According to The Register, scientists at the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing may have discovered the gene responsible for hypertrichosis, or the “werewolf disorder”. Over the course of four years, geneticist Xue Zhang and his team scanned the DNA of over two dozen people who have congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis (CGHT). Zhang’s team discovered that each of the subjects share a mutation near the SOX9 gene, which controls hair growth. Further research is required to discover whether this is a coincidence or if there’s an actual connection, but it’s an interesting bit of news nevertheless.
Dread Central Scoops the “Werewolf” Series DVD Cover
Two weeks ago we were talking about the imminent release of the entire Werewolf TV series on DVD. Now it seems the folks at Dread Central have wielded their charm and managed to get an exclusive copy of the package’s cover art! Behold the glory, the beauty, the lycanthropy, the dramatic lighting:
The series is being remastered, repackaged and re-released by Shout! Factory on September 1st.
Tip to the entertainment industry: permit more exciting, beautiful re-releases like this one is shaping up to be, and you will induce people to use their credit cards instead of µTorrent or Transmission.
Thanks to Dread Central for obtaining this. One day I hope to be as cool and influential as you.
Monster Costumes for LBP Out Today
Just a quick reminder that Media Molecule’s Monsters costumes downloadable content for LittleBigPlanet comes out today. Sackwolf, activate!
You can read more about the Monsters DLC in this post from earlier in the week.
“Werewolf” Strategy Game – What’s Up?
I was digging through some unread Google Alerts from April when I came across this CNET article by Caroline McCarthy about Werewolf, a social strategy game that’s becoming increasingly popular with a group of people the article describes as “young techies”. (more…)
Gladiators V Werewolves Concept Art By Martin Rezard
Remember earlier in the week I was asking if anyone had a larger version of the Gladiators V Werewolves artwork I posted?
This is Longscar, created by Martin Rezard in zbrush and Photoshop. I found this posted on Creature Spot, a “gallery, a blog, and a spot for all creature fans to flock to.” Awesome site, awesome artwork and hopefully indicative of an awesome movie!
“Samurai Werewolf” Poster – Vector Art Tutorial
Vectortuts+ has got a really impressive vector art tutorial by Tom Whalen. The subject? A samurai werewolf in poster format, created in Adobe Illustrator. I’m geeking out already. (more…)
Cool Werewolf Pics from Twitter
Earlier today I posted a request on Twitter for people to send me links to any cool werewolf pictures they had, whether they created it or not (with appropriate credit, of course). This request was set off by an intriguing postage stamp-sized photo in @chaoticlycans‘s background image. He was kind enough to provide a link to the full-sized version, which he says came from “somewhere on photobucket”. Does anyone know what the original source is?
The other noteworthy response came from @Ashleyfishman, who sent in three separate drawings of her own. Nice work, Ashley, and thanks for responding!
Edit: Ashley has just gifted me with the very first piece of Werewolf News fan art! Ashley, you rock!
Anyone else who’s got some particularly cool werewolf images of their own, whether it’s their own artwork or something they found elsewhere (again, with appropriate credit given to the source), send it my way via Twitter (@werewolfnews) or the Werewolf News contact form. Also, if you’ve found something awesome but don’t know where it came from, submit it and I’ll post it with a request to help identify a source. There’s a lot of really great werewolf art out there, from protraits to transformation scenes– let’s see some more of it!
Ben Templesmith Talks About “Hoxford” Film Style and Dream Cast
MTV Splash Page has posted a short interview with Ben Templesmith, writer, artist and creator of “werewolf prison romance” comic Welcome to Hoxford. Templesmith talks about what a Hoxford film would look like if he was calling the shots.
“Well if it were me — and let’s be clear it’s definitely not up to me — you’d need someone who can really play with visuals and would be willing to use a lot less CGI and a lot more prosthetics/puppetry,” said Templesmith of the type of director he’d like to see on the film.
“I was heavily influenced on the creature side by the bad critters from ‘The Dark Crystal’” he continued. “But the book is pretty dark with a little nasty humour thrown in, so if they can keep that tone, I’d be happy.”
He also mentions the names of a few actors he’s imagined in various Hoxford roles, including Vin Diesel, Winona Ryder and Lance Henrikson. Werewolf prosthetics and puppetry instead of CGI? Lance Henrikson? Here’s hoping Chris Columbus is paying attention!
Strangeways: Murder Moon Author Giving Away Free Copies
Strangeways: Murder Moon author Matt Maxwell found Werewolf News via Twitter and then left a comment on an August post about his dark werewolf western. He’s giving away copies of Murder Moon on a weekly basis– all you need to do to get your name in the draw is correctly answer a question about the newest Strangeways book, The Thirsty (it’s about vampires, but he covered werewolves first, so we’ll forgive him). You can read new pages of The Thirsty as they’re released, so keep an eye on the Strangeways site!
13 Hrs – New Werewolf Movie Starring Tom Felton
I found a reference to a new werewolf movie in a tabloid site article about Gemma Atkinson. The article, which misspells the title as “13 Hours”, describes Atkinson’s role as “battling murderous werewolves dressed in a mini-skirt and high heels.” As much as I would love to see werewolves in miniskirts and high heels, I don’t think that’s what I was meant to take away from the article.
In any case, Gemma Atkinon really is starring in a horror film called 13 Hrs, along with Tom Felton (who you might have seen previously as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films). Here’s a synopsis:
A full moon hangs in the night sky and lightning streaks across dark storm clouds. Sarah Tyler returns to her troubled family home in the isolated countryside, for a much put-off visit. As the storm rages on, Sarah, her family and friends shore up for the night, cut off from the outside world. But something comes out of the driving rain and darkness. Something that holds a dark secret so devastating that, in one night, it could wipe out the entire family.
Trapped, Sarah and her brothers and friends must use their heads as well as their physical strength to survive not only the thing that is hunting them down one by one – but their own entrapment as the besieged group turns in on itself. Can they survive the horror stalking them? Or is their enemy already amongst them and has it always been? Can they survive for 13 hours?
According to the production company’s web site, 13 Hrs was meant to show at Cannes this year, but in this IndieFlicks interview director Jonathan Glendening talks about skipping Cannes to focus on editing, polishing and FX:
Fortunately, I’m not having to rush it for Cannes, so to some extent we can take our time. I deliver my directors cut tomorrow, which I think has taken about 7 weeks. So after a couple of producer tinkerings, that’ll take another few days. Then starts the sound, music, Fx process, and grading so those will take another couple of months.
Ah, the joys of post production. In the meantime, you can check out the teaser trailer here: