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

Life-Sized “Werewolf of London” Mask (or Bust) by Steve Neill

You might not know who Steve Neill is. I didn’t when I first saw this link in my inbox, but after digging around on his site and looking him up on IMDB, I came to realize that I had seen his special effects work in some of my favourite 80’s movies. He sculpted (and performed one of) the monster arms that burst out of Dana Barrett’s chair in Ghostbusters, for pete’s sake!

Steve is still doing masks and props, and one of his latest creations is this mask of the Werewolf of London as played by Henry Hull. He details its creation on his blog, from the initial sculpture to the finished mask. Yes, “mask”. Despite the fact that the eyes are filled in the photos, Steve is selling mask versions for $225 US (scroll down). You can also get it foam-filled with glass eyes, which I suppose makes it a bust. This isn’t exactly the kind of werewolf I dig, but it’s a classic, well-crafted by a guy who’s been doing it longer than most of us have been alive. Love your work, Steve!

Jul. 22nd 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

Get a Caricature of Yourself as a Werewolf!

It’s you, but as a werewolf! My partner, co-conspirator and lupa Tandye (deviantART & Etsy) likes to draw werewolves. See what you’d look like as a werewolf without the expense and mess of all those prosthetic appliances and the makeup!

Get a print-quality digital sketch with a single-colour highlight for $15 US. Just upload a clear, well-lit photo of your face to an image host of your choice, paste the URL below and click “Buy Now”. You’ll get the completed picture via email within a week!


Web address of reference photo





Note: this post also has a permanent home here.

Jul. 21st 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

eBay auction for life-size werewolf bust. I dare you to outbid me.

Edit: bumping this up to the top because the auction ends in two hours. Current bid is $204.50 US. Want it? Get it!

Werewolf News reader Bill has notified me of an eBay auction he’s just started on a life-size werewolf bust. I really like the design– it’s evocative of the “horror” style of werewolf I like, so I’m the high bidder as of 1:56PM Pacific today. I’m shooting myself in the foot by posting this, but I’m duty-bound, so here are the details!

Due to a need for cash, I am selling a very rare (possibly one of only two in existence) lifesize werewolf bust. It is cast in resin with foam backing and is unpainted. I purchased this from the UK about 6 years ago. It is an awesome piece! Approximate dimensions are; 19″ from nose to back of head, 20″ tall, and 19″ across the back. Obviously the sculptor was inspired by the American Werewolf in London movie bust because it is similar but not the same and personally I like this one better. I think it is a little meaner looking

There’s no reserve and the auction runs until July 21st, so if you want to help Bill out with some cash in exchange for a wicked-looking werewolf bust, get over there and bid!



Jul. 21st 2010

The Mystery of “The Howling Reborn” and the Boring Plot Synopsis

Buried three pages deep in the Moonstone Entertainment web site is this synopsis of “The Howling Reborn”, the upcoming remake of “The Howling”:

On the eve of his high school graduation, unremarkable Will Kidman finally bonds with the girl he has long yearned for, reclusive Eliana Wynter. But he also discovers a dark secret from his past… that he is about to become a werewolf. Now, in an effort to fight destiny and save their love as well as their lives, they must battle not only Will’s growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts bent on killing them… and then, us all.

Is it just me or does this have nothing at all in common with the original film? Is this just an attempt to piggyback a new (and dull-sounding) werewolf movie on the name recognition of the Howling series?

Jul. 21st 2010

This is a real book: Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland

Yesterday I saw a tweet by David Malki expressing surprise over the existence of a codified literary genre called “Bizarro Fiction”. That lead me to a Guardian article on the subject which, while interesting in its own right, was immediately relegated to an inactive browser tab when I saw these words: “Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland”. That’s the title of a book by Carlton Mellick III, whose body of work (the most NSFW Amazon search result page ever) makes it abundantly clear that he’s one of the genre’s most prodigious authors. Despite my love of werewolf horror and all the spilled entrails that comes with it, I am a gentle man of delicate sensibilities, so there’s not a single title in that list that I would purposely read… other than Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland. That book is now required reading despite (or because of?) its astoundingly, deliberately trashy premise and pedigree. Dig on this synopsis from Amazon:

They call themselves the Warriors, their enemies call them the Bitches. They are a gang of man-eating, motorcycle-riding, war-hungry werewolf women, and they are the rulers of the wasteland.

A century after the fall of civilization, only one city remains standing. It is a self-contained utopian society protected by a three-hundred-foot-high steel wall. The citizens of this city live safe, peaceful lives, completely ignorant to the savagery that takes place beyond the walls. They are content and happy, blindly following the rules of the fascist fast food corporation that acts as their government. But when Daniel Togg, a four-armed bootlegger from the dark side of town, is cast out of the walled city, he soon learns why the state of the outside world has been kept secret. The wasteland is a chaotic battleground filled with giant wolves, mutant men, and an army of furry biker women who are slowly transforming into animals. Trapped on the wrong side of a war zone, Daniel Togg makes new friends and new enemies, while uncovering the mysteries of the people living in the wasteland and how they came to be there.

Sold. Did I mention it’s illustrated? It’s illustrated. I will read this book, and I will report back here with my findings. For werewolves. For science. Wish me luck!

Jul. 20th 2010

“House of the Wolf Man” DVD pre-order on Amazon – old school moves!

Around this time last year, I was telling you about “House of the Wolf Man”, the “good old fashioned monster movie” that was shot in 2009 but purposely looks like it spent the last 65 years sitting in a Universal film vault. It stars Ron Chaney (the grandson of the original Wolf Man, Lon Chaney, Jr) and is an independent effort to complete the Universal horror “House Of” triptych, which officially only covered Frankenstein and Dracula. by Now I’m telling you about it again, because the DVD is available for pre-order on Amazon. It costs $17.99 US and ships September 28, 2010. This is great news for people who didn’t get a chance to see it at SDCC last year. That is to say, people like me.

Jul. 19th 2010