Film, Television & Music – Page 73

Dylan Dog and Groucho Headed for the Big Screen

According to The Hollywood Reporter, production of the werewolf / vampire / zombie film Dead of Night starts today in New Orleans. The makeup effects are being handled by Greg Cannom and DRAC Studios, and if those names ring a bell, it’s probably because they just took home the makeup Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and they’re doing work on the forthcoming graphic novel blockbuster Watchmen.

Dead of Night is an adaptation of Tiziano Sclavi’s Dylan Dog, an Italian horror comic from 1986. According to Wikipedia,

Dylan Dog is a penniless nightmare investigator who defies the whole preceding horror tradition with a vein of surrealism and an anti-bourgeois rhetoric… Dylan lives with Groucho at 7 Craven Road in a cluttered apartment with a doorbell that screams. His hobbies include playing the clarinet and constructing model ship; he has many phobias, including claustrophobia, bats and heights. Dylan is also particularly susceptible to motion sickness, which is one of the reasons why he rarely travels.

Seems like a lot of dark humour is involved… let’s hope this one survives the transition to the big screen!

Angela Quinton Feb. 26th 2009

Tony Slotslider’s Book Of Terror – “Thriller” With Werewolves, in 48 Hours

Say what you will about Michael Jackson… Thriller was an amazing video when it first came out in 1983, and it’s still pretty awesome today. Jimi Cuell feels the same way, and last October, he and his dedicated crew of dancers / zombies / 80’s fashion victims / filmmakers collaborated to create an homage that is both hilarious and impressive.

Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is an eight-minute short film that Cuell & friends wrote, shot and edited, all within 48 hours. Madness, you say? Nay, friends, it’s the Bloodshots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Contest. Cuell’s group was required to create a film in the werewolf genere, and they had a few other guidlines as well– they had to include an occult book as a prop, and use the line “this picture looks familiar” as part of the dialog. “We came up with the idea in something like 10 minutes,” Cuell told The Vancouver Courier. “And then we went straight home and started working on the song and that took three hours or so. We wrote the lyrics accordingly and went and grabbed a werewolf mask and just went from there.” See the results for yourself!

Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is being screened at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Centre on Friday the 27th (tomorrow!) at 9:30 AM, as part of the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth. Jimi Cuell will be in attendance, so be sure to impress him with your dance moves.

Angela Quinton Feb. 26th 2009

Sci Fi to Air “War Wolves” As Part Of A Werewolf Movie Marathon

ArcLight writes in to let us all know that the Sci Fi original movie War Wolves will premiere as part of Sci Fi’s werewolf movie marathon on March 8th. Check out a synopsis and trailer below.

Jack Ford leads a special forces unit back to the United States to hunt down Jake Gabriel, a soldier who has been infected with the werewolf virus that turns man into wolf. Little does Jack know that three of the female soldiers serving in his unit have also been infected and have already transformed into she-wolves. The she-wolves forces of evil and Ford’s special op forces of good, are pitted against each other in the race to save mankind from turning into wolves.

War Wolves will be airing at 9PM local time, towards the end of a full day’s worth of werewolf movie programming on Sci Fi. Other titles in the day’s schedule include Dog Soliders, Cursed and another Sci Fi original, Never Cry Werewolf. Check out the Werewolf Events Calendar for a full lineup of titles and times.

Angela Quinton Feb. 19th 2009

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)!

Angela Quinton Feb. 18th 2009

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.

Angela Quinton Feb. 16th 2009

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.

Angela Quinton Feb. 16th 2009

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.

Angela Quinton Feb. 13th 2009

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.

Angela Quinton Jan. 2nd 2009

Holiday Recap

Hey, everyone. Hope you all had a great holiday. I know December was kind of a spotty month at Werewolf News, with fairly sporadic posts, but as the new year approaches it’s time to get things back on track. I have a couple of new features planned for the site, which I aim to have set up by mid-January (real-life work permitting), so check back in the next two weeks for a Werewolf Event Calendar and… well, let me get things working first and then you can check ’em out.

Here are some recent news tidbits that I haven’t had a chance to write up.

Fox is moving ahead with the Michael Dougherty drama/comedy “Bitches”, about four female werewolves living in New York City.
A third poster for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans has been released, this one featuring Lucian… in human form, alas.
Image’s new comic imprint Man of Action is launching Bad Dog, a title about a hard-drinking Texas bounty hunter who’s also a werewolf who refuses to return to human form. 2009 is looking like a good year for werewolf comics!
You know Proposition 8, that unfortunate law that robbed same-sex couples in California of certain basic rights? According to The Onion, there was a typographical error in the paperwork that actually means Proposition 8 is good news for same-sex werewolf couples. Hooray for gay (werewolf) rights!

That’s it for now!

Angela Quinton Dec. 26th 2008

Fangs and Fur

Fangs and Fur is a new documentary by Italian filmmaker and wildlife photographer Michele Cogliati. In the 10-minute made-for-web film, Cogliati discusses the historical link between wolves, werewolves, human serial killers and cannibalism.

“The wolf is a pack hunter and a daylight predator,” Cogliati explains. “The werewolf is a lone hunter and often depicted as a night stalker. I have a few answers to justify these remarkable differencies that I’d like to share.”

The entire documentary is available for free at www.fangsandfur.com, as either streaming video or just the narration audio. I found it an interesting listen– what did you think?

Angela Quinton Dec. 15th 2008