Benicio and Joe put the “Goth” back in Gothic with
their old school meets the new ultra-violence remake of the horror
classic, “The Wolfman.”
Joe “Jumanji” Johnston and his screenwriters have stripped much of the mystery out of this tale of an English actor (
who is once bitten, twice ravenous. Many of the beheadings and
dismemberments (and don’t forget disembowelings) happen in front of an
entire moonstruck encampment, village or asylum. But it’s well cast,
well-acted and, in its own gory way, fun.
Americanized matinee idol (circa 1891) who drops Poor Yorick’s skull
(we see him as “Hamlet”) to dash home to Talbot Hall, where his brother
has disappeared. His brother’s fetching fiance (the fetching
spot on), isn’t grieving. He’s moving on, pretending not to buy into
the villagers of Blackmoor’s theory — that this is but the latest
gruesome slaughter at the hands of a werewolf. They know the poem.
“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers at night
“May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”
Lawrence snoops around, questions the gypsies, who
are everyone’s second-favorite suspect (dancing bears bite, right?),
and tangles with a beast who chews up the Gypsy camp and many of the
folks in it. He’s been bitten. We know what’s coming.
“The Wolfman” is one of those films with bad buzz —
delays, reshoots, re-edits. But it shows little evidence of this, as
the tone, look and level of violence appear long-fixed. The
period-piece setting and genteel playing of the flirtations and
confrontations (
Stupidest move? Trying to kill off
“Terrible things, Lawrence,” Sir John scolds. “You’ve done terrible things.”
Decades past “American Werewolf in
depiction of the man-to-wolf transformation, it was probably wise to
turn this into a modern “Let’s treat this illness” parable. But the
matter-of-fact way everybody involved faces this supernatural horror
drains most of the chills right out of it.
The original
of this tale is almost 70 years old. But the writers and director
should have heeded old Mr. Talbot’s admonition — “The past is a
wilderness of horrors” — and paid more attention to what really worked
in that “Wolf Man” before inventing their own “Wolfman.”
The Wolfman
2 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Cast:
Director:
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Industry rating: R for bloody horror violence and gore
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