The new 'Wolfman' is gory but lacks bite: A movie review

BY ANTHONY STOECKERT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

There are plenty of old-school horror elements in "The Wolfman." Full moons, foggy woods, a gothic castle illuminated by candlelight, angry mobs, and gypsies are all part of Joe Johnston's remake of the 1941 monster movie classic starring Lon Chaney Jr. Even a poem from the original version is recited.

But this remake starring Benicio Del Toro offers little else that's interesting and, worst of all, it's just not scary. It feels rushed and it never settles into its familiar story. Everything about it — the direction, the dialogue, the music, the acting — is average.

Give the filmmakers credit for trying to capture the spirit of Universal Studios' great monster movies like "Frankenstein" and the original "Wolf Man." Instead of updating the time period, they stick to Victorian England as Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) returns home after his brother's tragic death from some kind of animal attack. Larry's an actor and has been away from a home long enough that his father John (Anthony Hopkins) calls him the prodigal son.

You know where "The Wolfman" is going, right? Larry's brother was killed by a wolf, and Lawrence is destined to be bitten by that wolf and transformed into a werewolf. There's a love story between Lawrence and Gwen (Emily Blunt), the dead brother's fiancee. Another twist involves some family history and father-son conflict, but all in all this is a standard retelling of the Chaney movie.

Johnston adds some gore to his monster movie elements — organs are ripped out of bodies, and a head is decapitated, but the results induce chuckles, not shivers, especially when a gun-toting hand hits the ground, causing the weapon to fire.

"The Wolfman" tries to shock the audience with these bursts of the unexpected, but it could use some suspense. Take a scene where the family dog acts strangely around Larry. It's far from an original idea but it could have been moody and tense. Instead it's shown during a montage as a doctor rambles about psychology, so it only emphasizes what we already know before we even walk into the theater.

You'd think Del Torro would relish playing a werewolf, it's a role that offers an actor a chance for some scenery chewing — literally. But he seems disinterested in this star vehicle. Hopkins is fine as the elder Talbot, it must be fun for an actor to roam a castle and scare off intruders with a hunting rifle, but there should be more tension between their characters.

About all this movie achieved is remind me how good those old Universal monster movies are. Yes, they're corny but they have style. Compare the dialogue in this version to a scene in the 1941 movie where Claude Rains talks about the duality of man and you'll see what I mean.

There's a scene in this new "Wolfman" where father and son talk in a shrine John built for Larry's dead mother. It's filled with hundreds of candles, and I wondered who had the time to light them all considering there's a werewolf going around killing people. At another point, I wondered why John's banister was covered in dust and cobwebs, yet everything in his dining room — even the chandelier — was spotless.

None of this matters if a movie is delivering the goods, but "The Wolfman" is the kind of movie where you notice these kinds of things.

The Wolfman is Rated R for its gory violence. It runs for 102 minutes.

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