Werewolf News

Moody & beautiful “THE WOLF MAN” print from Tom Whalen on sale today

Straight from the Tom Whalen’s strongstuffshop, THE WOLF MAN is a gorgeous print rendered in flat colours so much more evocative than anything in the Universal film it’s licensed from (no offence to George Waggner or Lon Chaney Jr).

available in color edition or silver screen edition with metallic inks.

the poster is one of my run of artist proofs, a small run of prints separate from the timed edition that sold through dark hall mansion.

This 24″x18″ 4-color screenprint is numbered and signed by the artist, and can be yours for $45 USD when it goes on sale later today. If you spend $100 or more, use promo code FRANK at checkout to get this bonus print for free!

One could spend a hundred bucks pretty easily in Whalen’s shop, I think. Other classic Universal monsters including the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Bride of Frankenstein got the same lovely treatment. My personal favourite is this five-colour diptych featuring all seven of Universal’s monsters.

I need more disposable income, more walls, and less common sense.

Angela Quinton Oct. 22nd 2015

Bike helmets & CG drool: bringing the “Goosebumps” werewolf to life

The big-screen adaptation of the Goosebumps book series is crammed with as many of R.L. Stine’s monsters as will fit. Via SOLIDASP comes a link to a Cinefex Q&A / interview with MPC production VFX supervisor Erik Nordby and VFX producer Greg Baxter, the two guys in charge of bringing these creatures to life.

In a somewhat dry but interesting discussion, Nordby and Baxter discuss the challenges of creating the Ginormous Blob, the Abominable Snowman, and of course the beloved (by me) Werewolf of Fever Swamp.

Let’s look at one of the creatures in more detail – the Werewolf, for instance?

GREG BAXTER: The initial 2D concept design for the Werewolf was provided by Carlos Huantes. Carlos then built a miniature maquette which we cyberscanned via 3DS in Burbank. This was our initial starting point for MPC to model and augment from.

VFX people, help me out – is “cyberscanned” a term of art, or is Baxter from a CSI Miami episode?

Who performed the Werewolf on set?

GREG BAXTER: John Bernecker was our stunt proxy for the Werewolf. He performed on-camera for just about every Werewolf shot, including running on all-fours atop a grocery store freezer. Erik and MPC Supervisor Pete Dionne built a custom facial capture rig with Go-Pros and a bicycle helmet, capturing John’s snarling for additional animation reference.

Interesting to hear that despite the heavy use of CG, on-set proxies and performers were essential in creating the film’s monsters.

For more on the process, including a wonderful dig at my favourite thing to complain about regarding werewolf morphology, check out the post on Cinefex.

Angela Quinton Oct. 21st 2015

Complete your werewolf costume with these resin werewolf claws

Tandye, who may or may not be scouring Etsy for new werewolf costume parts for me, found these great resin werewolf claws by Dark Matter Props. These claws

are between 1 1/2 to 1 7/8 inches long from one end to the other, Each set comes with 10 claws (adhesive not included). The claws are marked on the inside to let you know which finger they go on.

The claws are made from a tinted semi-translucent urethane plastic casting resin and then treated to a black/brown wash and sealed. The black/brown wash really brings out the details of the claw-like texture. The result is beautiful. They can be made in black or other custom colors upon request.

According to the product page, these claws can be attached to your own nails with prosthetic appliance/nail glue, and you’re encouraged to further customize the fit with a little sandpaper and squinting. Once you get them on, refrain from doing any Three Stooges routines or vigorous scratching, because these claws “come to a semi-sharp point (such as that found on a plastic fork)”.

These would be a great alternative if you don’t have the patience or the materials to sculpt your own.

Angela Quinton Oct. 16th 2015

Glasgow artist’s woodland werewolf was calibrated for maximum scares

Via Kelly P: a paint and cling-wrap art installation by “Glasgow based aerosol artist” Rogue-one, designed to traumatize the unwary hikers of Scotland.

