Category: Film, Television & Music

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

First Trailer for Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

Edit: Apparently this trailer wasn’t supposed to get out. It’s been set to “private” by the YouTube user who posted it, the official-looking DylanDogFilms. There were a few other copies re-uploaded, but they’ve been removed via copyright claims. Hey DylanDogFilms, what the hell? I’m leaving this embedded video here just in case it ever becomes public again.

Fans of the original Italian comic book might have mixed feelings about some of the liberties taken with the characters and story, but I thoroughly enjoyed this trailer for the film adaptation of Dylan Dog. The first scene depicts a werewolf getting punched out with a silver knuckle-duster, and I’m okay with this, because the movie looks like a lot of goofy 80’s style monster fun (despite the tiresome “vampires taking over the world” trope). Also influencing me is the fact that Dylan is played by Brandon Routh, who I am currently unable to see as anyone other than Todd Ingram.

Aug. 17th 2010

Yes, there’s a werewolf in “13 Hrs”, and here it is!

Fresh from Shock Till You Drop, here’s a first look at the werewolf from the upcoming horror movie “13 Hrs”. Yikes!




There are two more, both showing some of the body, so go check them out if you’re curious.

13 Hrs premieres Saturday, August 28th at the London FrightFest in Leicester Square, London. I can’t go, being on a totally different continent, but if you’re lucky enough to see it… I hate you. Tell me what it was like.

Aug. 9th 2010

CS-UGH (in which I get cranky about werewolves on TV)

Oh good, CSI creator/writer Anthony Zuiker just told Deadline that they’re planning an episode for the original, Vegas-based show “about a vampire and werewolf convention”. You can tell he’s on a real creative roll because in the same paragraph he mentions Justin Bieber and a shark in a swimming pool. This is going to be fucking great. I’ll have to make room for that on my DVR, along with all those episodes of “The Gates” and “Vampire Diaries” I’m watching while I BeDazzle another “Team Jacob” t-shirt to sell on Etsy. Seriously, get Rob Zombie to direct that CSI episode or don’t even bother squeezing Laurence into that suit.

Won’t someone please bring werewolves to North American prime time TV in a way that celebrates and enjoys the horror roots of the monster? The closest thing to a horror werewolf we’ve got on TV right now is a show about a serial killer / lab geek in the Miami Metro Police Department. I love you, Dex, but I’d love you even more if you were all about fur and claws instead of rubber aprons and bone saws.

I’m cranky. I’m going to have some tea and listen to some old Mighty Boosh radio shows.

Aug. 9th 2010

“An American Werewolf in London” remake official; script by “The Number 23” writer

As reported first in the LA Times (and then quickly picked up by a dozen other movie news sites), the Weinstein Co. division of Dimension Films is moving ahead with a remake of “An American Werewolf in London”. The script will be written by Fernley Phillips, whose only other writing credit seems to be “The Number 23” (yes, the movie where a “dark” Jim Carrey plays a saxophone). When AWIL’s original writer and director John Landis sold the rights to the remake last year, I was cautiously neutral. 13 months can change a lot in a man, and my current feelings on the matter are much more focused:

Dimension? Fernley Phillips? Do not fuck this up. Give Rick Baker a blank cheque and convince Edgar Wright to direct and you might have a shot. Otherwise, put the whole thing back on the shelf and back away slowly.

Image credit: Alex Proimos

Aug. 6th 2010

Trailer for “Vampires Suck”: I will see this movie on general principles

It’s basically a “Twilight” spoof by the same people who did “Scary Movie” and its sequels, “Disaster Movie”, “Date Movie”, “Meet the Spartans”, etc. I will still be seeing it because I identify strongly with its message.

Hat tip: Graham T

Aug. 2nd 2010

“Strippers vs. Werewolves” is a movie that is happening. Sorry.

