Universal nails classic remake
Vampires everywhere, beware: there’s a new monster in town.
“The Wolfman,” a thrilling remake of the 1941 classic horror movie, roared into theaters everywhere Feb. 12.
The Universal Studios flick focuses on Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), a Shakespearean actor whose emotionally dead father (Anthony Hopkins) banished him to the U.S. as a child after he stumbled across the bloody body of his mother in a supposed suicide.
Decades later, Lawrence returns to his palatial childhood home in the U.K. after receiving word of his brother’s disappearance.
Unfortunately, his brother’s mangled and mutilated corpse is discovered the next morning, leaving Lawrence to wonder: What being could have committed such a heinous deed?
Was it a wild beast, or an animalistic madman? What if it was a combination of both?
It is that ominous vibe that carries “The Wolfman” from start to finish in a never-ending journey full of thrills, scares and even a few tears.
Fans of the original “Wolfman” will remember the flick not as a terribly frightening one, but instead as a resonant tragedy of a man cursed to kill when the moon is full.
The 2010 version continues this legacy. While jump scenes and decibel-piercing sound effects abound, the real story is not about the monster — it is about the man trapped within him.
Unlike its precursor, the new “Wolfman” also offers a psychological edge to the story that will leave moviegoers questioning whether the monster is really even a monster at all, or simply the fantastical creation of a lunatic’s mind.
Visually, the film is a smorgasbord of excellently choreographed action sequences and scenery that are at once beautiful and ghastly.
However, it is the werewolves’ transformations that truly steal the show.
These beasts are not the watered-down, family-friendly versions made famous by “Twilight,” but instead the original, gritty, humanoid figures who burst out of their clothing with crackling limbs, enormous teeth and wickedly curved claws.
For adrenalin junkies looking for a genuinely frightening movie, “The Wolfman” may rely a bit too heavily on jump scenes to provide thrills.
But for true fans of monster movies, it delivers on every level.
Rating: A
—Whitney Knight
Staff Writer
