Empire Magazines A Wolf Man for all Seasons

[Werewolf]

This months Empire Magazine features a picture of the new look Wolf Man and Kim Newman has given us his opinion on who was the most iconic werewolf of each decade. Do you agree?

1930's
Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull)
Werewolf of London
A nattily dressed, if minimally furred lycanthrope, Wilfrid is bitten on a botanical expedition to Tibet
Fear Factor: 6 Paws

1940's
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr)
The Wolf Man
Cursed by Bela the Gypsy (Bela Lugosi), Larry is bludgeoned to death by his own father with a silver cane - but revives to meet Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and Abbott and Costello
Fear Factor: 8 Paws

1950's
Tony Rivers (Michael Landon)
I was a Teenage Werewolf
A Slobbering, hairy hoodlum with a James Dean Bomber Jacket and a greasy duck's ass pompadour - exactly what an uptight 50's father wouldn't want dating his daughter
Fear Factor: 8 Paws

1960's
Leon Cortedo (Oliver Reed)
The Curse of the Werewolf
Blasphemously born on Christmas Eve. Leon makes the font boiol at his baptism. The glowering Reed is a rare screen werewolf who seems more intimidating in human form
Fear Factor: 7 Paws

1970's
Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy)
Shadow of the Werewolf
The medallion wearing werewolf is the first to seriously pursue vampire hunting, probably viewing the undead as a competitor species.
Fear Factor: 5 Paws

1980's
Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo)
The Howling
Scariest were-bastard of all - digging a bullet out of his brain while snarling "Let me give you a piece of my mind" in mid-transformation
Fear Factor: 10 Paws

1990's
Will Randall (Jack Nickolson)
Wolf
Meek publisher turns into alpha male and pisses territorially on James Spader. The screen's second mildest werewolf after Michael J. Fox's Teen Wolf
Fear Factor: 2 Paws

2000's
Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro)
The Wolf Man
Obviously Kim Newman's not seen it so he's not made a comment.

So what do ya think? Has Kim Newman got it right or wrong?

[Marcus]

I'm stupid, for some bizarre reason I read it as scariest, not Iconic. *bangs head on screen*

Ok, let me try this again.

Yes I think he got most of them right. The only ones I'd change would be:

2000s - All the pack - Dog Soldiers
Sorry, but I just cannot include a werewolf from a film that's not been released yet. I know we're all hoping it'll be awsome, but there's no guarantee, so I'm restricting myself to werewolves from films that have been shown only.

1980s - David, American Werewolf in London
Probably one of the most well known werewolf's ever.

Been trying to think of an alternative to Wolf in 1990s but cannot. There were better ones, but none as well known by the general public.

[Noel]

I think Kim Newman got it right except replace Eddie Quist with David Kessler. If we talking about iconic silver screen wolf men there's just no contest!

[keywolf]

Yeah, I'd agree with pretty much all of it. I always have a hard time picking between AWIL and the Howling. Bit surprised he picked Quist over David Kessler, I thought Kessler would be more well know. Tho Quist is one of the best movie villains ever!
I like the fact that these two characters perfectly represent the two types of movie lycanthropes: the reluctant werewolf and the murderous psycho.
And on a side note, I usually enjoy reading articles by Kim Newman, he obviously has a lot of love for the horror genre.

[dedwyre]

May 1, 2008 12:39:55 GMT -5 keywolf said:

Tho Quist is one of the best movie villains ever!

How so? He seems pretty impotent to me.

Speaking of...

1980's
Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo)
The Howling
Scariest were-bastard of all - digging a bullet out of his brain while snarling "Let me give you a piece of my mind" in mid-transformation

He never said anything during his transformation in my version.

I don't know if I'd say the werewolves from Dog Soldiers are this decade's top werewolves, but then again, there aren't a lot to choose from that most people would recognize.

[Werewolf]

I would have picked Kessler over Quist too.

[ArcLight]

Nope.

Eddie and the rest of the Quist family all the way.....

[dedwyre]

May 2, 2008 18:44:23 GMT -5 ArcLight said:

Nope.

Eddie and the rest of the Quist family all the way.....

Please explain. I can't give the honor to the guy who, despite looking somewhat mysterious and dangerous at the beginning, ended up being so easily thwarted by a terrified woman with acid and then by a man with a gun in his most memorable scenes.

[Werewolf]

God i was so hoping he eat her!

[Marcus]

I always liked the telephone scene in Howling.