It’s been a few weeks since my last celebration of Werewolf Wednesday, but when I woke up in my Boston hotel room this morning, I had this inspirational image by Tandye in my inbox, so I knew the time was right. Being married to a talented artist who loves werewolves as much as I do is what you might call “an optimal scenario” (and she’s available for commissions on DA & FA). Now that Tandye’s set things in motion, let’s do this.

I’m playing MacGuffin’s Curse (a game you might remember from a prior post) by Brawsome. I’ll wait until I’m a few more hours into it before I do a review post about it, but it’s the most fun I’ve had in a point & click game since Quest For Glory. The artwork and music are delightful, and the writing has me laughing out loud. It’s available for iOS, OS X and Windows for $5, I think you should go buy it.

Artist Robert DiFiore has created an 11-page journal comic about the results of an unexpected encounter in the woods. It’s called There Wolf, which will make Mel Brooks fans smile. Lovely Prismacolor artwork, and I like the Wolfman-influenced werewolf design.

Among the main characters of Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania is a werewolf named Wayne, voiced by Steve Buscemi. Here’s the trailer, in which Wayne is visible for 0.75 seconds (in the sauna). Apparently he’s at the hotel with his whole family. “Werewolf family with Steve Buscemi as the dad” is a sentence that just about balances out the misery implied by “Adam Sandler as Dracula”.

Anathema. Lunatic Fringe. Jack and Diane. Lesbian werewolves are A Thing, but maybe Jack and Diane isn’t the best thing – at least, not for people who’ve been led to expect actual werewolves in the movie, lesbian or otherwise. Bradley Rust Gray’s film screened at the Tribeca Film Festival to mixed reviews, at least from “professional” reviewers. I haven’t seen the film myself, but the reviews make it seem like it’s short on werewolves and long on kludgey romance and ruined Japanese food. Then again, it currently has an audience rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, so WHO KNOWS. If you saw it, I’d love to know what you thought.

Scooby-Doo and the Werewolf is a new Scooby-Doo iPad app that will delight you while your child clamours to play Angry Birds Space. It’s no Reluctant Werewolf (if that wasn’t a childhood favourite of yours, get out), but 1) werewolves, 2) Velma Dinkley, and 3) Velma Dinkley. Yessssss.

My pal Jason sent me a nifty Listverse article about 10 Real Life Werewolves. All your old favourites are there, but there are few I’d never heard of before, too. A well-curated and nicely illustrated list. Thanks, Jason!

And last but not least, The Foxloft has got three exclusive werewolf t-shirt designs you may want to check out – two by Kyhot, and one by Cara Mitten. All three are terrific, but Cara’s “White Werewolf” has an especially classic design that will appeal to fans of horror werewolves and those that prefer a more tribal aesthetic.

This concludes Werewolf Wednesday! I’m going to go look at pictures of Velma now.

…just what it was, it was a fake trailer for a Quentin Tarantino movie. That’s all it was ever suppose to be, it was never going to be a full movie.

I guess I’m not surprised, since he’s already downplayed the concept, but after years of hopeful rumour-mongering, it’s a shame to hear the official “no”. I’m in a conference hall in Boston right now, but as soon as I get back to my hotel room I’m going to listen to Werewolf, Baby! and have a little cry.

“Feeding Ground is an intense and terrifying thriller with a subtle but pointed commentary on immigration in modern America,” said Pressman. “The graphic novel is so cinematic in nature — as soon as I read it, I knew we could make a film that would resonate with a wide audience.”

I think “cinematic” is an understatement. After reading the first issue, I wrote that the “heat, desperation and simmering violence of the Busqueda family’s world is evident” in every panel, and if it can be successfully translated to the big screen… wow. I’m very excited for the three friends who created the book – Swifty, Michael and Chris. For more on the deal, including background on the names involved (Pressman’s done some fun stuff), read the whole article on the THR site. And if you haven’t read Feeding Ground yet, the first issue is available for free on Graphicly.com, and the whole thing is on Amazon for less than $20.

