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Post by silverbullet63 on Oct 13, 2019 17:02:44 GMT -5
Watching this one now.
Predates Predator (1987) with the Thermography like POV of the Creature/Wolf.
Anyone else here seen it, if so your thoughts?
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Post by someoldguy on Oct 13, 2019 19:36:06 GMT -5
Watching this one now. Predates Predator (1987) with the Thermography like POV of the Creature/Wolf. Anyone else here seen it, if so your thoughts? Seen it several times. Always liked it.  It is certainly different from the usual werewolf movie. I lived in New York City at that time, a particularly dark and gloomy period in the city's history. It was very easy to believe that creatures like this might be hiding in the shadows, just under the radar. What I especially liked about the creatures, which separated them from the usual werewolf types, was their extraordinary speed, intelligence and mutual cooperation. And rather than an aberration of nature, an angst-ridden shapeshifter under a curse, they were in their own way entirely natural. |
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Post by silverbullet63 on Oct 13, 2019 19:41:45 GMT -5
Born, raised and still live in NYC.
The state of Urban Decay here was a perfect setting/location for Wolfen.
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Post by someoldguy on Oct 13, 2019 20:26:32 GMT -5
The 'natural' nature of the Wolfen makes them closer to the creatures in The Howling than to An American Werewolf in London (all three made the same year!)although Wolfen is a very different movie from either of those two. I especially liked the Native American tie-in and the spookiness that brings in. BTW, as you surely know, Native Americans especially those of Mohawk ancestry are heavily involved in the construction of tall buildings in NYC. Legend has it that they have no fear of heights. I once saw an interview with one - in a bar which is probably why he was that honest - in which the man said that they are as afraid of heights as anyone. They are just not going to show it in front of 'round eyes'.  Some people have made much of the fact that this is not a werewolf movie. The killers are wolves. Not just wolves of course, super wolves that are above us on the food chain. Or maybe they are spirits after all as the Natives suspect. But to dismiss this as 'not a werewolf movie' is IMO to miss the point. Big furry toothy things that kill you in the dark and that act smarter than any animal ought to are a good basis for a scary movie. (Of course they are smart They are NYC wolves! ) |
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Post by someoldguy on Mar 10, 2020 9:04:50 GMT -5
Watched it again last night after many years. On Starz if you have it. Still as good and chilling as ever. (With extra chills if you are acrophobic.) You do not see any Wolfen until well over an hour into the movie and that is just a brief glimpse. This leaves open all the other possibilities hinted at, Native lycanthropy, voodoo, wolf obsessed terrorists. (The last being the punch line of the movie. No, that is not a spoiler.) Not until another 15 minutes after that first glimpse do we finally see one in full and they make sure you know these are not to be trifled with. We get to see a bunch of them nearer the end, in a good scary scene. In the climax, I love the imagery afforded by the reflective glass vertical blinds. What are we seeing? Is it real or something else? Are they inside or outside? In the end, what are the Wolfen? What the old Native man explained? Or as Eddie suggested, might they be gods?  BTW it is not just thermography used for 'Wolfen vision'. There is also false color, granularity shifts and various tricks like when the Wolfen looks at Whittington, he is in full vibrant color despite the darkness, the object of attention standing out from his surroundings. The Gotterdammerung terrorist group with its wolf meme reminds you (me anyway) of Fenrir, the great wolf who will kill Odin during Ragnarok, In the long ago, I had a Malamute I named Fenrir, Fen for short. Once when I was out with him, a woman and a young girl, maybe 13, were passing by. The girl asked his name. I told her and she said “He looks big enough to eat the moon”. I replied that I was impressed. The woman pulled the girl way, whether out of unease with the huge dog or with the man talking to her teenage daughter I could not say. |
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It is certainly different from the usual werewolf movie.
Le Loup-Garou Qui Rit
