Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Four movies into the Underworld series, I finally broke down and saw one of the things in theaters. It was back in February when I was joined by three other gentlemen for a 5:10 showing of the 3-D version of Underworld: Awakening (for some reason the 2-D version wasn’t showing at all in my town), and it’s pretty safe to say we all got precisely the movie we were expecting. (more…)
“Freeborn” Director Anthony Brownrigg shares 2005 script, asks for werewolf fan input
As mentioned earlier this year, fan-driven werewolf film Freeborn is coming back to life after thousands of years (in Internet time) of dormancy. As part of that resurrection, writer / director Anthony Brownrigg has shared the 2005 version of the script, and is soliciting commentary from the werewolf fan community.
The original 2005 script in today’s market has some things that have now been done. (cough cough).. even though we were going to do it first. However.. the general storyline will remain, and in that I offer you the 2005 Freeborn script to read. Some folks like reading books, and then seeing a movie adaptation. Similar, only its a screenplay for an actual movie. Check it out, comment, good AND bad. The idea is to get this out , and get folks excited, and into talking about it. Believe me, we’re listening… free to comment and talk about it at thepacksden.net or at the Freeborn facebook page.
I’m not familiar with the culture over at thepacksden.net, but I’ve got a half-formed picture in my mind courtesy of comments I’ve seen here and on Twitter, and if you’ll permit me to be reductive, that picture looks a lot more like a Goldenwolf piece than something by Viergacht. If that’s not what you’re hoping to get out of Freeborn, maybe it would be a good idea to check out the script and then leave your comments for Brownrigg and company. Someone whose opinion I respect already has, and there are many more Werewolf News readers that I’m sure will want to chime in. But friends? Maybe save the snark until you’ve read the script.
With a week to go, indie werewolf horror comic Anathema needs your help
There’s seven days to go on the Kickstarter campaign to fund the remaining five issues of Anathema, and with a current shortfall of $4,480, I’m starting to get a little nervous. See, I think this comic series is something that really needs to happen, and not just because I loved issue 1.
As a writer myself, and the spouse of an illustrator, it’s in my nature to root for independent creative types, particularly when they’re talented, focussed and driven. Those three words form a creative version of the Project Management Triangle, and to find all three of them in effect at the same time is extremely rare. Creative people who makes smart, cohesive and well-executed stuff wants to get their stuff out there so people can see it (and buy it), but for every Miss Monster or Scott C., there’s a hundred equally-talented creators who mean well but just can’t get their shit together. Rachel Deering is in the company of those creators that have somehow achieved the mystical trifecta, and Anathema’s first issue has already proved she knows how to use that condition to produce something awesome.
$4,480 is not an insignificant amount of money, but if everyone who’s visited Werewolf News in the last month put a quarter in the jar, we’d have helped her clear the hurdle with room to spare. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to pledge or not, please, now’s the time to make a no-risk, guaranteed-to-pay-off investment in something great. Remember, you get something for your contribution, and if the project doesn’t get funded, you don’t pay anything.
If you’ve already pledged something, consider following David Fuller’s example and boost your pledge amount a little bit. In fact, I’m going to go do that right now. Boosting my pledge from $75 to $85 means I get to buy two less coffees this month, and it gets me a tiny bit closer to enjoying a lesbian werewolf comic series created by someone who’s really good at it.
Behind-the-Scenes Photos from Cabin in the Woods [partial spoiler]
The fact that I’m even posting about Cabin in the Woods is a spoiler in itself, but the fact that I’ve said “spoiler” three times already and you’re still reading means you’ve already seen it, you haven’t seen it and don’t care, or you have poor reading comprehension skills. In any event, Werewolf News reader Nyetwerke sent in a link to an Ain’t It Cool News interview with CITW director Drew Goddard, and there are some photos in there that I was excited to see. Because you and I are friends, I thought you might like to see them, too.
