Category: Film, Television & Music

Believe it or not, there are werewolf movies other than “An American Werewolf in London”.

Syfy’s “Monsterwolf” airs this weekend. Here’s a clip!

Syfy is getting their werewolf thing on this Halloween, which I have noted and carefully marked under the “good news” column on my report. First up is “Monsterwolf”, a Syfy original movie that airs this Saturday the 9th at 9PM E / 8PM C. It stars Robert Picardo, Jason London, Leonor Varela, Griff Furst and Steve Reevis (I know someone who will be excited to see Picardo’s involved in a “wolf” project!). Syfy’s other werewolf movie, “Red”, airs October 30th.

So what do we know about Monsterwolf, other than the presence of a presumably monstrous wolf? The story’s got a rather nifty ecological angle that isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but I think adds a nice “root for the bad guy” aspect.

A creature of ancient legend manifests, bound to protect the ecological balance of the land and killing anyone that threatens it. This elusive guardian is initially both feared and celebrated by the locals, but when a deadly curse affects them all, they must unite and recapture the monster wolf’s spirit or face their ultimate doom.

I wonder what the symptoms of this curse are? Having watched this clip from Syfy (yes there’s a big wolf-beast in it) one might assume two of the symptoms are increased pain tolerance and strength– that lady breaks the upstairs window like it was a big sheet of puddle ice.

If you crave more info about Monsterwolf, direct your attention to the official Facebook page.

Oct. 7th 2010

Get ready to cringe! Dialog from The Howling III + a solid gold quote from The Howling II

The last line of dialog in this clip from The Howling III is making the rounds today as a candidate for “the worst line ever” in a movie. I… I might agree with that. It’s definitely one of the lowest points in an already cringeworthy movie. But coincidentally, there’s a short exchange in The Howling II that never fails to make me chuckle with genuine glee:  Jenny, What’d He Say? [mp3]. So absurd! Ben, you skeptical fool!

Sep. 30th 2010

Michael J. Fox might just possibly (maybe) have a role in MTV’s “Teen Wolf” remake

Normally I’m not big on posting about totally unsubstantiated rumours, but this one is too awesome to skip. Word on the Internets is that MTV is trying their hardest to get original Teen Wolf star and all-around awesome guy Michael J. Fox to accept a role as a “recurring character” on their in-the-works Teen Wolf remake. Given that Fox has basically stopped acting in order to focus on his Parkinson’s research foundation, I don’t know how plausible this is, but… what if it happens? From its “kissable” werewolves to its darker, horror-based theme, this production seems all over the map– it’s certainly got my attention!

Sep. 29th 2010

Okay, okay, we get it! Kate Beckinsale is officially starring in Underworld 4

The Hollywood Reporter and every other film news site / blog are suddenly all very excited that Kate Beckinsale will have a role in the fourth Underworld film, despite the fact having been reported over a month ago. No other information has been released, so I’m not sure what triggered the hubbub, but here we are. Production starts here in Vancouver next March, with a theatrical release tentatively slated for January 2012.

Sep. 29th 2010

Victoria Justice on being a werewolf for Nickelodeon

Reader ArcLight sent me this link about upcoming Nickelodeon film “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf” and actress Victoria Justice yesterday. I’m going to quote his email because it does the job nicely:

Hey…remember that Brooke Shields werewolf thing for Nickelodeon? I didn’t either but apparently it’s airing this October. Here’s a short bit with one of the actresses.

If you have an aversion to clicking on links or the New York Post web site, here’s the pertinent text:

“I got to do most of the prosthetic work and the transformation [into a werewolf] was all me,” Justice says, adding that she had to spend three hours in the makeup chair to get the werewolf prosthetics glued onto her face. “The cool thing about it is that I don’t look pretty at all, I look disgusting — like a beast.

“There’s a werewolf suit that somebody [else] had to operate,” she admits. “I’m 105 pounds, so there’s no way [she could’ve worn it]. I would’ve passed out from heat stroke.”

Some people have all the luck. You can see Justice as a “disgusting beast” when the movie airs on October 22nd.

