The werewolf, loup-garou, and the Lycanthrope are back in the brilliant thought-provoking film Wolfkin . Coming from the rich tradition of fiction such as Guy Endore’s 1933 seminal novel The Werewolf of Paris and the 1896 story The Were-wolf by Clemence Housman, this film is in my opinion an essential new addition to the werewolf film canon.
You can lump this film into the abyss of Folk Horror yet its just plain simple a damn good film from top to end credits because it tells an essential human story. Wolfkin (2022) a.k.a. Kommunioun is a Luxembourgian/French/Belgium production; directed by Jacques Molitor. The picture is elegantly shot and paced with true mastery and restraint, as does befit the subject matter of extreme, old-world control and remedy for the modern, uncontrolled animalistic urges.
Taking a cue from Hammer’s The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Wolfkin (2022) reverses the fact that in that film,...
You can lump this film into the abyss of Folk Horror yet its just plain simple a damn good film from top to end credits because it tells an essential human story. Wolfkin (2022) a.k.a. Kommunioun is a Luxembourgian/French/Belgium production; directed by Jacques Molitor. The picture is elegantly shot and paced with true mastery and restraint, as does befit the subject matter of extreme, old-world control and remedy for the modern, uncontrolled animalistic urges.
Taking a cue from Hammer’s The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Wolfkin (2022) reverses the fact that in that film,...
- 9/18/2023
- by Terry Sherwood
- Horror Asylum
No film of the Hays Code era revels in its own perversity quite like Mad Love (1935). Mad science, body horror, insanity, obsession, executions, gaslighting, sadomasochism—it’s all here and presented with unparalleled excellence of craft. Though it may seem tame compared to pre-Code fare like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks, and Island of Lost Souls (both 1932), it manages to just barely sneak its lurid subject matter by the censors under a layer of dark humor, exceptional cinematography, and a masterful performance by Peter Lorre in his first American film.
After Dracula proved to be a huge success for Universal, other Hollywood studios became eager to get in on the horror game, though many of these studios felt the genre was beneath them. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was considered the most prestigious of the golden-age studios, famous for its big budget musicals, epic spectaculars, and boasting “more stars than there are in the heavens.
After Dracula proved to be a huge success for Universal, other Hollywood studios became eager to get in on the horror game, though many of these studios felt the genre was beneath them. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was considered the most prestigious of the golden-age studios, famous for its big budget musicals, epic spectaculars, and boasting “more stars than there are in the heavens.
- 2/15/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
“Beware the moon, lads,” two young Americans are told by a cranky pub regular in An American Werewolf in London (1981). Alas, the summer break tourists with sheep shit in their backpacks did not stick to the roads and instead crossed the moors beneath a full moon. After all, that guy sounded crazy. But by the movie’s end, who’s howling now?
Horror movies make lycanthropes out to be lunatics, but only during certain moments of the lunar cycle. Why does the wolfman have to wait for a full moon to change though? There are werewolves reading this who are hungry now. Even A-list actors like Jack Nicholson, Michael J. Fox, Benicio del Toro, James Spader, and Taylor Lautner have to make monthly reservations to dine on the innocent in their hairiest roles.
It seems unlikely that the full moon catalyst started with Lon Chaney Jr.’s Larry Talbot in...
Horror movies make lycanthropes out to be lunatics, but only during certain moments of the lunar cycle. Why does the wolfman have to wait for a full moon to change though? There are werewolves reading this who are hungry now. Even A-list actors like Jack Nicholson, Michael J. Fox, Benicio del Toro, James Spader, and Taylor Lautner have to make monthly reservations to dine on the innocent in their hairiest roles.
It seems unlikely that the full moon catalyst started with Lon Chaney Jr.’s Larry Talbot in...
- 10/26/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Mark of the Vampire
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / 1.33: 1 / 60 Min.
