Werewolf links, news, and reviews
Hi everyone! This weeks theme is up so draw whatever comes to mind when you think, Big & Beastly. You know, anything besides the Beast from Beauty and the Beast or Beast from X-Men, the Hulk… okay, okay, let’s stick to werewolves here people. Be creative, share your art in the comments, and as always, have fun!
edit by Andrew: Tandye will be Livestreaming a werewolf-themed drawing & chat session at her Livestream page today, starting at 2 PM Pacific. Come hang out!
Reader Nyetwerke shares this short article from France’s The Local: Town hunts werewolves after sheep attacks.
A flock of ewes were found dead by their owners, savagely killed and often with their throats cut, in the town of Les Mauges, near Nantes. Locals speculated a wild dog or a wolf may be to blame.
I’m thinking the locals are probably correct, but a sizeable Facebook group called Sauvons les loups garous français (“Save the French werewolves”) – created by Adrien Collineau and Martin Crépon – says the deaths are the result of werewolves who have “returned” to France, and that need to be saved. My French is terrible so I can’t tell exactly what’s going on there, but the images and videos posted to the group and its sister site all have a do-it-yourself aesthetic that makes me wonder if Adrien and Martin are serious, if they’re having fun… or if they’re trying to distract people from all the lambchops they’re selling out the back door.
The hat is a beanie called a Zaphat, and the logo on the front acts as a target for an iOS app that will render a 3D model “mask” over your head. One of the masks that it (presumably) ships with is a werewolf, who reacts accordingly when you poke it in the nose.
The company behind this gimmicky (but cool) technology is Zappar, who “make bite-sized entertainment experiences using our proprietary image recognition”. The Zaphat will hit retail “real soon”, at which point you’ll be able to purchase additional masks based on original and licensed properties.
I don’t spend a lot of time just starting at people through my iPad, but if augmented reality garments go mainstream, I might have to start! (Zappar, if you want this to go mainstream, please use models who don’t look like extras from Jesse Pinkman’s crew).
The Cabin in the Woods, front-runner for “Andrew’s Favourite Movie of 2012” and recipient of the Quinton Mark of Excellence in Werewolf Design, is now available for purchase in basically any format you like. Amazon has it in Blu-ray, DVD and Instant Video formats, and it’s in the iTunes store so you can watch it on your iPhone 5’s huge screen. All but the Instant Video formats come with bonus features that will undoubtedly contain making-of featurettes and image galleries showcasing the film’s menagerie of monsters, including the vicious, supernaturally fast (and some might ague, pivotal) werewolf.
On the subject of creature effects, Fangoria has a long and detailed interview with CITW makeup FX designer David Leroy Anderson. He mentions the werewolf at several points, including this passage in which he talks about how important it was to choose the right people to work on each monster.
The people that were working on the Werewolf, it was Norman Cabrera and Matt Rose, and they’re legendary in this industry. He [Rose] just has such a passion about werewolves, the whole history of them, so there was no disputing he should be the man in charge of it.
Apropos of nothing, I would like to mention that I am available as a consultant, and my rates are quite reasonable.
In an interview on Startrek.com, actor Michael Dorn mentions that 1) there’s finally going to be a Castlevania movie, and 2) he’s playing a small role in it, as a werewolf who’s “been around for a gajillion years”.
Castlevania is a movie that Marina got me involved with. It’s based on a video game. People have been trying to get this thing done for a long time and they finally got the producers together that want to do it. They finally got the OK from the owners, and so they’re doing it. It’s a fun little part. It’s four days, and I’m playing a werewolf that’s been around for a gajillion years who works for this vampire. It’s not too far from Worf because there’s a lot of killing and jumping and sword fights and everything.
According to this Kotaku post from 2010 there have been several attempts to bring Castlevania to the big screen, but nothing’s gotten off the ground until now. No word on which team got their project green-lit, but it’s probably not Paul W.S. Anderson, who’s going to be busy making a different monster hunter movie based on a video game franchise.
I have to admit that I haven’t seen Dorn in anything other than Star Trek, but he’s got a great voice and an imposing physical presence. I’m looking forward to seeing him made up, werewolf-style!
I hope you enjoyed my pre-Code comics countdown of favorite werewolf stories. I wish there were more, but that would require time travel, and my DeLorean’s in the shop.
That said, there’s one more incredible story to share. Just not “Bravo!” incredible. More like “Why has God forsaken me?” incredible.
From March 1954, The Wolpire tries to be many things: horrific, patriotic, romantic, even 3-D! It succeeds at, um, using a lot of yellow ink. I admit a flying yellow man in a speedo sounds scary. I just can’t explain what that has to do with werewolves… and neither can the writer.
Thanks one more time to Karswell for hosting this and other stories. If you like them, seriously, leave him a comment already.
