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!
Author: Angela Quinton
Angela Quinton is a writer, designer and web developer from Canada. She's also a colossal werewolf nerd who wrote her first werewolf story on her mom's typewriter at age 11. When not writing code or geeking out over werewolf stuff, Angela runs trails, spots trains, and throws rocks at the Pacific Ocean. She lives near Vancouver, Canada, with their lovely and tolerant wife, three feline malcontents and an increasingly terrible dachshund.
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.
More Mezco Wolf Man Photos
Figures.com has posted some new photos of the 7- and 12-inch Mezco Wolf Man figures, including wicked-looking “bloody” variants of each. Mezco’s detail pages for these figures don’t include any info on the bloody versions, so I’m not sure when or how they’ll be made available, but rest assured, when I know, you’ll know. Of further note is Mezco’s ship dates for these: the 7-inch version now ships “mid to late October 2009″, probably to coincide with the film’s release date, but the 12-inch version apparently still ships in late April. I’m not sure if that’s an oversight or a deliberate decision, but in any case you can still pre-order both versions. Thanks for the tip, ArcLight.
Happy Horny Werewolf Day
Hey, everyone. Happy Horny Werewolf Day.
As per Warren Ellis:
Valentine’s Day is a Christian corruption of a pagan festival involving werewolves, blood and fucking. So wish people a happy Horny Werewolf Day and see what happens.
Yeah, I should warn you all, I’m apt to act immediately on advice given by the guy who wrote Transmetropolitan.
Dire Wolf Trailer
If you like B-movies and unapologetic gore, you’ll want to check out the trailer (below) for Dire Wolf, a new werewolf movie from Fred Olen Ray and Retromedia Entertainment. Ray’s credits include Tomb of the Werewolf, Super Ninja Bikini Babes and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, so be aware that you probably don’t want to show this trailer to your mom.
Monty Python-style gore, a storyline borrowed from Jurassic Park and a werewolf costume that’s not obscured by cheesy, shadowy night shots? This looks like a lot of schlocky, low-budget, tongue-in-cheek fun. Check out direwolfmovie.org for photos and more info.
The Hippest Werewolf on the Sweetest Shirt
The unstoppable ArcLight has alerted me to yet another werewolf t-shirt, this one by Toronto-based artists and art school graduates Rose Chang and Stephanie Drabik. Rose and Stephanie have formed Crywolf Clothing, and they’ve just launched their Spring 2009 line. Among the clever designs is what I can only describe as an extremely indie werewolf. While Matthew’s werewolf is out shredding his inflatable guitar, Rose and Stephanie’s werewolf is in the library, listening to Midlake and reading Hemmingway. I have to admit, I’m more of the Midlake type myself.
The shirt is available in men’s and ladies styles for $25 Canadian. You have absolutely no excuse to refrain from buying this shirt.
“Werewolf” by Steve Lambe
This werewolf knows what Halloween is all about, and he’s here to remind you that the next one is only nine months away. Better get crackin’ on those wolfy costumes. You might consider his pants as a good starting point.
Steve Lambe is a kick-ass character designer out of Burbank, California. His official site is down for a redesign at the moment, but I strongly urge you to check out his blog, which is loaded with tons of amazing artwork– everything from monsters like this werewolf (who has adorned my desktop for the past three weeks) to Little Golden Book and Richard Scarry homages. Great stuff!
Naptime Is Over
Hey. I inadvertently took s few weeks off… again. Good thing I’m not getting paid to run this site, huh? :D
No, seriously, time to get back to it. More updates, features and Weekly Werewolf Art coming up this weekend. Thanks for reading.
Rick Baker on “The Wolfman”
Crave Online has a two-page interview with Rick Baker, whose special effects genius brought us pretty much every fantastic silver–screen werewolf of the past 30 years. A lot of the interview is similar to ones conducted by MTV and ShockTilYouDrop back in August– Baker talks about how The Wolfman star Benicio del Toro already sort of looks like a werewolf, his rocky relationship with CG effects and his reasons for continuing to develop “old school” makeup and prosthetic techniques despite CG’s capabilites (hint: he says “I like making the sh*t.”).
What’s interesting are Baker’s comments on the challenges of making a dramatic transformation sequence out of a werewolf that’s relatively low-key compared to the ones in AWIL and The Howling.
I kind of said, “To be honest with you, I don’t know how we do this transformation. I don’t know how we make an American Werewolf in London kind of a thing out of this slight change.” His nose is only this much longer. His teeth grow and some things… he’s not a four-legged thing. His feet do get a little more doglike and the hands grow claws and stuff. There’s things we can do but also how do you do it and try to make it original. After Werewolf and the Howling movies, how many times can we see these stretchy faces and claws busting through and all that stuff.
Rick, I think I speak for werewolf fans everywhere when I say that the stretchy faces and claws busting through are exactly what we want… but if anyone can some up with something better, it’s you.