other titles in the day’s schedule include Dog Soliders, Cursed and another Sci Fi original, Never Cry Werewolf. Check out the Werewolf Events Calendar for a full lineup of titles and times.
Werewolf Events Calendar
I’m happy to announce a (hopefully) useful new feature on Werewolf News– the Werewolf Events Calendar. The idea is to list any and all upcoming werewolf-related events, from movies and concerts to game and comic releases. I will be adding things as I learn about them, so if you’ve got an event you’d like to see listed, please let me know!
Spook House Dave! – Monster Puppets with Heart (and a Werewolf)
What do you do when you’re an 11-year-old boy and the werewolf who lives with you is taking private phone calls from your Valentine crush? If you’re Dave of Spook House Dave!, you spin it into soap opera, complete with soft-focus shots and dramatic musical cues.
Spook House Dave! is a new online puppet series about Dave, an 11-year-old who lives in a haunted castle with a vampire, a witch, a werewolf, a mummy, a Frankenstein’s monster and an assortment of other ghouls and ghosts. Like Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends, it’s geared towards kids, but any grown-up with a sense of humour will get a kick out of it. The dialogue is funny and genuine, the character design is creative and endearing, and everything on screen, from the puppets to the scenery, has a lovingly-handcrafted feel. The official web site, spookhousedave.com, currently features a special Valentine’s Day episode (shown above). The full site should be launching in the next month or two, and in the meantime you can visit DM Kids to watch the first two episodes. There’s also a Spook House Dave! Youtube channel, which has got some original content in the form of character confessionals. No confessional from Umberto the werewolf yet, but maybe he’s next.
Spook House Dave! is produced by Dragonfruit Studios and a team of puppeteers and improvisers in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s great to see artists and performers working together and using the web to distribute their work like this– here’s hoping Spook House Dave! takes off. I know I’ll be watching (and rooting for Umberto)!
Everyone Loves (to Download) Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
According to statistics posted by TorrentFreak, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is this week’s number one most downloaded film on the BitTorrent protocol. The stats posted don’t include total download numbers, but TorrentFreak confirms that the total number of downloads is “well over a million”. I’m not sure what says about the quality of the film. Given that another one of this week’s rising stars is Beverly Hills Chihuahua, probably nothing good.
What did you all think of Rise of the Lycans? I’m afraid I was still hibernating when it came out.