There’s so much great stuff crammed into this 10 minutes that I don’t even know where to begin. The detail on those suits are just incredible (those masks! those hands!), and it looks like the Lycan “performers” Richard Cetrone and Dan Payne had a lot of fun, despite the hardships of being stuck in skin-tight foam latex onesies for 12 hours at a time. Craig might not have been a fan of the film or the digital effects, but from the perspectives of craftsmanship and werewolf aesthetics, I think there’s a lot to like here. I’m going to pick up the Blu-ray this weekend, if only to watch Building A Better Lycan on something bigger than my Macbook. Many thanks to @Hoof_Pony for sending me the YouTube link!

It’s been six years since Beckinsdale last squeezed into her shiny black catsuit, and three since the previous entry in the series (which she sat out, presumably because it was set before the invention of latex), so Awakening opens with a brief recap just in case anyone in the audience somehow forgot that vampires and werewolves hate each other and choose to work out their differences by exchanging lots of gunfire. The difference this time is that humanity catches on to their existence (took us long enough) and sets about wiping out both races — an event pointedly referred to as “The Purge.” (Of course, now when I see the word “Purge,” the first thing that comes to mind is The Cabin in the Woods, for obvious reasons.) Beckinsdale is captured by the CDC and put on ice for 12 years, but she’s defrosted by another test subject and, despite not having a stitch on, manages to suit up without baring any nudity. (How convenient of the scientists to put her fetish gear on display in the same lab where she’s being kept in suspended animation.) From there she sets about tracking down the mysterious Subject 2, with whom she has a weird psychic connection, and getting to the bottom of what’s going on, because if she doesn’t figure it out, no one else will.

Filling out the production’s quota of well-respected actors from the British Isles in supporting roles are Stephen Rea (whose CV also includes the lycanthropic classic The Company of Wolves) as a scientist searching for a vaccine and Charles Dance as the head of a coven of vampires in hiding. The cast also includes Michael Ealy as a police detective on Beckinsdale’s trail, Theo James as a young vampire who lends a hand when she gets in a jam, and India Eisley as the elusive Subject 2, who turns out to be a 12-year-old girl. (No points for guessing who she’s related to.) There’s even a plot, but who cares about such piddling details when there are CGI werewolves to evaluate? The one note I scribbled down during the big chase scene was “pitiful CGI on the Lycans,” but even the hulking Uber-Lycan that shows up later didn’t look too hot. In fact, the effects in general were pretty cruddy throughout and, in a couple instances, were annoyingly ostentatious. (That’s 3-D for you.) I also lost count of all the visual effects houses listed in the closing credits, which practically took an entire reel to scroll by.

In spite of its readily apparent deficiencies, Underworld: Awakening somehow managed to be the highest-grossing entry in the series. (You’ve got to hand it to the fans, they’re certainly loyal.) When it comes to DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday, I’m sure it will do quite well there as well. One thing that strikes me, though, is the way the movies in the series have progressively shrunk over time. The first Underworld clocked in at just over two hours and had 13 more minutes added to its unrated extended cut. Underworld: Evolution was slightly leaner at 106 minutes, but that was nothing compared to Rise of the Lycans, which came in at a sleek 92 minutes. And the shrinkage continued unchecked with this film, with its anemic 88-minute running time. Of course, that’s including the credits, so it’s even more of a cheat when you think about it. I don’t care how many werewolves are in it, a 79-minute film with nine minutes of credits tacked onto the end is not good value for money.

The original 2005 script in today’s market has some things that have now been done. (cough cough).. even though we were going to do it first. However.. the general storyline will remain, and in that I offer you the 2005 Freeborn script to read. Some folks like reading books, and then seeing a movie adaptation. Similar, only its a screenplay for an actual movie. Check it out, comment, good AND bad. The idea is to get this out , and get folks excited, and into talking about it. Believe me, we’re listening… free to comment and talk about it at thepacksden.net or at the Freeborn facebook page.

