House of Dracula

Dr. Edelmann is a very busy man. First, Count Dracula arrives at his door hoping to be cured of his vampirism. Then, Larry Talbot (aka The Wolf Man) comes a'knocking, hoping to be cured of his lycanthropy. Dr. Edelmann takes on both patients but starts to get a little sidetracked after finding the body of Frankenstein's Monster. After Edelmann tries to stop Dracula from turning one of his assistants into a vampire, the Count infects Edelmann's blood which begins to turn Edelmann into a madman. The local villagers start to get pissed off at all of the monsters running around town, which leads to a big confrontation at Dr. Edelmann's castle. House of Dracula, much like House of Frankenstein, tries to pack way too much stuff into a 67 minute movie. None of the characters ever really feel like they get a complete story arc and the continuity between the two films makes little to no sense. John Carradine still doesn't really do it for me as Dracula. Lon Chaney Jr. does a great job, as per usual. And Jane Adams' character Nina, Dr. Edelmann's hunchbacked assistant, is fantastic despite being underserved by the script. I would put House of Dracula over House of Frankenstein, mostly because I felt that the cinematography in House of Dracula was far more impressive.

Rating: 66%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

The third film in the Ginger Snaps series, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, is essentially both a prequel and a remake. The story is very similar to the original film, but the setting has been changed from suburbia to the unforgiving wilderness of Canada in the 19th Century. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are still playing Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald, only now they're old-timey versions of those same characters. The dialogue in the movie is fairly contemporary, which is welcome and also kind of funny. While the movie is clearly low budget, given the limited number of locations and ample use of fog, the sets and costumes are all well done. While I don't really understand the motivation of making this entry of the series into a prequel, especially given that the second film ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, Ginger Snaps Back is still a fairly entertaining film.

Rating: 63%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Cursed

After getting into a car accident, orphaned siblings Ellie and Jimmy (played by Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg) get attacked by a large animal. Jimmy swears it was a huge wolf, but everyone tries to convince him that it was probably just a bear or a cougar. By the next morning, the pair start to notice strange changes. Jimmy's getting stronger and Ellie is surprisingly attracted to the scent of blood. Is it a coincidence or have they been cursed with lycanthropy? Wes Craven's Cursed was apparently a nightmare to make, with endless reshoots thanks to the Weinsteins. At least three different versions of the movie were completed. The final version is decent but probably nowhere near the movie that Craven and Kevin Williamson had intended to make. The cast is great, with Ricci and Eisenberg being backed by Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer and Michael Rosenbaum. Plus cameos from Portia de Rossi, Shannon Elizabeth, Nick Offerman, Scott Baio, Craig Kilborn, Lance Bass and the band Bowling for Soup. 

Rating: 62%

(Image from Wikipedia)

House of Frankenstein

Dr. Niemann and his hunchbacked assistant Daniel escape from prison with two goals in mind: carry on the work of Dr. Frankenstein and get revenge on everyone who helped put them in jail. To avoid detection, they murder and assume the identities of some travelling showmen who just so happen to have the skeleton of Dracula in their possession. Niemann revives Dracula long enough to kill one of his many enemies but ditches the Count once the law gets on their tail. Soon enough, Niemann and Daniel find and revive the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster. From there, Niemann, despite having made various promises to Daniel and the Wolf Man, chooses to spend all of his time working on Frankenstein's monster, which proves to be his own undoing. House of Frankenstein is an interesting but flawed movie. It has the Spider-Man 3 problem where there are too many characters in the movie, many of whom are given short shrift. Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. are very good in their roles but John Carradine is a little miscast as Dracula. Daniel the hunchback, played by J. Carrol Naish, probably gets the best through line in the movie. 

Rating: 63%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

When we catch up with Brigitte Fitzgerald in Ginger Snaps 2, things are not going well. Having infected herself with her sister's blood, Brigitte is in a race against time to find a cure for her oncoming lycanthropy. Things only get worse for Brigitte after she overdoses on monkshood and finds herself in a remote rehab facility. And, on top of all that, there's another werewolf stalking her from the shadows. Though not as creative as the original film, Ginger Snaps 2 is a pretty enjoyable sequel. Once again, the practical effects and stylish camerawork do a lot of heavy lifting. But, this time around, they're aided by some great locations, some genuinely funny gags, and some distinctly Canadian elements. I don't know that I necessarily loved the ending of the film, but I didn't regret taking the journey.

