Category: Film, Television & Music

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

Behind the Scenes of the Being Human Werewolf Transformation

Russell Tovey - Werewolf Transformation

One of the better things about the BBC is Being Human, a drama about three twenty-something roommates who also happen to be a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf (George Sands, played by Russell Tovey). The Being Human mini-site recently posted a video feature about the special effects behind last year’s season-finale werewolf transformation. For those of us who don’t live in the UK (and consequently can’t view any of the BBC’s video content without dealing with proxies), trusty YouTube saves the day. Enjoy!

This looks like a lot of work, but it also looks like a lot of fun. What werewolf fan wouldn’t willingly undergo hours of excrutiating makeup for an experience like this (at least once)?

Mar. 20th 2009

Zuda Comic’s High Moon to be a Film?

ShockTillYouDrop.com and BloodyDisusting.com are both reporting on a Production Weekly update that mentions a werewolf script getting some attention in Hollywood these days. From the PW post:

In Eddie Nickerson’s horror Western ‘High Moon’ a reckless outlaw is a small town’s only hope for survival from a vicious band of werewolves.

There’s nothing further to go on at the moment, but the title and the premise sound a lot like David Gallaher and Steve Ellis’s outstanding web series High Moon. Let’s hope they’re one and the same!

Mar. 18th 2009

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans DVD/Blu-Ray Release Date

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans will be released in two delicious home formats: standard DVD and high-def Blu-Ray. Bonus features include:

  • “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – From Script to Screen” Featurette
  • “The Origin of the Feud” Featurette
  • “Re-Creating the Dark Ages – The Look of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” Featurette
  • Music Video: “Deathclub” By William Control
  • Filmmakers’ Commentary

Blu-Ray only features include:

  • A Digital Copy of the film for PC, PSP, Mac or iPod
  • Behind the Castle Walls: Picture-in-Picture
  • “Lycanthropes Around the World” Interactive Map

Both version will be released on May 12th, but if you want to get in line now, you can preorder the Blu-Ray version from Amazon.

Mar. 18th 2009

Watchmen Co-Writer to Produce Werewolf Film Slaughter Road

ArcLight alerted me to this Variety article announcing that Watchmen co-writer David Hayter has created a new production company called Dark Hero Studios, and that among its first projects is a werewolf movie entitled Slaughter Road.

Hayter said he hatched “Slaughter’s Road” after he was offered a slew of werewolf movies and found enough flaws in each to never want to make such a pic; genre-savvy friends changed his mind.

Work on Slaughter Road is set to begin this summer. ArcLight comments: “I like the idea that there are a slew of werewolf movies out there looking to get made.” I agree! Hopefully some of the better ones get picked up.

Mar. 18th 2009

Test Screening of “The Wolfman” Gets Positive Reviews

Ain’t It Cool News has posted three reviews from people who attended a test screening of The Wolfman in New Mexico last week, and the reviews are largely positive. Some excerpts:

…even in its pretty unfinished state tonight, this movie was satisfying and scary and has huge potential if they address a few things…

…Obviously, I quite liked this film. Perhaps they could tighten it here and there (I think it ran like 1 hour 50 mins) but I was surprised at its ‘brain over braun’ approach and really hope that it finds its deserved audience this coming Summer.

…it is with great pleasure that I send this review of what I thought was a high minded, tremendous and incredibly SCARY work to you tonight.

Sounds promising! You can read three reviews (warning – spoilers!) here.

Mar. 9th 2009

1492 Entertainment Acquires Film Rights to “Welcome to Hoxford”

According to Variety, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Entertainment has picked up the film rights to Ben Templesmith’s werewolves-in-a-mental-institute graphic novel “Welcome to Hoxford“. Columbus will produce the adaptation along with 1492 partners Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe.

I’m trying to imagine what a film version of Hoxford’s visual would look like, and I’m failing. Perhaps they could get David Fincher to direct and Darius Khondji to handle the photography– they created a similarly grungy, visceral world in Se7en.

Mar. 5th 2009

Rick Baker’s Transformation Concept Art for The Wolfman

In the past, special effects legend Rick Baker has expressed a cetain reluctance about the use of computer-generated creature effects in film. Apparently this hasn’t stopped Rick from messing around with ZBrush, and he’s been sharing his progress and experiments over at the ZBrushCentral forum. Starting two weeks ago, he started posting concept art for The Wolfman. Judging from some of his back posts, these are probably proofs-of-concept instead of anything official, but it’s really exciting to see the different stages of the creative process getting posted to a forum by the artist. Amazing stuff!

Wolfman Concept 1Wolfman Concept 2Wolfman Concept 3Wolfman Concept 4Wolfman Concept 5Wolfman Concept 6


Feb. 27th 2009

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!

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.

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.

Feb. 19th 2009