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Are you an “ultimate werewolf fan”? Prove it and maybe you’ll get to be on TV
2012-04-20: I’ve edited this post way down at the request of the production company involved. Apparently I said was more than I was supposed to. Here’s what I’ve been told it’s okay to share:
A television production company in Los Angeles is currently trying to cast for a show dealing with Werewolves in the U.S. They are looking for an “ultimate werewolf fan”, at least 20 years old or older, that is a fanatic of werewolves movies, games, etc. The selected werewolf fanatic will be paid on a per-episode basis. Anybody interested may email their name, age, gender, location, short bio and a photo to werewolfaudition@gmail.com
So, there you go. It’s a shame I can’t say more, but I understand that TV production is a super competitive business, and it’s not a good idea to say too much about a show you’re trying to cast, lest other companies poach your ideas.
Werewolf Wednesday Digest – April 2012, Part 2
Hey, what do you know, it’s Werewolf Wednesday again! Put on your special bib and suck the marrow out of these bloody tidbits.
A week or two ago, I was asked to provide a Twitter signal boost for a search being undertaken to identify this handsome devil. A number of people came to our collective rescue and identified the creature as a were-hyena (or werewolf) created by Spectral Motion for an ultimately deleted scene from Blade: Trinity. Not content to leave it there, reader Nyetwerke sent in this video of Spectral staff building the suit. Fascinating stuff!
Hugh Sterbakov, Emmy-nominated and Annie Award-winning writer of Robot Chicken, has released his debut novel City Under The Moon. He was kind enough to provide me with a review copy, which I’ll be diving into during my train commutes starting next week. The opening page was enough to hook me – have a look at the sample and see for yourself. If you dig it, you can get it at a $4 discount on Amazon.
My cause of the month is coming along nicely! The Anathema Kickstarter is $6k-and-change away from its $20k goal, with a week and a half to go. I’ve pledged more money to it than I’ve spent on Werewolf News in the last year; if you haven’t pledged anything, I want you to feel bad about yourself for five seconds and then please, go chip in five or ten bucks. Remember, if the fundraising goal isn’t met, you don’t get charged.
Subterranean Press has just published a very bestial 5,600-word short story by Locus-nominated author and charming geek-dandy Hal Duncan. The title of the story is Sic Him, Hellhound! Kill! Kill! I made that link open in a new window so you can go read the story when you’re done here. Read it. It’s filthy in all the right ways.
My Werewolf Wednesday cohort David Fuller is in search of the best tune to wolf out to. Today he looks at 11 werewolf-related songs spanning a variety of genres (including a selection by yours truly), and asks you to vote for your favourite (or suggest your own). Have a listen!
Here’s some follow-up! As mentioned in the previous Werewolf Wednesday, Simon Sanchez wrote in to tell me about his comic Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space, but he neglected to provide a link. He’s now provided a link to the comic’s Facebook page, which contains purchase information and some delightfully campy samples.
And that concludes this Werewolf Wednesday! Thanks for reading!
Exclusive: Makeup FX Pro Adrien Morot shares photos of his “relaxing” werewolf project
Back in January, special makeup effects artist Adrien Morot shared some behind-the-scenes werewolf media with us, and now he’s made my weekend with a surprise email:
I have been stuck on the new Chronicles of Riddick movie doing insane hours for the last few months… I finished Riddick last Saturday morning and I wanted to relax from all of the madness by spending a few days in my shop and working on a personal project for once. So I took out the molds [from a previous werewolf project] and casted new skins from them which I assembled on a foam mannequin. I seamed and painted the whole thing and did the hair work (which is still not completely done). I took a few pictures last night to see how it was looking on camera and thought that you might enjoy the results.
Did you enjoy those results? I sure as hell did! When I saw the photos I got all giddy, especially at the one Adrien’s in, which gives a marvellous sense of scale. That’s a big, bad-ass werewolf! This design is pretty much the best execution of the “lupine head on a human body”-style werewolf I’ve seen. I love the detail on the muzzle and jaws (those teeth!), I dig those ears, and I think Adrien found the perfect balance between fur and visible skin – being able to see the definition of the muscles really adds to the “this was once a human” effect.
I asked Adrien if he would be continuing work on this guy… maybe giving him a body, perhaps? Hopefully? Please?
