“Even a man, who says his prayers every night, can become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon shines bright.” The opening introduction to Joe Johnston’s remake of the 1941 George Waggner classic horror flick is timeless, immediately addressing the mythology of the werewolf. Its closeness to the classic horror images keep this film affirmed as a werewolf film, but it disappointingly seems to struggle as a remake that could have been relatively simple, all the story really needed was a few extra twists to keep it fresh. Instead what we are treated to is a laughable cross between a tribute to the original horror and an attempted stylish modern adaption of the werewolf phenomenon.
There’s lots of the expected blood and gore, but it’s treated in a very odd fashion. The attacks are not so much a climax of hyper-tension, but a prolonged expectation that tries to achieve the same up to dated restyling of the classic Hammer Horror Studio’s stage blood explosions that the horror genre fan is now used to. After the release of the first Saw film in 2004, we now expect a level of extremity and gore, and this is an idea that Johnston has tapped into, but has unsuccessfully decided to include. In truth, the most horrifying sequence is the edited transformation of Benicio Del Toro. Just not quite embracing the horror film it could be, this remake disappoints. Supposedly all remakes are mistakes, and this film doesn’t help that argument. It fails to achieve that unmistakable tension and fear that the original so perfectly created from the legend.
Thankfully, there are some great performances in this film. Benicio Del Toro makes a wonderful wolfman, as some clever clogs have suggested, mainly because he’s already quite wolf-like in appearance. I think it’s because he embodies that misunderstood subtle nature that that werewolf mystic needs to embrace, a very different take to the famous Bela Lugosi. A definitely memorable Antony Hopkins gives another well rounded deliverance, offering a welcomed reassurance that the film might have been taken seriously during filming. Emily Blunt plays the mourning widow come sustainable love interest of the beast and self-devoted heroine of the film, adequately cast as she provides that classic touch of the werewolf myth and portrays the emotionally torn heroine beautifully.
In keeping with the critical themes of the werewolf myth, all the expected narrative elements and key iconography is included. The opening sequence that introduces the environment for the film is suitably intriguing; Blackmoore England 1891, but perhaps suggests the expectation of a lush period piece. Yes the costumes are good, and the settings are ideal for the mood of the film, but it’s just not enough to procure that sort of aesthetic assumption and not progress the idea that it could become an aesthetically driven film, it just stops short of something dramatic visually.
The interesting inclusion of the asylum and the scientific treatment for mental conditions is a quirky if nothing else addition. It seems to have an acceptable role in presenting an alternative view on the science of the period, but one that today’s audience are all too familiar with and it seems rather flimsy of an exploration of the spiritual versus science enlightenment ideology. The very laughable stereotyping of the gypsies, their legends and superstitions is very outdated, so presumably it’s there as a bit of a sidekick to the picking apart of the horror genre that goes on within the film. One element that remains very similar to the original wolfman film is the humanistic features of the transformed werewolf, he can both walk upright as a man in stature or run on all fours like a beast, a very effective figure representation, but it’s just too far removed from recent werewolf figures to have a conditional place in my heart. As a lover of the original and also a majority of the recent filmic werewolves, believe me when I say this just doesn’t cut it as a remake.
