This is my review of the Wolfman (2010).
“The past is a wilderness of horror.” This dialogue from Anthony Hopkins in “The Wolfman” summarizes Hollywood’s foray into remaking and reimagining several major franchises. Yet, where all of its precursors failed- “Friday the 13th,” “The Fog” and “Halloween”- “The Wolfman” triumphs, saving a film that seemed destined to fail because of its troubled production history and catapulting it into the ranks of the best horror releases of the past decade.
What is it that separates director Joe Johnston’s latest film from the rest? It’s quite simple: it returns to and embraces its source material’s roots.
“The Wolfman” tells the tale of Lawrence Talbot (portrayed by Benicio Del Toro,) who returns home to his native Blackmoor, England after learning of his brother’s death. However, instead a supernatural menace with xenophobic overtones, Talbot discovers a Hamlet-like setup involving his father, Sir John, who is brought to life and menace by Anthony Hopkins. (The film’s ties and parallels with “Hamlet” are more pronounced in some instances, like when we learn that Lawrence was actually a Shakesperean actor who was helming the lead role in a touring production.)
What makes the plot solid, however, is its incorporation of all the themes and elements of Expressionist and Gothic horror, which were prevalent in varying degrees in the original. However, in this film, the audience is given all of the trappings: mental asylums, Gothic mansions, fog-enshrouded moors and frightened villagers with a mob-like mentality.
Yet, all of these wonderful visuals and sets would be incomplete without performances to activate them. Luckily, the film boasts solid performances by Del Toro and Hopkins, who capture the tension of a strained father-and-son relationship quite well. According to Hopkins, he based his performance on his father, who was “… a pretty red hot guy, but he was also cold. I learned from that, and I liked that coldness because it was harsh, and he taught me to be tough.”
Del Toro also brings complexity to the table in his performance of Lawrence, who grapples over the division between man and animal. The beauty of it is that the audience is left wondering throughout the film over how much control he has over his duality. In essence,
did the fatal bite introduce a new form of evil into him, or did it simply endow him with the wolf claws?
The duo’s performances are also supplemented by that of Emily Blunt as Gwen, the love interest and Hugo Weaving, as Francis Abberline, a Scotland Yard detective. What’s also interesting is that
Abberline was based on the real life Frederick Abberline, an investigator whose career grew and fell with the Jack the Ripper investigation.
These wonderful performances only compliment the visual effects of the film, a rare marriage of both elements (yes, “Transformers,” I’m referring to you.) Prosthetic and makeup effect artist Rick Baker brings this terrifying beast to life with his prosthetic and mask arrangements that hint at what the creature could have looked like in the preceding film, had there not been a limited supply of yak hair thanks to World War II.
However, the only downside to all of this is that the transformation sequences are digitally rendered, but the result is not lousy and actually appears convincing. The only instance of questionable CGI craftsmanship involves a bear. For reasons unknown, the production company opted out of renting a live creature and decided to utilize an animated animal they had on file. Thankfully, the beast’s screen-time is about a minute total, which mostly eliminates it from being a distraction.
Another area in which the film flourishes is in its soundtrack. Composer Danny Elfman created a score in the same vein as Wojciech Kilar’s score for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” It works by creating a hauntingly beautiful musical landscape. It’s hard to believe that Universal Studios almost replaced his period appropriate score with an electronic score done by Paul Haslinger. With the help of Elfman, however, the film takes off, having a score that adds extra menace to the images of the fog-choked English moors on a full moon.
“The Wolfman” is one of the best horror reboots, as well as cinematic contributions by Joe Johnston. After delivering the mess that was “Jurassic Park III,” Johnston has finally found the perfect formula and franchise to offer his unique vision. Even though he has hinted at returning to filming dinosaurs, his true calling is with the old Universal Monsters.
I give the “The Wolfman” an A- as a horror film and reboot. If I were to judge it as a regular cinematic entry instead of a genre contribution, however, my rating would descend, since horror pictures are not in the same realm as regular cinema. In essence, “The Wolfman” takes us on a terrifying journey through the English countryside, to the rooftops in London and into the darkness of the human soul.