I took a trip to Pollok country park and painted something to scare the dog walkers & mountain bikers ?
Instagram @rogueoner

Imagine coming across this painting just after sunset, when the lighting is weird enough to activate the part of your brain that’s always scanning for large, pointy mammals that might eat you.

Rogue-one put this beast up on Tuesday the 13th, and according to Facebook comments, it was already trashed by the 14th. The artist was sanguine about it –”It’s done on cling film & doesn’t have much of a life expectancy” – and no wonder, considering the talent and prolificacy on display in his gallery. This guy can cling-wrap a werewolf any time he likes.

For a close-up look at this werewolf (and more of his incredible work), visit his Instagram page.

Angela Quinton Oct. 16th 2015

The Wolf Who Came to Dinner

Via perpetual pal Lew Delport: The Wolf Who Came to Dinner, a 2015 short film by Jem Garrard.

Beatrice Barkley is an eight-year-old horror fanatic with a serious problem: her mom’s brought her new boyfriend home to meet the family, and no-one but Bea seems to notice he’s a werewolf. Over the course of the evening, Bea uses her expert knowledge of werewolf weaknesses in an attempt to expose the seemingly innocuous French teacher as a dangerous monster – with unexpected results.

Gerrard is an award-winning filmmaker from London who lives and works in my hometown, Vancouver. Every time I think about the Vancouver connection I get a little outraged and a little embarrassed – how could I have not known about The Wolf Who Came to Dinner, especially considering it was one of the 2015 Crazy8s winners, and one of our two major newspapers wouldn’t stop posting about it in the spring.

I absolutely love the practical werewolf effects on display in the trailer. They were created by Dallas Harvey and his company Vancouver FX Studio. The costume looks like a figment from a child’s imagination brought to life, which could be exactly what’s happening here. For an in-depth look at the process of designing and building the costume, check this interview with Dallas. Also of interest is this interview with actor Adrian Hough, who plays the titular werewolf / French teacher who comes to dinner.

The Wolf Who Came to Dinner is currently being shown in festivals around Canada. For more information, visit the film’s Facebook page.

Angela Quinton Oct. 15th 2015

Call for pitches: WEREWOLVES VERSUS ROMANCE

Back in August, me and some pals put out a little magazine called WEREWOLVES VERSUS: THE 1990s, and it was so fun that we’re doing it again! Issue two, WEREWOLVES VERSUS: ROMANCE comes out in early 2016, and this time I’m opening submissions to anyone who has a good idea.

“But”, I hear you asking, “what kind of ideas are appropriate for a magazine that’s basically just a digest of werewolf mashups?” That’s a very good question, and here is your answer:

…take the idea of a werewolf, and the idea of romance, and whatever (PG-13) messed up thing comes out of combining the two is what we wanna see.

I’m not looking for a bunch of conventional romance stories (or comics, or poems) where one or both partners are lycanthropes. I want to see first dates ruined by overzealous monster hunters on patrol, pickup artists ground into hamburger for trying to neg the wrong person, and polyamorous triads trying to work out pack dynamics.

Got an idea? Good: here’s how to pitch it, and what you’ll get if your idea is accepted:

If you would like to contribute, put your idea for a contribution into this pitch form before October 24th.

WV02 will be accepting 15 contributors, each of whom will receive a percentage of all sales of this issue, plus a physical copy. For full details on contributor terms, payments and licensing/rights, go here.

Like issue 1, WEREWOLVES VERSUS: ROMANCE will be a pay-what-you-want download from Gumroad, with the possibility of a limited physical print run. Come be a part of it!

Angela Quinton Oct. 14th 2015

When & where to get a copy of “Howl”

Howl is a 2015 horror film from director Paul Hyett about a commuter train out of London that has no problems, does not break down in the middle of a werewolf-infested forest, and which gets everyone to their destination safely and on time. The preceding synopsis was brought to you by Britain’s National Rail. “National Rail: not getting our passengers murdered by the supernatural since 2009”.

