Post by hawkeyepierce on Oct 19, 2006 7:39:47 GMT -5
Well my set of "100 Years of Horror" came in and I got round to reviewing the episode featuring Werewolves.
"100 Years of Horror" is a 26 episode show by Ted Newson (Wolfman Chronicles) and is hosted by Christopher Lee. The show has been released to DVD earlier in a feature lenght edition, and the full show chas been released recently in a 5 disc box set containg all the 20 min (!) episodes.
As for the Werewolf episode:
The show opens with a minor view on real life werewolfism, and then moves on to the Universal Monsters with "Werewolf of London"and later ofcourse "The Wolf-Man". the "Wolf-Man" part is by far the meatiest of subjects in the show, and quite some interresting trivia and footage is shown, when we move on to the Wolf-Man sequels and also "Face of the Screaming Werewolf" and "Beauty and the Beast" (60's version). After that other variations on the werewolf theme from the forties and beyond are discussed like "The Werewolf" "Return of the Vampire" and "I was a Teenage Werewolf". After some footage from "Curse of the Werewolf", "The Howling", "An American Werewolf in London" and "Wolf" are mentioned.
THE END
Quite an enjoyable show, especially when accompanied by it's fellow episodes...although the spoilt bratt in all of us will notice a few of it's shortcomings
WHAT WORKS:
-Christopher Lee: He makes a cool host, and whoever worte his lines has a great time doing it. Everytime he refers to himself he doesn't say (for example) "I played Dracula" but "Yours truly played Dracula". His presence and voice do the show good.
-Face of the Screaming Werewolf: Footage from the film was put to good use. I don't care what they say about this film, the stuff i've seen (in this episode) is damn cool.
-Beauty and the Beast: As a sort of tribute to Jack Pierce, this film is included in the Wolf-Man segment, and points out it's simularities.
-Lee on the Howling II: A great quote from Lee on the show, when Christopher Lee mentions "The Howling II" he says "The less said about that the better"...good ol' Chris
-Lon Chaney Jr. Tribute: Ending the Wolf-Man segment are a few great words about Gary (?) Chaney, Lon's grand son. He says some really nice and warm things.
-Love towards make-up artists: Jack Pierce and Rick Baker are mentioned in a great way. It's good to see that there skill is being rewarded.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
-No titles: The shows just open whitout a title or opening, a great pity. You are sort of thrown into the show.
-No Howling sequels: There is no mention of Howling sequels except for number II. pity, and strange since it's a great series as far as quantity in concerend.
-Little "Curse of the Werewolf" trivia: here is were the show gets lazy, and a bit more info on the film would have been cool
-Little mention of later films: the last three films mentioned are "the Howling" "American Werewolf..." and "Wolf", although evry briefly. I don't mind the lack of footage here, but still it's a pity.
-NO mention of Paul Naschy: a brief clip of "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" is shown on the beginning of the show, but otherwise there is no Senor Naschy. His name isn't even mentioned! This is quite the sin , since no one played a werewolf on screen more than him, and his films fill the period between the Hammer and American werewolf films. Even stranger is that his name is mentioned in another episode about vampires. damn you, Ted, gimme Paul!
overall, this show, and for that matter the entire set, is really cool and is a great addition to every collection. I can't think of a reason not to give this one a try, and with the low price (18 bucks for 26 twenty minute shows) and Region 0 encoding, you, dear reader just might agree with me!
Although I'm still not to happy on the lack of Naschy stuff...
"100 Years of Horror" is a 26 episode show by Ted Newson (Wolfman Chronicles) and is hosted by Christopher Lee. The show has been released to DVD earlier in a feature lenght edition, and the full show chas been released recently in a 5 disc box set containg all the 20 min (!) episodes.
As for the Werewolf episode:
The show opens with a minor view on real life werewolfism, and then moves on to the Universal Monsters with "Werewolf of London"and later ofcourse "The Wolf-Man". the "Wolf-Man" part is by far the meatiest of subjects in the show, and quite some interresting trivia and footage is shown, when we move on to the Wolf-Man sequels and also "Face of the Screaming Werewolf" and "Beauty and the Beast" (60's version). After that other variations on the werewolf theme from the forties and beyond are discussed like "The Werewolf" "Return of the Vampire" and "I was a Teenage Werewolf". After some footage from "Curse of the Werewolf", "The Howling", "An American Werewolf in London" and "Wolf" are mentioned.
THE END
Quite an enjoyable show, especially when accompanied by it's fellow episodes...although the spoilt bratt in all of us will notice a few of it's shortcomings
WHAT WORKS:
-Christopher Lee: He makes a cool host, and whoever worte his lines has a great time doing it. Everytime he refers to himself he doesn't say (for example) "I played Dracula" but "Yours truly played Dracula". His presence and voice do the show good.
-Face of the Screaming Werewolf: Footage from the film was put to good use. I don't care what they say about this film, the stuff i've seen (in this episode) is damn cool.
-Beauty and the Beast: As a sort of tribute to Jack Pierce, this film is included in the Wolf-Man segment, and points out it's simularities.
-Lee on the Howling II: A great quote from Lee on the show, when Christopher Lee mentions "The Howling II" he says "The less said about that the better"...good ol' Chris
-Lon Chaney Jr. Tribute: Ending the Wolf-Man segment are a few great words about Gary (?) Chaney, Lon's grand son. He says some really nice and warm things.
-Love towards make-up artists: Jack Pierce and Rick Baker are mentioned in a great way. It's good to see that there skill is being rewarded.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
-No titles: The shows just open whitout a title or opening, a great pity. You are sort of thrown into the show.
-No Howling sequels: There is no mention of Howling sequels except for number II. pity, and strange since it's a great series as far as quantity in concerend.
-Little "Curse of the Werewolf" trivia: here is were the show gets lazy, and a bit more info on the film would have been cool
-Little mention of later films: the last three films mentioned are "the Howling" "American Werewolf..." and "Wolf", although evry briefly. I don't mind the lack of footage here, but still it's a pity.
-NO mention of Paul Naschy: a brief clip of "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" is shown on the beginning of the show, but otherwise there is no Senor Naschy. His name isn't even mentioned! This is quite the sin , since no one played a werewolf on screen more than him, and his films fill the period between the Hammer and American werewolf films. Even stranger is that his name is mentioned in another episode about vampires. damn you, Ted, gimme Paul!
overall, this show, and for that matter the entire set, is really cool and is a great addition to every collection. I can't think of a reason not to give this one a try, and with the low price (18 bucks for 26 twenty minute shows) and Region 0 encoding, you, dear reader just might agree with me!
Although I'm still not to happy on the lack of Naschy stuff...
)