This movie fell flat to me, and I'm not really sure why. I guess its because everything about it was predictable. I had never seen this one before, but it still felt like I already knew the whole storyline.
Since this is a class about monsters, I'll talk about the werewolf first. I liked it. I liked that they showed the changing from man to werewolf, and the effects weren't totally bad, especially for a movie made in 1981. In the last scene with the werewolf, I was at a crossroads. Part of me thought it looked pretty neat, and it kind of really dated the movie as being early 80's--like gremlins or E.T. But then another part of me thought it was almost comical, and that the werewolf would have made an excellent stuffed animal. But overall, the werewolf, and the movie had a strong 80's vibe, and I have a soft spot in my heart for the 80's.
There was another monster of sorts in this movie: the undead. I wasn't expecting them and I'm not really sure how their presence made sense. Jack was completely ravaged by the werewolf, so I could see him just being dead. And then if the idea is that anyone killed by a werewolf must walk the earth as a ghost type creature that looks like a zombie, I can live with that. But the other victims that David killed, they didn't seem to be as badly wounded. I guess I'm just trying to understand why David didn't leave one or two of them alive to pass on his lycanthropy similar to what had happened to him. In David's case, I guess he was saved from being killed by the folks from the village that shot the werewolf. Does that mean werewolves always completely kill unless they are prevented by some third party? I guess it makes sense... just kind of thinking this through as I write. I always thought that a werewolf attack caused a person to rise as a werewolf, and never really thought about whether or not the person was killed in the act or not. I kinda figured they died and rose as a werewolf like vampires. But as I think of it now, I'm not sure why I even thought that. Werewolves die like anything else living, and if the attack kills you as a person you don't rise as a werewolf because you're already dead. Yet the victims rise as a ghost... an interesting ghost that apparently decomposes as the former body does. Interesting idea. But why do these ghosts suddenly know all about the werewolf lore and know that they need the werewolf's line to be terminated in order to find peace? Did they get a "Rules for the Dead" kind of book like in Beetlejuice to explain it to them?
What was up with that creepy town? I loved that, but logically, I couldn't understand why it was so important for them to hide the fact there was a werewolf about. I'd think they'd have wanted help dealing with it. But regardless, I did like the vibe. You knew something wasn't right in the village, and especially at The Slaughtered Lamb, but wasn't sure of the underlying reason. Yeah, you knew it was about the werewolf, but didn't know much beyond that. Turns out, by the end of the movie, you still didn't know.
So, is lycanthropy hereditary? Is it possible Alex now has a werewolf pup or two growing inside her? :)
I was wondering about the ghost knowledge too. It's assumed that Jack told the other undead about the curse of the werewolf, but who told Jack? Did he just come back and notice he was a ghost and drawn to his friend who killed him? Did someone tell him? I was left wondering a lot about the werewolf ghost curse. Not only that, but wouldn't it have been obvious to the townspeople who the old werewolf was if he lived near the town (because he hunted there)? I would think it would be obvious to see the signs of someone haunted and talking to ghosts randomly. However, I will say that I liked the village better than London.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I liked the sinister feel of the village. I just wish it had made more sense and that they went somewhere with it. As it was, they didn't have a logical reason to be acting the way they were.
ReplyDeleteI think I've always assumed that if you survive a werewolf attack, it's the infected wounds that make you a werewolf—like some sort of lycanthropy blood-illness that gets passed along. Then again, most of what I think about werewolves I'm getting from Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so take that as you will! Though you do raise a really good point—would a werewolf just kill rather than infect if they weren't stopped or repelled in some way, or do they have an active interest in passing on their curse? For vampires, they obviously choose whether to just kill or resurrect, based on that whole "you suck my blood, I'll suck yours," thing, but for werewolves it seems more a question of whether their beast forms are capable of exercising any sort of restraint. (Actually, I may have to revise my vampire assessment on the basis of I Am Legend... but I think we all pretty much agreed that those weren't so much canon vampires as they were some other form of the undead.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the wonky logic. Why didn't the villagers want to talk to someone who obviously believed them—since their reasoning for not telling David and Jack was, "They'll think we're mad"? Also, why let two boys out on the moors at all? Is a dart game really that important? And if they knew about the werewolf curse, why not shoot David, too, once he'd been infected? And you raise a good point as well about the curse-handbook for the dead. Like I said in my post, it helped if I thought about the movie as a satire on the werewolf genre, so that some of those questions could get away with the answer, "Because it's funny how many other movies do it like this!"
I agree that the effects were fairly well for the year of the movie. I thought it looked like a person transforming rather than a CGI mess as most transformations tend to have. Though, I still stand by the '04 Van Helsing had a great one as well. I love that movie so I am biased.
ReplyDeleteThe ghosts were a bit out there, but I thought it was a unique aspect to this film's curse, even if the curse itself made no sense.
The lore I am used to is that often if you are scratched or bitten by a werewolf and survive, then you turn. I do not think I have read anything that links if you were dinner, then you reanimate into a wolf. Though, zombie werewolves? Has that been done yet? Can someone do it because now I want it.
So I think the undead were all just hallucinations, but I didn't want them to be. Jack kept saying he needed to kill himself to end it all for them, but I was thinking about the basic werewolf lore and how if you kill the first (just like for vampires) it is supposed to reverse the spell/curse. So even though he was scratched, when the other guy died I would have thought he couldn't become a werewolf anymore. If they were going with the curse passing on after death, then I wonder what the internal drive is for the wolf. This would be one of those scenarios where I think the suspension of disbelief didn't float for me. I feel like there would be A LOT more werewolves out there maiming everyone. He took out way too many people.
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