Dread Central has the exclusive first word and concept art for a film that sounds like just the thing to take Mom to see on her birthday: “Strippers vs. Werewolves”. Producer Jonathan Sothcott has this to say:

Werewolves are the hardest monsters to get right on film – and I don’t just mean the special effects. Straight werewolf movies often come across as outrageous comedies – Howling 2, Silver Bullet, etc., and werewolf comedies don’t tend to be cinematic gold (though I have a soft spot for the delirious Haunted Honeymoon), but I’m enough of a genre buff to know that this one’s very special indeed and is going to be brilliant fun – think Shaun of the Dead meets Bitchslap in the style of The Howling, and you’re getting the idea.

I’m getting a few ideas, and they all start with me holding my poor head in my hands and end with me yelling a lot. The whole “vs.” thing only works if there’s a natural tension between the combatants or if it’s a particularly clever pairing. This doesn’t strike me as clever, and I don’t think strippers and lycanthropes are enemies (in as much as either entity can get along with others). I just can’t imagine this is going to work out well, especially given the “concept art”, which looks like the result of a quick search on Renderotica.com and five minutes in Photoshop. I love being wrong about these things, though!

Hat tip: ArcLight

Aug. 2nd 2010

Trailer for Syfy’s “Red” Contains Felicia Day, Clips From “The Howling” and Cheese

Syfy has posted the first trailer for their latest original movie, “Red”, staring Felicia Day. I have a feeling this got rushed out for SDCC (assuming that’s where it was shown), because it looks a little disjointed and they’ve cut in some werewolf footage from “The Howling” to pad it out. Weird! Overall it looks pretty cheesy, but I think that’s sort of the point– Syfy original movies aren’t expected to bring home any award hardware.

It says something about Syfy’s production values that practical werewolf effects from 1981 look better than the CGI werewolves they came up with on their own.

Hat tip: ArcLight

Jul. 25th 2010

MTV’s “Teen Wolf” Will Have Three Types of Werewolves, May Not Be Terrible After All

Finally, someone at San Diego Comic-Con with an interest in horror has some info about MTV’s Teen Wolf show. Nomad at Dread Central got some interesting and somewhat encouraging news from producer Jeff Davis. Of particular interest are these two tidbits:

– KNB FX [sic] is handling the PRACTICAL effects!! The look of the werewolves (yes, I said “werewolves” plural) was very important so they brought in the best.

– There will be three types of werewolves in this show, all with a different look.

KNB EFX has got some pretty serious chops in the realm of practical effects, and they’ve done werewolves before too: for Wes Craven’s “Cursed” (pictured on the right) and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”. I am now cautiously optimistic about this!

Jul. 24th 2010

SDCC Exclusive: Dark Shadows “Chris Jennings” Action Figure from Spectre Toys

Those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be attending San Diego Comic-Con right now have a new reason to cry a little harder, especially the “Dark Shadows” fans. Entertainment Earth, those venerable purveyors of stuff I wanna buy, are selling a Dark Shadows Werewolf Action Figure, made by Spectre Toys and based on the character Chris Jennings. If you’re at SDCC you can just walk right up to booth #2343 and buy one right on the spot. Otherwise you can place a pre-order through the Entertainment Earth web site for an August release. Chris looks a little too much like Chewbacca for my tastes, but what the heck!

Jul. 22nd 2010

USA Weekend Interviews Russell Tovey of “Being Human”

Warning: Spoilers! People are starting to get excited about “Being Human” again, what with the first season being out on DVD, shooting of the third series underway and the main cast attending SDCC for a panel this Friday. Yesterday USA Weekend posted an interesting interview with Russell Tovey, who plays dweeby nurse / reluctant werewolf George. Tovey talks about how his character has evolved as a man (and as a werewolf), the uncomfortable realities of having to film a transformation scene in the nude, and how other werewolf characters look to him for cues on how to handle their own transformations:

When I did it, they just basically stripped me, threw me into a room and said, “Scream.” [Laughs] I was thrown right in the deep end so I’ve found my own language of it. Now they watch me to see how to do it, which is a massive compliment. I always felt like I wanted it to seem the most painful thing in the world, which it’s meant to be. I thought, “You’ve got to go for this because if you don’t and you do it halfheartedly, people watching it go, ‘Well, I don’t believe that’ or ‘He doesn’t look like he’s in pain,’ and it would just ruin it.

Read the whole interview here.

Jul. 21st 2010