I’m not familiar with the culture over at thepacksden.net, but I’ve got a half-formed picture in my mind courtesy of comments I’ve seen here and on Twitter, and if you’ll permit me to be reductive, that picture looks a lot more like a Goldenwolf piece than something by Viergacht. If that’s not what you’re hoping to get out of Freeborn, maybe it would be a good idea to check out the script and then leave your comments for Brownrigg and company. Someone whose opinion I respect already has, and there are many more Werewolf News readers that I’m sure will want to chime in. But friends? Maybe save the snark until you’ve read the script.

As a writer myself, and the spouse of an illustrator, it’s in my nature to root for independent creative types, particularly when they’re talented, focussed and driven. Those three words form a creative version of the Project Management Triangle, and to find all three of them in effect at the same time is extremely rare. Creative people who makes smart, cohesive and well-executed stuff wants to get their stuff out there so people can see it (and buy it), but for every Miss Monster or Scott C., there’s a hundred equally-talented creators who mean well but just can’t get their shit together. Rachel Deering is in the company of those creators that have somehow achieved the mystical trifecta, and Anathema’s first issue has already proved she knows how to use that condition to produce something awesome.

$4,480 is not an insignificant amount of money, but if everyone who’s visited Werewolf News in the last month put a quarter in the jar, we’d have helped her clear the hurdle with room to spare. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to pledge or not, please, now’s the time to make a no-risk, guaranteed-to-pay-off investment in something great. Remember, you get something for your contribution, and if the project doesn’t get funded, you don’t pay anything.

If you’ve already pledged something, consider following David Fuller’s example and boost your pledge amount a little bit. In fact, I’m going to go do that right now. Boosting my pledge from $75 to $85 means I get to buy two less coffees this month, and it gets me a tiny bit closer to enjoying a lesbian werewolf comic series created by someone who’s really good at it.

Like all the other creature effects in the film, the werewolf was created by AFX Studio. Apparently more photos of their work on the film are “coming soon”.

I would’ve been Finance’s “Ronald”.

A television production company in Los Angeles is currently trying to cast for a show dealing with Werewolves in the U.S. They are looking for an “ultimate werewolf fan”, at least 20 years old or older, that is a fanatic of werewolves movies, games, etc. The selected werewolf fanatic will be paid on a per-episode basis. Anybody interested may email their name, age, gender, location, short bio and a photo to werewolfaudition@gmail.com

So, there you go. It’s a shame I can’t say more, but I understand that TV production is a super competitive business, and it’s not a good idea to say too much about a show you’re trying to cast, lest other companies poach your ideas.

A week or two ago, I was asked to provide a Twitter signal boost for a search being undertaken to identify this handsome devil. A number of people came to our collective rescue and identified the creature as a were-hyena (or werewolf) created by Spectral Motion for an ultimately deleted scene from Blade: Trinity. Not content to leave it there, reader Nyetwerke sent in this video of Spectral staff building the suit. Fascinating stuff!

Hugh Sterbakov, Emmy-nominated and Annie Award-winning writer of Robot Chicken, has released his debut novel City Under The Moon. He was kind enough to provide me with a review copy, which I’ll be diving into during my train commutes starting next week. The opening page was enough to hook me – have a look at the sample and see for yourself. If you dig it, you can get it at a $4 discount on Amazon.

My cause of the month is coming along nicely! The Anathema Kickstarter is $6k-and-change away from its $20k goal, with a week and a half to go. I’ve pledged more money to it than I’ve spent on Werewolf News in the last year; if you haven’t pledged anything, I want you to feel bad about yourself for five seconds and then please, go chip in five or ten bucks. Remember, if the fundraising goal isn’t met, you don’t get charged.

