WEREWOLF WEEKEND!

I return triumphant this weekend with a plethora of reviews! In honor of the new Wolfman (in theatres), I decided to devote this past weekend to Werewolf movies.

Wolfman (2010) Excellent. If you like Gothic fiction, this is most decidedly a movie for you. It has every element: the abandoned castle, the damsel in distress, the underground labyrinth, a curse. It was really fun to see something so modern deal with these classic tropes.

However, I think it would have done better had they stuck even closer to the rules of the Gothic. All the gore felt out of place and forced against the moodiness of the rest of the movie.

Also, Emily Blunt's character is shown wearing a blue bodice just months after her fiance died. If they were sticking true to true Victorian funerary dress, she would have still been in deep mourning, and blue would have been forbidden.

B+


Big Bad Wolf (2006) Terrible, and not in a so-bad-it's-good way. First of all, I feel werewolves in wolf form shouldn't be able to talk. Besides that, the whole movie was just bizarre and deeply misogynistic. Who thought this movie was a good idea? It's just one huge rape joke. Seriously.

F


The Wolves of Kromer (2000) Not Horror, though Netflix bills this as a Horror movie. It's basically a British comedy, which uses Werewolf-ism as a hamfisted and transparent metaphor for homosexuality. The plot swings wildly around, and most of the time I had no idea what was going on.

The only redeeming quality was William Lee, (left) who made quite a cute and endearing wolf-boy.

D+

Stay tuned for even more werewolf movies! I'm making a week of it.

Coming soon: Gingersnaps (2000)

Daybreakers (2010)

Daybreakers is currently in theatres. Directed by the Spierig Brothers, this movie stars Ethan Hawk, Willem Defoe and Harriet Minto-Day.

Daybreakers was a good movie. Not great, but mildly entertaining. However, it had a few intriguing points that make it worth seeing.

In this movie, an epidemic has swept the world, turning most of the population into vampires. The movie calls it an epidemic, but the specifics of the disease are never clarified. It seems to me to be not a sickness at all, but more like a social trend. The main character Edward's brother admits to changing Edward not because of overwhelming thirst, but because he wanted his brother to be immortal as well. This seems to be the reasoning in most cases, with each vampire turning their family and friends until vampires overwhelmingly outnumber humans. The demand for blood quickly outstrips supply. Famine and riots quickly ensue.

It seems to me that the epidemic is selfishness. People disregarded balance, thinking only of preserving the ones they love. They scrambled to change everyone, regardless of the consequences. When the blood began to run out, they rioted, or executed the crazed Nosferatu-esqe starving vamps to delay the problem. Basically, Daybreaker vampires are more human than most people would most likely be willing to admit. The transformation has not changed people's essential nature.

However, this is not to say that the film does not have problems. The director used a blue filter over much of the movie that I found uncomfortable to watch. Additionally, the last ten minutes needed to be cut off, or ten more minutes needed to be added. The end completely invalidated everything the heroes had been working toward for the majority of the movie, and made the whole experience seem pointless.

Without the ending: B +

As it stands: C