And yes: argyle is awesome.
If you tried visiting Werewolf-News.com any time between Tuesday afternoon and late Wednesday morning, you probably weren’t able to get to the site, or if you were, you got an unhelpful PHP error. This happened because of vampires.
Well, not really. It happened because my web host had a non-specific and totally fixable “issue” – one they can’t (or won’t) explain. One that took this and every other site I host down for 17 hours. One that they wanted to credit me $3 for when I complained. I have no proof that the company involved is run by vampires, but I don’t know how else one would explain that level of weak-kneed dip-shittery. So, vampires, right?
Everything seems to be fine now, but I am in the process of moving this site (and all the others) for the second time in two weeks – only this time I’m not moving from server to server at the same company. I’m moving to a new host. The transfer should hopefully go smoothly, and once Werewolf News and its brothers and sisters are safe in their new home, I’ll be able to spend my “personal project” time posting new stuff here instead of yelling at unhelpful tech support agents.
Thanks for your patience and support, and if you see any vampires, please kick their asses for me.
Illustration by Alright Owl
Does your skin itch? Do your teeth ache? It’s time for first place in the all-lycanthrope pre-Code comics countdown.
There’s a strange disconnect with werewolves. I don’t know about you, but I find the idea of werewolves sexy. Very sexy. And yet, I can’t tell you the last portrayal of a werewolf I found even slightly sexy.
Even in Werewolves of the Rockies, Fria went from blond bombshell to bony bipedal rat-thing. I know werewolves are supposed to be monsters, but can’t they at least look like wolves?
Now rewind to April 1952, when America was much more worried about deforestation than werewolves. Wait, that was some other America… so, how to explain Werewolf Valley? All I know is, if Marta offered me coffee, I wouldn’t hesitate even if it were decaf.
Thanks again to Karswell for hosting this at The Horrors of It All. Next time: the worst pre-Code werewolf!
As I’ve previously mentioned on Werewolf News, artist Scott C. and his ongoing series of Great Showdowns are the sources of, like, 75% of my Internet-delivered smiles. Today’s Showdown is an “old timey jammer” that perfectly (and literally) illustrates Scott’s knack for capturing epic film confrontations in the most agreeable way possible.
Werewolf News readers know I get excited about things easily, but I didn’t want to say anything about HOWL Con until I’d done a little research. I love the idea of getting together with other werewolf fans in a convention setting where the most pressing question on my mind is “when should I get in line for the werewolf makeup booth?”, not “when was that fursuit last dry-cleaned?”. My first chance to live that dream disappeared earlier this year when WerewolfCon imploded under the weight of poor marketing and worse management, so I was a little standoffish when Twitter user @howlcon2012pdx followed me last week. Now that I’ve had a phone conversation with its organizer and done a little homework, I’m happy to report that HOWL Con seems to have its stuff together.
First, the facts: HOWL Con happens Friday October 12th through Sunday the 14th at the Monarch Hotel & Conference Center in Portland, Oregon. Yes, that’s this October. Saturday passes are $20, Sunday is $15, or get both days covered for $30. Friday seems to be an evening-only meet and greet, which costs $5 (or free for weekend pass-holders). Pricing is the same whether you register in advance or purchase at the door, although groups of eight or more can email admin@howlcon.com to arrange a discounted group rate. Once you’re in, here’s what you can expect:
Meet Rhiannon Held, author of Silver and the forthcoming Tarnished, representatives from the Wolf Haven International wolf sanctuary, fiction & role-playing game author/editor Satyros Phil Brucato, shamanic author & artist Lupa, medievalist Rev. Dr. Phillip Bernhardt-House (“the man with a Ph.D. in Celtic werewolves”), and other lycanthropic luminaries.
Programming will cover werewolves in legend, fiction, the media, and the culture at large. We will also be exploring the lives and minds of wolves, real-live canis lupus–that’s right, you run a high risk of both having fun and learning something. Activities will include:
- panels & presentations by writers, artists, folklorists, scientists, and others with expertise & passion to share,
- entertainment including live music, dancing, short films, and dramatic storytelling,
- dealers, an art show, gaming, a costumed Werewolf Wild Hunt, and more!
So what makes HOWL Con likely to succeed where its predecessor failed? Organizer Stephen Couchman was kind enough to take my phone call and set my mind at ease. Here’s what I learned.
Overall, this sounds like something I’d definitely attend – it’s a small investment, it’s relatively close to me, and the guy running it has experience doing conventions. Unfortunately, it happens to be scheduled right in the middle of my parents’ yearly visit from Halifax. I’d consider bringing them along, but my folks are such gentle souls that HOWL Con might as well be a Gwar concert. For that reason alone, I’m sitting this convention out, but I’ll be watching its development with interest, and I hope to be a part of it next year.