*laughs* No, I will not be making the rest of the body as I do not have enough free space around the shop for such a large display piece. The only thing left for me to do on this piece is to punch in a bit more fine hair on the nose and brows, and punch up the facial colors. I will also add up a bit of subtle details such as veins in the ears.
If and when he shares photos of the final results, you’ll see them here! Many thanks to Adrien for his generosity. If you have any comments about this piece, leave ’em below!
Full Moon Features: Witnessing the Rise of the Lycans
Every three years — almost like clockwork, it seems — we get another installment in the Underworld series. (Which I guess means we’re in for Underworld: Here Comes Another One come January 2015.) Keeping to that schedule, the first month of 2009 brought us a prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which temporarily set aside the present-day storyline in order to delve into the past to explore where the whole Vampire/Lycan war began.
Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, who designed the creatures for all three films, and based on a story and screenplay that was the work of no less than five writers (including original director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Danny McBride), Rise of the Lycans tells how, well, the Lycans rose up against their vampire masters way back in the mists of time. It also doubles as the origin story for Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first Lycan, i.e. a werewolf who is able to take human form. (Much is made of the distinction between pure-blood werewolves, who are little more than savage beasts, and Lycans, who can be controlled and enslaved.)
Raised from birth by vampire leader Bill Nighy, Sheen grows up alongside Nighy’s daughter, who grows up to be the headstrong Rhona Mitra (and, not incidentally, his lover). Of course, this raises certain questions that the movie never pauses to consider. For instance, do vampire and werewolf children simply grow to a certain age and then stop? How does an immortal actually reach the point where they look middle-aged like Nighy or the other members of the vampire council? And furthermore, why am I bothered by these things if the people behind the series seemingly aren’t?
Anyway, also returning from previous installments are the impossibly deep-voiced Kevin Grevioux, who we first encounter as a human slave, and Steven Mackintosh, the vampire historian from the second film that I had completely forgotten about until I looked him up on Wikipedia. And I was happy to note that Paul Haslinger, formerly of Tangerine Dream, was brought back to provide the music. (He had scored the original Underworld but was apparently unavailable to perform those duties for Evolution.) That just leaves Kate Beckinsale out of the loop, since the events in the story take place long before she was turned (although she does provide the narration that opens the film and appears at the end courtesy of recycled footage from the first film).
Lest you think my goal is to bash this series in toto, I will say that Rise of the Lycans surprised me by being much better than I thought it would be. In fact, I’m prepared to go so far as to call it the best film in the series, which is saying something when you consider it’s basically a feature-length expansion of one of the flashbacks from the first film. And this is also in spite of the preponderance of pretentious dialogue and the monotonous blue light that every scene in bathed in, both of which are part and parcel of every Underworld movie. Some things you just can’t get away from. At least this installment, by virtue of its period settling, was able to do without all the tedious gun fights. Too bad they would be back with a vengeance when the time came to reawaken Kate Beckinsale and see if she could still fit into her shiny, black catsuit…
Werewolf Wednesday Digest – April 2012, Part 1
Lately I’ve been seeing the #WerewolfWednesday hashtag pop up on Twitter. I don’t know who started it, but I like it, and I feel bad that I rarely have anything special to post on that particular day. Now, at the suggestion of @DavidJonFuller, I’m going to try Doing A Thing (and David is, too). Every Wednesday I’m going to post a digest of all the werewolfy goings-on that I’ve heard about during the previous six days but didn’t get a chance to post about (or that didn’t warrant a post of its own, for whatever reason). So, here we go!
David Fuller has an excellent interview with Rachel Deering, writer / creator of that Anathema comic I’ve been crowing about lately. I’m always interested in hearing what creative werewolf fans have to say, especially those that can actually deliver on their creative vision. Rachel’s one of those.
Here are two nice lookin’ shirts on RedBubble, designed by HeartJack: Sons of Lycanthropy and Memorial Werewolf Hunt. Love the designs, although I can’t condone the second one.
