
From 1931 to 1948, Universal Studios ushered in a series of iconic films which introduced the definitive pop culture images of classic monster characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and The Mummy. Starring horror legends such as Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr. and made by directors like Tod Browning and James Whale, these movies, including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), scared the daylights out of movie-going audiences of the time and forever made men like Lugosi, Karloff, and Chaney film icons. Universal had a great product and knew exactly how to make these films. These were B-movies made for audiences to simply enjoy watching. They had foggy nights, creepy villains, mobs of angry villagers, gothic castles, laboratories of buzzing electrical equipment, and state of the art make-up of the time cloaking leads like Chaney or Karloff in the shells of their monster personas. These traits have been acknowledged and honored by director Joe Johnston and actor Benicio Del Toro in the remake of, in the opinion of this author, the best movie of the Universal horror cycle, The Wolfman.
The Wolfman uses the same character names and basic story as the original 1941 film but does deviate on the specifics. The movie opens as stage actor Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro, inheriting the role from Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his father’s estate in Victorian-era England to investigate the gruesome murder of his brother. Summoned to the Talbot homestead by his brother’s dead fiancĂ©, Gwen Conliffe, a devastatingly beautiful Emily Blunt, Talbot reconnects with his estranged father, Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins taking over for Claude Rains’ original performance), and through investigating with local villagers and questioning a band of traveling gypsies, learns that his brother’s body was torn to pieces by a werewolf that is stalking the countryside. Soon Lawrence himself falls victim to the bite of the werewolf and begins to turn into one once the full moon rises. And when he does, he slashes and claws his way through numerous victims and splatters the screen with gory violence.
What makes this version of The Wolfman different from its predecessor is that the main struggle of Lawrence Talbot in the original film was that he could not convince anyone that he was turning into a wolf and committing murder. He spends the whole film in torment because no one will believe him when he confesses to his awful crimes. Other characters, like his father, believe that Talbot is mentally disturbed. In the new version, every knows that Lawrence Talbot is a werewolf and that he is murdering innocent victims. Because of this, the new version lacks the tension and some of the weight of the original. Here, Talbot spends the film not trying to persuade those around him that he is a werewolf but fleeing angry villagers and a London inspector (The Matrix’s Hugo Weaving) who are trying to contain and kill him.
This qualm involving the story is a minor quibble in what is overall a very entertaining throwback to Universal’s classics. Fans of the original should smile in geeky delight at the little nods to the original, like the inclusion of original screenwriter Curt Siodmak’s werewolf poem (“Even a man who is pure in heart/And says his prayers by night/ May become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms/ And the autumn moon is bright”), the images of eerie castles and fog-filled forests, and the presence of props from the original film, like a silver-headed cane reminiscent of the one used by Chaney in the original.
Del Toro, Hopkins, and Blunt play it straight here and take the material seriously, avoiding the temptation of making this an exercise in campy acting. Del Toro especially does a noble job honoring Chaney’s original performance. Like Chaney, we can see the anguish and despair on the face of Del Toro’s Talbot. His Talbot is a man who does not want the curse placed upon him and labors to isolate himself from those he loves. In this case, that person is Emily Blunt’s Gwen. The two fall in love as the movie progresses and it is easy to see why Talbot does. Blunt has classic Hollywood beauty that recalls Ingrid Bergman and she plays the love interest and protector of Lawrence with the terrible realization that if she really loves Talbot, she may have to rid him of his curse by destroying him.
The Wolfman contains sequences of CGI that critics like Roger Ebert have criticized for lacking in believability with regards to the way the creature moves, for example, through the rooftops of London once he escapes from a mental hospital. Ebert complains that the werewolf moves too quickly and too much like a cartoon. This is valid criticism but is easily overlooked because one would find it difficult to say that a mythical creature like a werewolf, which does not exist, moves too fast in a movie. The make-up by Rick Baker is expertly done and is more expressive and terrifying than the original make- up done by make up artist Jack Pierce (the man you can thank for the bolts-on-the-neck look of Frankenstein’s monster). This is a gory movie and is very violent, but like Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, the violence is not too realistic and perhaps is one of the campiest elements about the whole movie.
Joe Johnston has made a film that honors the old Universal films and stakes its own claim in today’s modern horror genre. It is refreshing to see a film that is set in the 19th century, embraces that atmosphere of castles and fog, and not be about teenage vampires waxing about love. Though the original ultimately stands on a mantle above it, The Wolfman thrills. You do not see B-movies made much with A-list actors and state of the art effects. Only once in a full moon.
Grade: B
3 comments:
Bravo!
This is yet another movie that I'm dying to see! I really enjoyed reading your comparisons here of the original and this, the remake. I think that you're right to make the distinction that while the story may not be original or inventive, sometimes it is great to have movies that are just "fun" for moviegoers.
And, although I read every last dang Twilight (it's a little like a drug... you're disgusted and addicted all at the same time) I'm also glad to see you noted the silliness of teenage vampires falling in love. If I'm going to watch a film about classic creatures of horror, at least there could be some gratuitous violence and bloodshed!
Teen Wolf Origins: The Beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxbS8fOszFI
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