Trailer Tuesday: The Wolfman

It's remake time! The Wolfman is a new take on the classic 1941 horror film starring Lon Chaney, Jr. Now I admit I have never seen the original, but given what I know about it and its plotline, many of its major features have been transplanted into the remake, making Wolfman 2010 far more faithful than what was to be expected.

The Wolfman is set in the 1880s and centres on Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro), a morose, haunted man who returns to his home in rural England when his brother mysteriously vanishes. This gives Talbot a chance to reconcile with his father (Anthony Hopkins), fall in love with his brother's fiance (Emily Blunt) and become embroiled in an ancient, deadly curse. Not that it's particularly difficult to guess what the curse does come full moon time.


The Wolfman has a fantastic, award-winning cast, which is further rounded out with Hugo Weaving as a suspicious Scotland Yard detective, and Geraldine Chaplin as an old gypsy woman who has a very good understanding of what is going on in the village of Blackmoore, and the surrounding moors.

And I must say I am loving the period setting of The Wolfman. It probably would have been so easy for the filmmakers to set the movie in the 21st Century, as so many of today's horror flicks are. By placing the action and thrills against a 19th Century backdrop, The Wolfman immediately stands out as a pedigreed affair - a horror film with class. The trailer reminds me strongly of the likes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and From Hell. Admittedly none of these films were particularly scary, but I love them all for their distinctive looks and delicious production design. Mmmm, eye candy.


The only downside to The Wolfman is that the film has apparently had a very difficult production. This makes me worry somewhat, as the involvement of too many people, as well as too much studio interference, can really destroy a film's creative vision, leaving the end product a mediocre bag of missed opportunities at best, and a muddled mess at worst.

For starters, director Mark Romanek departed The Wolfman just before filming was set to begin - citing "creative difference." This left Jumanji, The Rocketeer and Jurassic Park III's Joe Johnston to step in and replace him at the last minute.

Make-up effects legend Rick Baker was in turn vocal about his treatment while making the film. Despite designing the werewolf's make-up, he was shut out when it came time to work on the on-screen werewolf transformation. In The Wolfman, all transformations will be entirely CGI, instead of being created using prosthetics and robotic body parts. It's worth remembering that Rick Baker is the man who received the first ever Make-up Academy Award for his groundbreaking work on werewolf movie classic An American Werewolf in London.

The final bit of bad news is that The Wolfman has been re-edited a handful of times since filming concluded, has experienced re-shoots on location in the UK earlier this year, and the film's release date has been pushed back multiple times since 2008 - most recently from 12 November 2009 to early 2010. These are never good signs but I guess we have to hope that the film's impact remains strong despite all the instability and negativity that seeped into its production process.

The Wolfman is set for release on 12 February 2010 in North America. Unfortunately there's been no indication yet when South Africans will be able to see the film.