Subterranean Press has just published a very bestial 5,600-word short story by Locus-nominated author and charming geek-dandy Hal Duncan. The title of the story is Sic Him, Hellhound! Kill! Kill! I made that link open in a new window so you can go read the story when you’re done here. Read it. It’s filthy in all the right ways.

My Werewolf Wednesday cohort David Fuller is in search of the best tune to wolf out to. Today he looks at 11 werewolf-related songs spanning a variety of genres (including a selection by yours truly), and asks you to vote for your favourite (or suggest your own). Have a listen!

Here’s some follow-up! As mentioned in the previous Werewolf Wednesday, Simon Sanchez wrote in to tell me about his comic Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space, but he neglected to provide a link. He’s now provided a link to the comic’s Facebook page, which contains purchase information and some delightfully campy samples.

And that concludes this Werewolf Wednesday! Thanks for reading!

I have been stuck on the new Chronicles of Riddick movie doing insane hours for the last few months… I finished Riddick last Saturday morning and I wanted to relax from all of the madness by spending a few days in my shop and working on a personal project for once. So I took out the molds [from a previous werewolf project] and casted new skins from them which I assembled on a foam mannequin. I seamed and painted the whole thing and did the hair work (which is still not completely done). I took a few pictures last night to see how it was looking on camera and thought that you might enjoy the results.

Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, who designed the creatures for all three films, and based on a story and screenplay that was the work of no less than five writers (including original director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Danny McBride), Rise of the Lycans tells how, well, the Lycans rose up against their vampire masters way back in the mists of time. It also doubles as the origin story for Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first Lycan, i.e. a werewolf who is able to take human form. (Much is made of the distinction between pure-blood werewolves, who are little more than savage beasts, and Lycans, who can be controlled and enslaved.)

Raised from birth by vampire leader Bill Nighy, Sheen grows up alongside Nighy’s daughter, who grows up to be the headstrong Rhona Mitra (and, not incidentally, his lover). Of course, this raises certain questions that the movie never pauses to consider. For instance, do vampire and werewolf children simply grow to a certain age and then stop? How does an immortal actually reach the point where they look middle-aged like Nighy or the other members of the vampire council? And furthermore, why am I bothered by these things if the people behind the series seemingly aren’t?

Anyway, also returning from previous installments are the impossibly deep-voiced Kevin Grevioux, who we first encounter as a human slave, and Steven Mackintosh, the vampire historian from the second film that I had completely forgotten about until I looked him up on Wikipedia. And I was happy to note that Paul Haslinger, formerly of Tangerine Dream, was brought back to provide the music. (He had scored the original Underworld but was apparently unavailable to perform those duties for Evolution.) That just leaves Kate Beckinsale out of the loop, since the events in the story take place long before she was turned (although she does provide the narration that opens the film and appears at the end courtesy of recycled footage from the first film).

Lest you think my goal is to bash this series in toto, I will say that Rise of the Lycans surprised me by being much better than I thought it would be. In fact, I’m prepared to go so far as to call it the best film in the series, which is saying something when you consider it’s basically a feature-length expansion of one of the flashbacks from the first film. And this is also in spite of the preponderance of pretentious dialogue and the monotonous blue light that every scene in bathed in, both of which are part and parcel of every Underworld movie. Some things you just can’t get away from. At least this installment, by virtue of its period settling, was able to do without all the tedious gun fights. Too bad they would be back with a vengeance when the time came to reawaken Kate Beckinsale and see if she could still fit into her shiny, black catsuit…

David Fuller has an excellent interview with Rachel Deering, writer / creator of that Anathema comic I’ve been crowing about lately. I’m always interested in hearing what creative werewolf fans have to say, especially those that can actually deliver on their creative vision. Rachel’s one of those.

Here are two nice lookin’ shirts on RedBubble, designed by HeartJack: Sons of Lycanthropy and Memorial Werewolf Hunt. Love the designs, although I can’t condone the second one.