Rating: 66%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Ginger Snaps

Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald are the weird girls at school and that's how they like it. But things only get weirder for them after Ginger gets attacked by a large dog-like creature on the night of her first period. After the attack, Ginger starts to change. Everyone keeps saying that she's becoming a woman but Brigitte is convinced that her is sister is actually turning into a werewolf. Using puberty as an analogue for lycanthropy isn't exactly a new idea but Ginger Snaps does it well by combining it with a number of additional themes. The movie is just as much about family, sexuality, addiction, bullying, peer pressure and the boredom of growing up in a small town. The practical special effects and creative camerawork elevate the movie above its meager budget. Occasionally, the seams will show but overall Ginger Snaps is captivating from beginning to end.

Rating: 73%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Silver Bullet

 

A vicious serial killer is terrorizing a small town, but if that's not bad enough what if it's a werewolf kind of serial killer cuz it is! Of course the only person who believes that is a troublemaking kid with a souped up wheelchair and his drunk uncle. In movies they're always melting down jewelry to make silver bullets but how pure exactly does the silver bullet have to be to work? Couldn't it just be silver tipped to save some money?

RATING: 68%

Cat's Eye 

Howling III: The Marsupials

Woof. This one was rough. Howling II was pretty bad, but I still managed to get some laughs out of it. Howling III really only had one moment that made me laugh. And since I don't recommend you watch this movie, I don't mind telling you what it was. Some army dudes come upon the burnt skeletal remains of a werewolf. One of the army dudes gets in close, that's when the smoldering werewolf skeleton comes to life and attacks the guy. It doesn't make any sense, like so much of this film. I'd be surprised if there was an actual script for this movie. And I'd be blown away if anyone actually read it and thought that making it was a good idea.

Rating: 38%

(Image from IMDB)

Howling II: ... Your Sister is a Werewolf

aka Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch

Wowzers. This movie is bad. Laughably bad. It's chock full of awful acting, poor dialogue, terrible ADR, gross werewolf sex, repetitive music and nonsensical plot points. It's almost a parody of a movie. It might also be my new favorite bad horror movie. On the plus side you get Christopher Lee dressed up for the most part like he's auditioning to play the Tall Man, except for one great scene where he's wearing a pair of those thin eighties sunglasses. There's also a couple of great werewolf attack/gunfight sequences. But above all, this movie is a must see for the editing. So many cut-away shots to puppets and owls. I tip my hat to the hopped up lunatics who cobbled together this film.

Rating: 42%

(Image from IMDB)

The Howling

Dee Wallace plays a television news anchor being stalked by a serial killer. After a particularly intense encounter with the killer, her therapist recommends spending some time at his secluded resort in the country. The locals seem a little odd and there's plenty of howling in the woods at night, but surely these things are unrelated. Or are they? They are. Very much so. The Howling is a Joe Dante movie through and through. Expect to see Dante regulars like Dick Miller, Robert Picardo and Belinda Balaski alongside Hollywood ringers like Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine and Slim Pickens. Heck, there are even cameos from Roger Corman, Forrest J. Ackerman, Mick Garris and John Sayles. The effects from Rob Bottin look pretty good, but there are definitely a few effects sequences that don't hold up. I'm looking at you, poorly animated fireside man-to-wolf transformation sequence.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Amazon)

WolfCop

I don't know if there are any other movies out there about an alcoholic cop who becomes an alcoholic werewolf cop but I do know that there probably aren't any other movies where the violent transition from alcoholic cop to alcoholic werewolf cop starts at the dick. And that's because WolfCop was clearly a passion project. It was made by people in Saskatchewan who knew that the story of an alcoholic werewolf cop was clearly a story that had to be told. And it had to be made with a lot of practical special effects. And it had to have nudity in it. And explosions. And there had to be a scene where the wolfcop rips a guy's face off and then throws it onto the windshield of a cop car. And knowing full well that it would be funny to see that ripped-off face get caught up in the windshield wipers, there still had to be a shot of the guy, now without a face, screaming. And the gore had to look good. And you know what? They were right. They were right about everything. So, if you have to see a movie about an alcoholic cop who becomes an alcoholic werewolf cop, see WolfCop because it will be the best movie about an alcoholic cop who becomes an alcoholic werewolf cop you will see all year. And that is my solemn guarantee.

Rating: All the ripped-off faces%

(Image from thedudedesigns.com)

The Curse of the Werewolf

Hammer Films have definitely made some of the classiest looking trash anyone has ever seen. There's a reason the poster art for this movie looks like a distorted version of a romance novel cover. The Curse of the Werewolf definitely has some heaving bosoms and star crossed lovers in it but it also has some prison rape and a satanic baptism. Overall the movie is a little disjointed, half of it is about the birth and childhood of the werewolf and the other half features Oliver Reed as an adult living with lycanthropy. Oddly enough, this was the only werewolf movie ever made by Hammer.

