It’s no secret that The Wolfman has had a production shoot as cursed as its main protagonist. Originally intended for a 2007 release and conceived as a throwback to the camp, yet brilliant Universal and Hammer Horror classics. It was so beleaguered by studio interference and numerous reshoots that it has led to a final product that feels butchered, confused and limp.
Commendably diving straight in with just the faintest whiff of a back-story, the plot centres around Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro), a travelling actor who receives a letter from home detailing his brother's death at the claws of a strange beast. Lawrence wastes no time in returning home to investigate the circumstances, but what of his strange, sinister father? Why do the local villagers believe his family is cursed? Lawrence is viciously attacked by the beast one evening and lives to tell the tale, but there’s a moon rising and a renowned detective on his trail. Will Lawrence solve the mystery before the full moon is up?
The Wolfman appears to have been originally filmed as a moody, gothic lycanthropic tragedy and then reshot as a CGI-infused gory horror piece. The two films are aggressively edited together here at breakneck speed, perhaps under the guise that if it plays out fast enough, the viewer will not have the chance to wonder just what the hell is going on. Character-driven sequences are trimmed to the nines with FX-laden set-pieces shoehorned in either side. The principal cast, all renowned actors in their own right, are reduced to mere stereotypes in the short screen-time they have. Del Toro in particular appears as if he’s acting in a different movie, while Hopkins and Weaving give a good go at eating up the screen, but frankly they deserve much better.
From the outset, The Wolfman has all the ingredients to be a winning piece of entertainment. It’s bolstered by a capable director, award-winning lead actors, a score by Danny Elfman and FX-work by the legendary Rick Baker, but the finished product falls well short of expectations in a film that looks like it has been ripped apart and edited back together one too many times. The end result is a film which lacks any coherent direction and consists of one lacklustre set piece after another. Avoid this one, it’s a howler.
Jonny Dawson