National Rail’s payment for that sponsored synopsis never arrived, so allow me to amend it: the train does break down in Nighttime Werewolf Forest, and many of its passengers get severely eaten. No post on this site has received more attention in 2015 than the one showing Howl‘s trailer, and like all of those visitors, I want to know when and how I can watch the carnage.

If you live in North America like me, you’ll have to wait until January 2016, when distributor Alchemy releases it. British audiences are luckier: Werewolf News reader dhardynelson emailed me this morning to remind me that Howl will be available to own on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on October 26th.

I’m on a train myself as I write this, and we’re passing through a forest. If this is the last Werewolf News post, rest assured that I survived the attack and definitely didn’t get mulched.

Angela Quinton Oct. 13th 2015

Cinemax orders pilot script for George R.R. Martin’s “The Skin Trade”

A tip from @Howlitzer and a sudden influx of visitors to my 2013 info-dump post have alerted me to what the rest of the Internet already seems to know: George R.R. Martin’s werewolf novella The Skin Trade might become a TV show. The news was posted by Martin himself on his site yesterday afternoon.

I am very excited to announce the Cinemax (HBO’s sister company) has optioned the television rights to “The Skin Trade,” the offbeat “werewolf noir” novella I penned back in the late 80s. The deal is closed, and Cinemax has ordered the pilot script. This being Hollywood, of course, you never know where things will end… but if they like the script, we’ll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we’ll get a series on the air.

The pilot script is being written by Kalinda Vazquez, a writer and producer whose previous work includes Prison Break, Nikita and Once Upon A Time. Martin seems very pleased to have her on board:

She loves the story and the world… and her pitch to Cinemax was one of the most polished and professional I’ve ever heard. I love her enthusiasm, and look forward to working with her.

This is great news, and I hope the show survives the insanity of the pre-production gauntlet. If you haven’t read the novella, check out this post for more detail on the story, and where to get a copy.

Angela Quinton Oct. 11th 2015

For your viewing pleasure (or terror)

The Current & upcoming werewolf movie home releases post has just been updated to include everything I can think of from 2015, plus the first 2016 entry, Uncaged. It’s a popular enough post that it’s now a permanent fixture in the site sidebar! From now on I’ll be updating it forwards and backwards in time, so expect to see films from 2014 and 2013 appearing at the bottom of the list. If I’m missing anything that’s available on home media, let me know in the comments.

Angela Quinton Oct. 7th 2015

Explore scuzzy ennui with “Megg, Mogg, and Owl” (plus Werewolf Jones)

Today I learned about a new-to-me comic to binge on. Megg, Mogg, and Owl is a (extremely NSFW) tragi-comic gross-out experience by Australian cartoonist Simon Hanselmann, who has has been publishing it on Vice since 2012.

My introduction to Hanselmann’s work came in the form of this recent interview with The Fader, which describes the comic’s cast as “a stoner witch named Megg, her gross feline partner Mogg, their fucked up party pal Werewolf Jones, and Owl, the pushover they freeload off.”

The presence of Werewolf Jones is what made the Fader interview appear in my news feed, but after reading only a few cartoons, Megg, Mogg, and Owl has already become a work in which the werewolf character is incidental to my enjoyment. As the Fader article observes, there’s something deeply cathartic about its miseries and minor triumphs.

Hanselmann’s comics address the dingiest crevices of the human experience—suburban ennui, body freakouts, and acid trips—but none of his characters are human, which just makes them that more relatable. And for all its absurdist, stoner tendencies, his work aims a magnifying glass at the anxieties, delusions, and often crippling self-doubt we all feel but rarely talk about.

There are nearly 40 comics on Vice and more odds and ends on Hanselmann’s site. I plan to inhale it all much like I inhaled Achewood in 2005.

Angela Quinton Oct. 7th 2015