I’ve only watched the first five minutes of RED MOON, a very silly but highly agreeable little film by Sirocco Research Labs. When I get a minute I’ll watch the rest for sure – I’m compelled by four words: Soviet werewolf submarine captain.
Want some more compelling words? Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space. This sounds like a Rob Zombie concept album, but it’s actually a graphic novel by Simon Sanchez and Dean Juliette. That’s literally all I know about it – Simon emailed me about it, but the email just said “‘Check out my new comic. It’s called “Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space.’ I have a fan page for it on Facebook.” No links or anything. So, maybe it’s good? If you read it, let me know.
Hannah Kate, proprietor of the She-Wolf blog and organizer of the upcoming Manchester Monster Conference, has just posted a delicious essay comparing the portrayal of werewolves and teenage girls in tween-targeted fiction. Monster High vs. Sweet Valley High was an excellent (if ultimately dispiriting) lunchtime read, especially if you’re familiar with either of the franchises.
Lastly, Werewolf News has a Pinterest account, which I hope will replace the now-defunct Fuzzy Camera. If you thought Pinterest was the domain of picky brides-to-be, amateur home decorators and fashionistas… you’d probably be right. But I aim to get some monstrous werewolf stuff in there! All up ins, to paraphrase Jerry Holkins.
And that concludes the first Werewolf News Werewolf Wednesday!
Anathema – Help Keep the Epic Lesbian Werewolf Horror Comic Alive!
If you read my Twitter-review of Anathema last week, you won’t be surprised that I am flippin’ stoked about this: the writer/creator of Anathema has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to get the remaining five issues created.
If you didn’t read that review, or if you are very forgetful, you can get acquainted with Anathema via this 5-page preview of issue 1. Or, avail yourself of this tidy summary from the new Kickstarter page:
Anathema is a six issue limited series horror comic that tells the story of Mercy Barlowe, a tormented young woman with a dark side. She must fight through treacherous lands and unspeakable horrors to reclaim her lover’s soul, which has been stolen by members of a sinister cult, bent on resurrecting a terrible and ancient evil.
In issue #1, we saw Mercy’s world torn asunder, and watched as she accepted the curse of the wolf. Can Mercy learn to harness her horrible new powers and stop the raven cult before they succeed in their vile plan? Mercy needs your help to see her journey through!
The campaign runs until April 30th, with a goal of $20,000. As I’m writing this, over $4,000 has been pledged so far. The money will pay for illustrator Chris Mooneyham and colourist Fares Maese to finish what they started: creating the visuals to accompany Rachel Deering‘s story. Given that the first issue’s goal was $6,000, we’re getting a pretty wicked discount on the remaining five. Your thrifty mom would totally approve (just don’t tell her it’s a horror comic about a lesbian werewolf avenging the murder and soul-theft of her lover – some moms get weird about that).
In addition to the comics themselves, there are some excellent pledge rewards, including a copy of the now-unavailable issue 1, original artwork pen & ink from issue 1, pinup art from Chris Mooneyham, and a general sense of satisfaction. I was too slow / poor to get the pledge item I really wanted ($500 for the 2-page spread of Mercy’s first transformation), but you can bet your ass I’ll be ponying up a solid contribution a little later this week.
Now, since I really believe this project needs to happen, I’m going to try a two-pronged approach for the “ask” portion of this post. If you are a nice and gentle person, read item 1 below. If you are a snarky comic snob, read item 2.
- Werewolf friends, I implore you: help get this awesome comic series completed. I’ve chatted a bit with Rachel and she’s every bit as excited and committed to this project as Jeff Davis was about the Teen Wolf show (and look how that turned out). Alas, Rachel doesn’t have an MTV-style budget, so please consider pledging a few bucks. I will love you forever.
- Only Kickstarter contributors and a lucky few reviewers got copies of Anathema’s 1st issue. When positive reviews started popping up, Twitter and the blog-o-sphere began to roil with the mewling cries of comics fans who missed the boat the first time around. If your voice was among that warbling cacophony, here’s a second chance to climb aboard. Stop scratching that neckbeard and get your credit card out!
In conclusion, Rachel Deering makes a good comic and you should help her out. Thank you and good day.