Starring Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi
Written by Guy Endore, Bernard Schubert
Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning died in 1962, living long enough to see his work enjoy a resurgence on late night’s Shock Theater, a syndicated TV package featuring Universal’s classic horror films. Browning’s Dracula was one of the crown jewels of that series but if you wanted to see more of the director’s work it probably wouldn’t be on television—his most infamous films were too lurid even for the midnight hour: potboilers populated by deformed and deranged circus performers, bloodthirsty magicians, and cross-dressing ventriloquists.
1932’s Freaks was the ne plus ultra of the Browning shockers, a sawdust soap opera pitting a beautiful prima donna against unorthodox carny performers—”unorthodox” because these folks were, on the surface, strange figures whose physical abberations made them outcasts everywhere except the circus.
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1935 / 1.33: 1 / 60 Min.
Starring Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi
Written by Guy Endore, Bernard Schubert
Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning died in 1962, living long enough to see his work enjoy a resurgence on late night’s Shock Theater, a syndicated TV package featuring Universal’s classic horror films. Browning’s Dracula was one of the crown jewels of that series but if you wanted to see more of the director’s work it probably wouldn’t be on television—his most infamous films were too lurid even for the midnight hour: potboilers populated by deformed and deranged circus performers, bloodthirsty magicians, and cross-dressing ventriloquists.
1932’s Freaks was the ne plus ultra of the Browning shockers, a sawdust soap opera pitting a beautiful prima donna against unorthodox carny performers—”unorthodox” because these folks were, on the surface, strange figures whose physical abberations made them outcasts everywhere except the circus.
- 10/11/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Rip-roaring Oliver Reed’s silver-coated were-beast is one of Hammer Films’ very best screen monsters, which is more than enough reason to sample this colorful 1961 shocker. It was apparently ripped to shreds by the U.K. censors, a horror-crime spared us lucky Americans. The movie has been released more than once on Blu-ray but Shout’s new 4K scan restores it to prime condition. Numerous extras trace its stormy path through the slights and deletions of The Curse of the BBFC.
The Curse of the Werewolf
Blu-ray
Shout! Scream Factory
1961 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / Collector’s Edition / Available from Scream Factory
Starring: Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson.
Cinematography: Arthur Grant
Film Editor: Alfred Cox
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel
Written by John Elder (Anthony Hinds) from The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore
Produced by Michael Carreras, Anthony Hinds
Directed by Terence Fisher
When stab comes to gouge,...
The Curse of the Werewolf
Blu-ray
Shout! Scream Factory
1961 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / Collector’s Edition / Available from Scream Factory
Starring: Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson.
Cinematography: Arthur Grant
Film Editor: Alfred Cox
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel
Written by John Elder (Anthony Hinds) from The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore
Produced by Michael Carreras, Anthony Hinds
Directed by Terence Fisher
When stab comes to gouge,...
- 5/19/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Yesterday, amid a crush of sweaty people desperate for last-minute props, I visited a local Halloween superstore with my daughter, looking for a Pikachu mask. Well, there wasn’t much to choose from in the Cute Kid Division. But this particular hall of Halloween hell definitely had the adult sensibility covered. Of course there were the usual skimpy or otherwise outrageous costumes for purchase —ladies, you can dress up like a sexy Kim Kardashian-esque vampire out for a night of Hollywood clubbing, and gents, how about impressing all the sexy Kim Kardashian vampires at your party by dressing up like a walking, talking matched set of cock and balls! It’s been a while since I’ve shopped for fake tools of terror, but it seems there’s been a real advance in sophistication in the market for “Leatherface-approved” (I swear) chainsaws with moving parts and authentic revving noises,...
- 10/30/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
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As Trumbo arrives on DVD and Blu-ray, we look back at the Oscar-winning screenwriter who couldn't get his award...
This article originally appeared in 2014. It has been reposted to blatantly attempt to cash in on the disc release of Trumbo in the UK, and to hope more people read it this time around. We figured the honest approach was worth a shot...
Back in 1953, Roman Holiday was a raging success. The Audrey Hepburn-headlined romantic comedy picked up seven Oscar nominations, and its box office run brought in $12m off a $1.5m budget (if you go by inflation-adjusted totals, that'd be receipts of well over $150m). Furthermore, come the night of the Academy Awards, further riches were to be bestowed on the film. Audrey Hepburn took home Oscar gold for Best Actress, whilst the costume designer, Edith Head, was rewarded for her work.