I’ve only watched the first five minutes of RED MOON, a very silly but highly agreeable little film by Sirocco Research Labs. When I get a minute I’ll watch the rest for sure – I’m compelled by four words: Soviet werewolf submarine captain.

Want some more compelling words? Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space. This sounds like a Rob Zombie concept album, but it’s actually a graphic novel by Simon Sanchez and Dean Juliette. That’s literally all I know about it – Simon emailed me about it, but the email just said “‘Check out my new comic. It’s called “Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space.’ I have a fan page for it on Facebook.” No links or anything. So, maybe it’s good? If you read it, let me know.

Hannah Kate, proprietor of the She-Wolf blog and organizer of the upcoming Manchester Monster Conference, has just posted a delicious essay comparing the portrayal of werewolves and teenage girls in tween-targeted fiction. Monster High vs. Sweet Valley High was an excellent (if ultimately dispiriting) lunchtime read, especially if you’re familiar with either of the franchises.

Lastly, Werewolf News has a Pinterest account, which I hope will replace the now-defunct Fuzzy Camera. If you thought Pinterest was the domain of picky brides-to-be, amateur home decorators and fashionistas… you’d probably be right. But I aim to get some monstrous werewolf stuff in there! All up ins, to paraphrase Jerry Holkins.

And that concludes the first Werewolf News Werewolf Wednesday!

If you didn’t read that review, or if you are very forgetful, you can get acquainted with Anathema via this 5-page preview of issue 1. Or, avail yourself of this tidy summary from the new Kickstarter page:

Anathema is a six issue limited series horror comic that tells the story of Mercy Barlowe, a tormented young woman with a dark side. She must fight through treacherous lands and unspeakable horrors to reclaim her lover’s soul, which has been stolen by members of a sinister cult, bent on resurrecting a terrible and ancient evil.

In issue #1, we saw Mercy’s world torn asunder, and watched as she accepted the curse of the wolf. Can Mercy learn to harness her horrible new powers and stop the raven cult before they succeed in their vile plan? Mercy needs your help to see her journey through!

The campaign runs until April 30th, with a goal of $20,000. As I’m writing this, over $4,000 has been pledged so far. The money will pay for illustrator Chris Mooneyham and colourist Fares Maese to finish what they started: creating the visuals to accompany Rachel Deering‘s story. Given that the first issue’s goal was $6,000, we’re getting a pretty wicked discount on the remaining five. Your thrifty mom would totally approve (just don’t tell her it’s a horror comic about a lesbian werewolf avenging the murder and soul-theft of her lover – some moms get weird about that).

In addition to the comics themselves, there are some excellent pledge rewards, including a copy of the now-unavailable issue 1, original artwork pen & ink from issue 1, pinup art from Chris Mooneyham, and a general sense of satisfaction. I was too slow / poor to get the pledge item I really wanted ($500 for the 2-page spread of Mercy’s first transformation), but you can bet your ass I’ll be ponying up a solid contribution a little later this week.

Now, since I really believe this project needs to happen, I’m going to try a two-pronged approach for the “ask” portion of this post. If you are a nice and gentle person, read item 1 below. If you are a snarky comic snob, read item 2.

1. Werewolf friends, I implore you: help get this awesome comic series completed. I’ve chatted a bit with Rachel and she’s every bit as excited and committed to this project as Jeff Davis was about the Teen Wolf show (and look how that turned out). Alas, Rachel doesn’t have an MTV-style budget, so please consider pledging a few bucks. I will love you forever.
2. Only Kickstarter contributors and a lucky few reviewers got copies of Anathema’s 1st issue. When positive reviews started popping up, Twitter and the blog-o-sphere began to roil with the mewling cries of comics fans who missed the boat the first time around. If your voice was among that warbling cacophony, here’s a second chance to climb aboard. Stop scratching that neckbeard and get your credit card out!

In conclusion, Rachel Deering makes a good comic and you should help her out. Thank you and good day.

Nice work by La Pompadour!