Review: The Wolfman (2010)

Released February 11, 2010

Emily Blunt tending to the Wolfy Benicio Del Toro

The Universal Monster movies of the 30s and 40s were never really A-list productions. Often saddled with cheap production values and shoddy acting (Bela Lugosi might be the definitive Dracula but his performance is truly hilarious), they were at their best when most subversive – Bride of Frankenstein springs to mind. The Wolfman was always one of the second tier monsters, and this remake directed by journeyman Joe Johnston is very much in the same B-movie tradition.

This is not to say the production is weak. The cast is first rate, with Benicio Del Toro starring as Lawrence Talbot, an American man holed up in an estate in rural England with his father played by Anthony Hopkins. His brother, Ben, has disappeared, and townsfolk and wandering gypsies claim of a beast roaming the land causing havoc. Cue the arrival of Inspector Abberline (Hugo Weaving), fresh from investigating the Ripper murders and appearing like a deliberately spoken, bearded Agent Smith. Best of all is the wonderful Emily Blunt as Ben’s fiancée, totally compelling as the underwritten love interest.

The effects, a mix of traditional makeup and CGI, mostly convince. Showing more flair for visual design than one would expect from the director of Jurassic Park III, Johnston drenches the film in a lush gothic visual tapestry backed by Danny Elfman’s thunderously old fashioned score.

The story – and werewolf tales on screen are hardly rare – offers no surprises. What does is the level of gore. In this age of PG-13 blockbusters it’s refreshing than The Wolfman literally goes for the jugular. Entrails are spilled, organs devoured and heads roll. It’s all so schlocky that some of the more gratuitous moments elicit more laughs than scares, but that’s part of the appeal.

Whether or not multiplex audiences will go for a film so dreadfully old school, over wrought and melodramatic is another matter, but it succeeds as an affectionate slice of nostalgia for the original horror classics. Take it or leave it.