The film collected a third Oscar too,...
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As Trumbo arrives on DVD and Blu-ray, we look back at the Oscar-winning screenwriter who couldn't get his award...
This article originally appeared in 2014. It has been reposted to blatantly attempt to cash in on the disc release of Trumbo in the UK, and to hope more people read it this time around. We figured the honest approach was worth a shot...
Back in 1953, Roman Holiday was a raging success. The Audrey Hepburn-headlined romantic comedy picked up seven Oscar nominations, and its box office run brought in $12m off a $1.5m budget (if you go by inflation-adjusted totals, that'd be receipts of well over $150m). Furthermore, come the night of the Academy Awards, further riches were to be bestowed on the film. Audrey Hepburn took home Oscar gold for Best Actress, whilst the costume designer, Edith Head, was rewarded for her work.
The film collected a third Oscar too,...
- 9/22/2014
- Den of Geek
Did you somehow miss this amazing sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man? Who could ever forget The Wolf Man vs. Dracula, the Technicolor square-off between Bela Lugosi’s villainous vampire and Lon Chaney, Jr.’s, hirsute antihero? You don’t remember it? Of course not, because it never existed. But, it almost did!
Welcome to “An Alternate History for Classic Film Monsters,” a wonderful series of previously unpublished screenplays from the Universal Monsters era. Curated by Philip J. Riley (Count Dracula Society Award winner and inductee into the Universal Horror Hall of Fame), this collection of newly dug up scripts offers any devoted monster fan who’s “seen ‘em all” a special opportunity indeed of seeing some classic chiller movies that might have been.
Published in the same style as Riley’s earlier screenplays of the ‘30s thriller greats put out by MagicImage, these BearManor Media volumes include a...
Welcome to “An Alternate History for Classic Film Monsters,” a wonderful series of previously unpublished screenplays from the Universal Monsters era. Curated by Philip J. Riley (Count Dracula Society Award winner and inductee into the Universal Horror Hall of Fame), this collection of newly dug up scripts offers any devoted monster fan who’s “seen ‘em all” a special opportunity indeed of seeing some classic chiller movies that might have been.
Published in the same style as Riley’s earlier screenplays of the ‘30s thriller greats put out by MagicImage, these BearManor Media volumes include a...
- 7/5/2010
- by Movies Unlimited
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Forget vampires and zombies – they're just corpses. Werewolves are alive and howling
Vampires and zombies have been hogging our attention so much of late that we could be forgiven for having overlooked the other class-a monster lurking on the sidelines. But now it's getting ready to reclaim its rightful place in the horror pantheon, shoulder to shoulder with the walking undead. Werewolves are go!
Although they may not have taken top billing for a while, werewolves have never been entirely absent from our screens and pages. Who is Harry Potter's favourite professor of defence against the dark arts? The werewolf Remus Lupin! Who plugs that gap in Bella's heart when her beloved vampire Edward goes awol in the second episode of the Twilight saga? Step forward Jacob Black, who shapeshifts into a wolf! The Underworld films are nominally about vampires, but who are the vampires fighting? Lycans! Which is just a fancy name for werewolves,...
Vampires and zombies have been hogging our attention so much of late that we could be forgiven for having overlooked the other class-a monster lurking on the sidelines. But now it's getting ready to reclaim its rightful place in the horror pantheon, shoulder to shoulder with the walking undead. Werewolves are go!
Although they may not have taken top billing for a while, werewolves have never been entirely absent from our screens and pages. Who is Harry Potter's favourite professor of defence against the dark arts? The werewolf Remus Lupin! Who plugs that gap in Bella's heart when her beloved vampire Edward goes awol in the second episode of the Twilight saga? Step forward Jacob Black, who shapeshifts into a wolf! The Underworld films are nominally about vampires, but who are the vampires fighting? Lycans! Which is just a fancy name for werewolves,...
- 2/4/2010
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
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