Rating: 67%

Fun Fact: Oliver Reed, who played Leon, was also in David Cronenberg's The Brood.

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Wolf Man

In this "classic" "monster" movie a guy gets bitten by a Wolf Man so then he every now and then turns into a different Wolf Man and acts a damn fool. It's fine I guess - it's the 40s so how can you criticize the makeup or acting or gender politics of when the main dude basically forces himself on an engaged lady because he's that sort of doughy leading man type of pre-1960? Well, it is 1941 so I do think you can criticize the reprehensible nature of implying this Wolf Man thing is the fault of movieland gypsies while the Nazis are rounding up real live gypsies and putting them in concentration camps. Uh, but, like, go Classic Universal Monsters???

RATING: 37%

Grendel: Red, White, and Black

I bought this for $2 at a garage sale along with every other graphic novel there, and I wasn't expecting much more than a Spiderman/Daredevil/ninja thingie that I could keep in the classroom for my students to read. It's actually a very dark book with experimental, superb writing and art—even the "extra" characters are interesting and sympathetic enough that you're kinda bummed out when they get introduced and chopped to sashimi in 3 or 4 panels. The main character is a sort of villain and eloquent nihilist, and when he got killed in the end by that werewolf (spoiler) I was probably sadder than I was when my pet mouse died on Christmas Day when I was a kid. Time's a holocaust, eh?

RATING: 88%

(Image from comicmastersonline.com.)

An American Werewolf In London

#22 on Glenn's Top 100 Movie List

I thought I ran out of horror movies on my top 100 movie list (WHICH I SWEAR I'LL FINISH), but hey, here's the best werewolf movie ever made. I really miss the days when talented, non-genre directors like John Landis would take a shot at making a horror movie. I guess the Grindhouse double feature kind of counts, but those dudes weren't even trying to make something good. Anyway, the plot is an American college kid gets turned into a werewolf, except he's in London. Co-starring lots of shots of the main dude's wang.

RATING: 93%

I Was a Teenage Werewolf

Michael Landon plays Tony, a latchkey kid with anger management issues. Tony seeks help from Dr. Brandon, a quasi-mad scientist type who "treats" Tony with a combination of drugs and hypnosis. The treatment, for reasons that never make a whole lot of sense, causes Tony to turn into a werewolf whenever he gets upset. And seeing as Tony already had a short fuse, it's not long before he wolfs out and kills some chick who was just trying to practice her gymnastics. I Was a Teenage Werewolf has yet to be released on DVD, but I definitely recommend checking it out if you can find it.

Rating: 67%

(Image from examiner.com)

The Wolfman

Essentially a remake of the 1941 classic, The Wolfman stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. While this movie was far from perfect, they did well in not trying to update the story with a modern day setting. The Wolfman got an R rating for violence, which I believe is a first for a Universal Monster movie, but even though I'm a fan of violence in horror movies, I thought that some of the gore in this movie bordered on absurdity. Also, a lot of the CGI effects were pretty craptacular. All in all, it's not bad but it's not great either. It should hold you over until the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake comes out.

Rating: 67%

(Image from iwatchstuff.com)

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

I went to this movie looking for one thing and one thing only--to see lots of werewolves fighting vampires. I didn't (and still don't) care about the complicated back story, or the love story, or any of the "lore," and I didn't need this movie to change my life. All I wanted was to see some werewolves tearing apart some vampires and vice versa. And with that expectation in mind, I was not disappointed. With the exception of one particularly laughable angel sex* scene and spurts of talking that were really just there to move the plot onto the next fight, it was mostly fighting, and that suits me just fine.

Rating: 86% (Within the context of my expectations, mostly awarded for violence.)

*Angel sex is the term I use for those campy other worldly sex scenes that you find in movies. The best example comes from the movie Wall Street, where we see Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah acrobatically get it on silhouetted in front of a giant picture window overlooking the Manhattan skyline while Native American flute music plays in the background.

Werewolves

If I could be anything that's considered a monster it would be a werewolf. Zombies are totally cool, but they're dumb, and oh yeah, dead. Werewolves, however, are people most of the time. They trump vampires because they're not afraid of anything Jesus-related, so don't think God can save you now. You're probably thinking you tricked me because they can be killed by a silver bullet, but not so fast, buddy, a silver bullet could basically kill any of the other aforementioned dudes. A long time ago it was considered a curse in Christianity to become a werewolf, but I doubt it's more fun to be a priest, so who's the sucker now?

RATING: 87%