Review: The Wolfman

Published by Elaine Arthur on 12 October 2012

Ryan Andrews reviews the 2010 film The Wolfman for us in preperation for Halloween this month. Starring Benico Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving – this is a cracking cast – but is it as good as the line up? Tell us on Facebook- Search for ‘GBPosters’!

“As a great lover of the horror genre, werewolves and vampires especially, I was more than a little excited when I heard Universal Studios were remaking the original Wolfman story. Needless to say, when the film was released my friends and I were among the first in our local cinema to see the new reworking of the original tale.

The 2010 reimaging of The Wolfman stars Benico Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. As the haunted Lawrence Talbot, Benico Del Toro is able to perform as if he himself had spent years as a child inside an asylum as the character he plays had, he is able to convey the years of mental trauma with little effort on his part, the occasional reminder of what happened during his childhood to turn him against his father are few and not necessary in my opinion. Hugo Weaving provides the nemesis of the film as he does in the majority of his films. As the inspector from London investigating grisly murders in the Blackmore moors, he stumbles upon the curse of the Wolfman in his attempts to stop the murders.

Emily Blunt gives us the standard damsel in distress and nothing more; she is the classically troubled and helpless young Victorian woman. Anthony Hopkins provides his usual high performance as Talbot’s father; he gives off an eerie and disturbing feeling, but gives a spectacular twist at the end of the film.

The settings of the film are typically Victorian. The inclusion of the insane asylum and some of their forms of ‘rehabilitation’ add to the eerie feel and the overall misery of the story. The usage of CGI in the film is few and far between, and even then is only used when physical props could not be used in the film. These uses are subtle, but against the physical props they are slightly obvious. The redesign of the original Wolfman look is also not unwelcome. While it has been kept close to the original, the designers have also incorporated aspects of more modern werewolf designs, such as added height, more muscle and of course, the teeth and claws we all know and love.

Overall the film is good, but it could be better. As someone who has not seen the original Universal film, I can’t really compare the two on their merits and their mirth. However, I will say that it is refreshing to see the werewolf story stripped back to its original myths and legends and it is comforting to see the rise of physical props and make up again rather than the constant use of CGI to construct monsters. It is definitely a film worth watching if you are a lover of horror and monsters or even if you are just after a slight scare."

Posted in Movies & TV