In case you didn’t already hear the bad news, the Werewolf: The Series DVD set that Shout! Factory was working on has been scrapped indefinitely, thanks to the greed of the music industry. Two of the bands whose songs were used in scenes refused to grant permission to use the music for the same scenes on the DVD. None of the official sources are naming the bands, but if word around the campfire is true, these assholes wanted more money than Shout! Factory was reasonably able to pay. The audio tracks for the scenes were mixed down, so the offending songs and the critical dialog can’t be separated and re-mixed with different, less-made-by-greedy-clowns songs. I’m sharing this now because the original posts I made about the DVD set are still getting a lot of (presumably hopeful) traffic.
Category: Film, Television & Music
Believe it or not, there are werewolf movies other than “An American Werewolf in London”.
The Last Werewolves of October
Here’s an assortment of items that have hit my inbox over the course of October, but that I’ve been too busy or distracted to post.
- The Yorkshire Post has an interview with Jenny Agutter, who played nurse Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London. She discusses her role in AWIL and talks about how the audience reacted to the initial screening of the film.
- The Grosse Pointe Farms Department of Public Works in Michigan is home to a boulder that bears the footprint of Le Loup Garou, the werewolf of Grosse Pointe. Hooray for urban legends!
- Here’s a printable 3D werewolf paper craft, in case you’re locked in a room with a colour printer and 15 minutes to kill. I may have crafted one of these for my office desk.
- pjstar.com has an interview with Professor Leslie Sconduto, author of “Metamorphoses of the Werewolf: A Literary Study from Antiquity through the Renaissance”. Choice quote: “There’s a werewolf for everyone. Each to its own. One to suit each taste.”
- Champions Online is running a game event called “Blood Moon“, wherein the game’s world is overrun with werewolves, vampires and other monstrous creatures. Players can battle (and become) these monsters, and of course there’s a number of werewolf-related items to be had. There’s a free trial available for anyone who wants to try the game out, but it expires at 10 AM Pacific on November 2nd. That’s in, like, 10 hours. Hurry! HURRY!
- The BSC Beat has an interview with Mark Chadbourn, author of the recently-released Hellboy novel Hellboy: The Ice Wolves
. You can read a preview of The Ice Wolves at the Dark Horse web site.
- Scribblenauts is an interesting game that’s just come out for the Nintendo DS. The idea is to solve puzzles by typing in the name of virtually any object you can think of that might help. That object then appears in the game and does its thing, whether it’s a ball, a chainsaw or a platypus. You can probably guess where I’m going with this… yes, you can summon werewolves. Here’s a Youtube video of two garlic and stake-infused werewolves scaring a vampire to death. I want this game just so I can do that, over and over.
- Cinematical explains why it’s worth it to replace your DVD copy of An American Werewolf in London with the recently released Full Moon Edition
- I also wish I had an Xbox 360. The LIVE Marketplace has got werewolf costumes for your Xbox 360 Avatar.
Many thanks to people who submitted these items!
True Blood to add Werewolf Character Alcide Herveaux in Season 3
E! Online is reporting that HBO’s super-popular supernatural drama True Blood will add an actual werewolf character – sorry, Sam –in season three: fan-favourite (fans of the books, anyway) Alcide Herveaux. This is another show I haven’t seen yet (I really need to figure out my roommate’s DVR) but judging from the enthusiasm of my prime-time TV-crazed co-workers, True Blood seems to be… pretty good. In any case, it’s bound to get better with the addition of a werewolf (doesn’t everything get better when you add a werewolf? Oh, wait. I guess not).
Syfy to Create American Remake of BBC’s “Being Human”
Reuters and SCI FI Wire are reporting that Syfy (formerly and less ridiculously known as the Sci Fi Channel) is planning an Americanized remake of “Being Human“, the BBC’s popular comedy-drama about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost living together in Bristol. “It turned out great as we can now do an American version,” Syfy president Dave Howe told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’ve always been keen on vampires and werewolves, and we loved the originality of ‘Being Human,’ the fact that the fantastical creatures in it are very young, accessible and charming.”
Despite Dave’s peppy attitude, reactions of fans of the original series seems to be largely negative. io9’s Meredith Woerner makes some great observations about the cultural and class differences between US and UK audiences that will probably result in much of the show’s charm being lost, and regarding the Dave Howe quote above, she notes: “They loved the originality of it so much, they decided to remake it.”
