Talking Pictures

Tony Toscano reviews “The Wolfman”

One of my favorite films when I was growing up was the 1941 film starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot, a regular guy who just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The updated film starring Benico Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, is by far a better film technically. By that I mean by its use of camera angles, moonlight and shooting through branches, the film really sets its mood well.

However the film’s human element is a bit underplayed and too gothic. In the original film Lawrence Talbot was a great guy. A big friendly man with a good sense of humor and hardy laugh.

The tragedy of “The Wolfman” is that we as the audience like Larry Talbot and when he assumes the curse of the beast, we feel for him.

The new film kind of divorces from that idea and replaces a likeable Talbot with a dark and brooding man, whom the audience feels hardly any connection.

And even darker is the relationship between father (Anthony Hopkins) and his son. Although, in it’s way, it works well despite the disconnection.

As for a classic horror film, “The Wolfman” does its job and keeps the audience at a constant unease. Special effects and make-up are fantastic and pay homage to the original film by not cheating us and using CGI.

I am giving “The Wolfman” a B+ (in the horror genre) as a regular film, it would rate a B.

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