Sep. 23rd 2010

Werewolf, Vampire, Mummy & other monsters to throw down in Monster Brawl’s pay-per-view wrestling match

“Monster Brawl” is an upcoming Canadian horror-comedy film in which eight wrestlers fight to the death in a Pay-Per-View tournament held in an abandoned and cursed graveyard. The competitors? A vampire, a witch, a mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, a zombie, a werewolf, a swamp creature, and Cyclops. I think Dread Central said it best: “the title and the concept sound like the basis for an old NES video game.” I would have added the words “awesome” and “kick-ass” in there somewhere, but, you know. I’m excitable.

My Google-fu couldn’t produce much more about this film besides that Dread Central post and some local news articles (Ready for the Monster Brawl? and Zombie for a day), but the few details are tantalizing: Lance Henriksen and Dave Foley have roles, as do WWF / WCW manager Jimmy Hart, MMA ass-kicker/ref Herb Dean and a number of other wrestling stars from the 90’s. It’s being produced by Ontario’s Foresight Features and should be out next year, hopefully accompanied by a downloadable 8-bit style wrestling game.

Sep. 21st 2010

Mark Romanek Explains Why He Bailed From “The Wolfman”: The Producers Were Idiots

In a recent FirstShowing.net interview to promote his latest film “Never Let Me Go”, director Mark Romanek explains why he walked away from “The Wolfman” with only three weeks of pre-production left.

And then I got involved in The Wolfman which was exciting because I was going to work with Benicio Del Toro. And I wanted to reinvent that genre and make this dark, rich, intelligent Jungian kind of piece that I was hoping could totally work as populist entertainment and yet be legitimate, like be an intelligent film that might even be critically well-received. And I just could never get on the same page with the producers about what it should be. I think they were scared of doing it the way I was suggesting. There was so much money involved that I ultimately couldn’t convince them of my idea of the film.

Read more at FirstShowing.net — the bit about The Wolfman is roughly halfway down the page.

Mark’s comments are very much in line with what Rick Baker had to say about the producers meddling and waffling on the werewolf design. Mark’s a great director, but with such spineless people in charge, had he stayed on I doubt he could have done much better than Joe Johnston did. What a shame. If only Bill Carraro, Ryan Kavanaugh and Jon Mone had trusted the people they hired.

Sep. 9th 2010

“Teen Wolf” pilot analysis & transformation photo

This is a month old, but interesting nevertheless. TheTorchOnline.com has an in-depth analysis of the pilot of MTV’s “Teen Wolf” remake, including quotes from executive producer / writer Jeff Davis and lead actor Tyler Posey. There’s also a rather boring photo of Posey’s transformation. One of the most telling quotes is from Davis, regarding the design of the show’s werewolves. Apparently there will be three kinds of werewolves– Alpha, Beta and Omega, with the Alpha being the most monstrous and the Omega looking like a straight-up wolf. And what’s the driving force behind the werewolf designs?

“The way we like to put it is, the other werewolf shows and movies have werewolves you can pet,” Davis said. “We wanted to have one you could kiss.”

Oh super. I think MTV and werewolf fans like you and I have different ways of assessing a werewolf’s kissability.

Read the whole post for more information.

Hat tip: Jason

Sep. 7th 2010

I’d have gone with the Chicken Nugget Burger

I saw this German Burger King ad on The Red Project and loved it. Great character design, especially on the Wolf.

Hey, it’s Saturday morning.

Sep. 4th 2010

Arrow In The Head gives us a first look at a “Howling Reborn” werewolf

Arrow In The Head is responsible for me fruitlessly using the “Sharpen” filter in Photoshop a whole lot this afternoon. They’ve got an exclusive first look at one of the werewolf designs being used in “The Howling Reborn” via a blurry photo from the set. I’m not sure who sent them the photo, but it came with this description:

The werewolf you see below is one of the henchmen werewolves. Flat snout. The head werewolves have the classic HOWLING sticking out snouts. I know you’re all better people for knowing this.

Conspicuously missing from that description is an explanation of the giant ears, the smaller-than-a-human’s nose and the Henry Rollins neck. Partial credit for originality and using practical effects instead of CG, but c’mon. Whoever approved the maquette for this design obviously look at it from the side.

Update: okay, it’s not as bad as that. I got carried away. There are definitely things I’d change about the design, but overall it’s pretty cool.

Hat-tip: @Karwood_Pub via @_Mjollnir_

Sep. 2nd 2010