I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t seen Being Human at all, other than a behind-the-scenes feature on show’s formidable werewolf transformation effects. I am definitely going to track it down this weekend, though– it sounds like I’m missing out on a real phenomenon, and I’d like to experience it before it gets “remixed”, American-style.
“I Was A Tranny Werewolf” Trailer – Probably NSFW, Definitely Fabulous
“Gayploitation” filmmaker Lola Rocknrolla has combined two of this Werewolf News poster’s favourite things in one campy, ridiculous short film. “I Was A Tranny Werewolf” premiered last week at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. No word yet on when the whole thing will be available to watch / purchase for those who didn’t see it then, but if Lola’s filmography is any indication, this should be worth watching– if only so you can throw your mascara and popcorn at the screen. Oh yeah, you probably shouldn’t watch this trailer at work if your workplace is humour-deficient. That’s a lot of hair!
Thanks to Viergacht for the link. And to those who know me IRL: yeah, I know.
Animal Planet Airing “Werewolves: The Dark Survivors” Tonight
Werewolves: The Dark Survivors (originally titled We’rewolves) is airing tonight on Animal Planet. It’s a two-hour special shot in a faux-documentary style that examines what the world would be like if werewolves really existed. If you miss it tonight, don’t worry– it’s airing six times in total before the end of the month. It sure sounds like an interesting concept! If you see it, leave a comment below to let your fellow werewolf fans know what you think!
Set Your TV Dial to “Werewolf”
“Wolf” wrote in with a reminder that the History Channel is running two werewolf-related shows on Wednesday, October 28th.
08:00 PM MonsterQuest: American Werewolf
The werewolf is a centuries-old legend based on myth, not a real animal. However, local eyewitnesses in Wisconsin and Michigan report seeing a dogman–a tall hairy man-beast. Professional hunters and trackers armed with tranquilizer guns will be deployed in an area of recent sightings to find this creature. For the first time polygraphs and hypnosis will be used on eyewitnesses with astonishing results. One-part history, one-part science and one part monster, discover the truth behind legendary monsters.
09:00 PM The Real Wolfman
Follow veteran criminal profiler George Deuchar and renowned cryptozoologist, Ken Gerhardt as they investigate the legend of the notorious Wolfman. Between the years of 1764 and 1767, the small French hamlet of Gevaudan was plagued by a mysterious beast that attacked and killed 102 villagers. The victims (mostly women and children) were all maliciously mauled and decapitated. All bore the bite marks of a non-human creature, and even more bizarre, many victims were found undressed and sexually assaulted. For centuries, the true identify of this mysterious “wolfman” has remained a mystery. Digging deeply into the mythology of Werewolves, they uncover reported paranormal transformations, diseases that make men look and act like animals, strange but true stories of children raised by wolves, and the truth about wolfsbane and silver bullets. Their modern-day forensic investigation leads them to the horrific truth behind the Werewolf murders.
The Wolf-Thing In Cirque du Freak Is Pretty Silly
Cirque du Freak, the recently-released film starring John C. Reilly, has a wolfman in it, and it’s… well… they obviously chose to design it for the screen like that– the production values of the film are too high for this goofy-looking thing to be the result of low-budget ineptitude. Here’s a Youtube clip of the wolfman (graciously linked by Viergacht) just in case the photo above doesn’t do it for you. The question is, “why does he look like that?” The wolfman on the cover of The Vampire’s Assistant (one of the book in the series that inspired the film) looks like an actual wolfman. What you see in the film is the werewolf equivalent of a guy who wears his underpants over top of his jeans because he’s not paying attention. What do you think?
Also, while I love John C. Reilly, to me he will always be Dr. Steve Brule. For your health!
The Pig Did Not Wield The Sledgehammer Correctly, and Was Defeated
A friend sent this to me, assuming that I would enjoy seeing a dapper stop-motion wolf dismantling a psychotic stop-motion pig. His assumption was correct; now I’m sharing it with you. If you like explicit stop-motion gore and mildly sexual situations, you will like this. If you do not like those things, please leave the Internet right away.
This is just the right thing for a Friday afternoon.
Watch the new Wolfman Trailer
HOMG amazing transformation shots. That is all.