The Wolfman

Howl for the Wolfman, gonna rate this movie low
The Wolfman, R, *1/2, Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving. Universal film. Director Joe Johnston. Length 91 minutes.
The movie begins in 1891 within the English countryside. Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) owns a large estate. Ben, one of Talbot’s children has been missing for several days. Ben’s fiancé is staying at the estate waiting to find out what happened to him. She writes a letter to Lawrence the estranged son who is a stage actor. He has been living in America since his father sent him away. Lawrence is in London doing a stage production.
This could have some clairvoyant significance since he is an actor. After all actors have to become someone else on stage and on film in order to convince the audience. This is enough said about analyzing the inner depths of this movie.
The prodigal son returns home to look for his brother. When he arrives, he finds out that Ben is dead. His body has been mutilated in a horrible way.
Several murders have taken place in the area, and it has the entire community scared. The locals begin to panic as they blame a group of gypsies in the vicinity.
Reading the newspaper today will remind individuals of the horrors that are taking place in today’s world. Man’s capability of performing horrible violence on others demonstrates the beast within the hearts of some people.
The movie depicts the animal within man that can surface if not kept in check. Laws, rules, policies, and regulations help to keep most people in line.
Obviously, the culprit in the local murders is “The Wolfman.” When the moon is full, he begins to wreak havoc on man and beast. If bitten by this creature, the victim is subject to becoming a wolf man.
The movie has lots of CGI with blood and gore dispersed within its story. It has shades of “The Wolfman” of the past starring Lon Chaney, Jr. I remember watching it as a young kid on the Saturday night late show. One scary moment for me as a child happened when Lon Chaney, Jr. began to transform into the wolf man. Growing hair and becoming disfigured I was watching with intensity. All of a sudden a cat scratched on our screen door. Needless to say, I made a beeline into the other room where my parents were. That is the only time I can remember being really scared while watching the late night horror movies.
This new version of the hairy wolf gives the viewer a glimpse of the earlier wolf man movies. Even a resemblance of the same wolf man of years gone by helps to stir memories of the old horror movies. I thought this was a nice tribute to Lon Chaney, Jr.
However, I cannot give this one a very high rating. It started off really well, but it just did not grab the inner desires for horror fans. Relying heavily on the original movie, and at the same time, using way to many off the wall CGI scenes, it travels down the wrong trail. As the wolf man” ran on four legs for a while, then on two legs, and jumped across the top of buildings while devouring everything in his path, the audience begins to get tired of the chase. It becomes time to bring out the silver bullet and stop this nonsense. Look out we may see a “Wolfman II.”
Now, I think I will go outside and howl at the moon.