Lesley Chow has written an eloquent and evocative essay about the music, moods and textures of 1994’s werewolf film Wolf. In it she discusses the ways in which director Mike Nichols, cinemetographer Giuseppe Rotunno, actor Jack Nicholson and musician Ennio Morricone use their respective crafts to create a “masochistically elegant” motion picture rife with winter colours, erotic textures and slow, melancholy power. Read it at Bright Lights Film Journal— it’s well worth your time, and it may give you a new respect for one of the oddest werewolf films of the 1990s.
Category: Film, Television & Music
Believe it or not, there are werewolf movies other than “An American Werewolf in London”.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – Trailer
If you haven’t already seen it, there’s an official trailer out for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. There’s a lot of blue filters, eye makeup, improbable armour and clumsy sword-ballet… but there’s also an army of werewolves and a particularly vicious-looking Bill Nighy. Take a look for yourself.
Of additional interest is this review (yes, a trailer review) by Jason Roestel of Movie Examiner. Among other things, Roestel opines that “the werewolves in costume… look so 1955.” While you can kind of tell they don’t have as big a budget as the previous two films, I thought the werewolves looked great. What do you think?
Dougherty Comments on Werewolf “Bitches”
As we reported earlier this month, Michael Dougherty is planning a TV series for Fox about female werewolves. The show is tentatively entitled Bitches. Earlier this month, Dougherty spoke to ShockTillYouDrop.com about some of the more carnal motivations behind the show.
The funny thing is I have always had this weird obsession with female werewolves. Even going back to The Howling there’s that famous transformation sequence that Joe Dante did with the fire and lovemaking. To me that was indicative of female sexuality – all sexuality has this beastly side of it. If you’re a werewolf, it should just be another aspect of yourself you’re trying to deal with. You do want to explore those parallels of being a werewolf and human sexuality. How can you date and fall in love with someone when you’re a werewolf and you start to turn when you’re aroused?
Very interesting, Michael. Very interesting indeed.
Is Ridley Scott Making a Werewolf Movie?
I sure hope so! As reported by Bloody-Disgusting and several other sites, famed director / producer Ridley Scott has just purchased an original werewolf-related script from screenwriter Ian Jeffers. Nothing else is known at this time, but there’s already speculation that Scott’s recent actor of choice, Russell Crowe, will star as the lycanthropic lead in whatever film this script turns into. Only time will tell.
Did The Town Pants Run Over a Werewolf?
I’m from Vancouver, BC, so even the tiniest mention of werewolfy activity in my city gets a mention on this site. Local rockers The Town Pants have just returned home from a 4-month tour of the United States, and they had a story for local (awesome) paper The Georgia Straight about a werewolf encounter in New York:
In the moonlight whatever it was was bigger than a dog, or a coyote. It was a large, hairy all over and yellowish. It might have been a wolf but I’ve never seen one up close and they’re not that big. It was as long as as a tall person. I’m certain this was a werewolf. But I didn’t want to get too close.
Get the full story here. It involves science!
If there’s an award for “weirdest post title”, I think I just won it.
The Young Werewolves Mash It Up With Cult Film Legend
The Young Werewolves are a band who blend the styles of rockabilly, psychobilly, surf, punk, garage and pop music into an infectious mix. They’re releasing their second recording, entitled Cheat The Devil, with cult film star Sid Haig as executive producer.
The actor, legendary for playing the hulking menace in many low-budget exploitation and high-priced action films, stands in as the title character on the CD’s artwork and transforms sonically into the role of ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ halfway through the program of music. Sid has enjoyed a recent resurgence portraying the character ‘Captain Spaulding’ in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects.
Producer Andy Kravitz, who was also behind the board on the trio’s debut recording, crafted a listening experience that ranges from the depths of a mad scientist’s laboratory to the far reaches of outer space.
Cheat The Devil follows the Philadelphia-based trio’s self-titled debut released in 2004. Check them out at www.theyoungwerewolves.com and myspace.com/youngwerewolves.
“Supernatural” Episode Feat. Werewolf & Classic Movie Monsters
Episode 4.03 of The CW’s Supernatural, entitled “Monster Movie”, features a number of “classic” movie monsters, including a werewolf. Here’s the rundown, courtesy of the episode’s web page:
Dean and Sam investigate several murders at Oktoberfest. The first victim was found with bite marks on her neck, much like a vampire would leave, while the second victim has wounds that look like a werewolf attack.
And here’s a teaser!
Werewolf “Bitches” Are Coming To Fox
Leave it to Fox to option a TV show with a title like Bitches. Us snobby werewolf fans ought not to roll our eyes, though! As reported by Fangoria, writer and director Michael Dougherty is bringing a series about werewolves to the small screen in 2009. The show’s called Bitches, and it’s about four female werewolves living in New York. Says Dougherty:
It’s Sex & The City with werewolves! They seduce people, then they eat them! The series will answer the questions: how do they feed, where do they work… It’s very funny.
Not much else is known about the series at this time, but you can keep an eye on Dougherty’s site for updates… and you know anything juicy will get posted here at Werewolf News too!
Banners for The Wolfman
Ryan Rotten at ShockTillYouDrop.com has posted some photos he took of promotional banners for The Wolfman. The banners are up at Universal Studios Hollywood, and you can see them as part of the Terror Tram tour I mentioned a few days back. The banners are fairly teaser-ish, and the photos are blown out by the flash, but you can certainly see that some care has gone into promoting this film. I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of marketing campaign Universal puts together for The Wolfman as the release date (April 3rd 2009) draws closer.
Universal Studios to Show Wolfman Preview on Tram Ride
As several other sources have announced, Universal Studios Hollywood will be screening an exclusive preview of The Wolfman as part of its Terror Tram experience this Halloween. The Terror Tram, if you didn’t know, is a tram-based tour of “remote and menacing locations of Universal’s legendary backlot”, including sets from Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho and War of the Worlds. Built into the trams are LCD screens which will display the Wolfman preview, which may or may not be the trailer that was played at Comic Con earlier this year.
From ComingSoon.net:
“Halloween Horror Nights” will continue on consecutive weekends beginning on Friday, October 3 through Saturday, November 1. Event dates are: October 3-4, 10-11, 17-19, 24-26, 30-31 and November 1. The event will begin nightly at 7:00 p.m.; closing hours vary by night throughout the event.
If anyone sees this, please do let us know what the preview is like!