The Wolfman

I'm a great believer that expectations, no matter how good or bad movies actually are, play a really big part in how much enjoyment we end up getting out of them. In the case of this particular flick, it's fair to say that I hadn't heard many positive things said about it but as I'm a fan of genre I dived in anyway.

I think that it's generally accepted the standard that any new werewolf movie has to beat was set by 'An American Werewolf In London' & 'The Howling' back in the eighties. Although this flick doesn't really get close to either of those movies, it does manage to beat both of them in one particular area. 

Although I rate both flicks very highly indeed ('The Howling' being my favourite of the two), neither one of them IMO manages to achieve a perfect transformation sequence. In the case of 'An American Werewolf In London', the transformation is virtually flawless but the final werewolf itself leaves a lot to be desired and as for 'The Howling', although I love the look of the werewolves, some of the transformation stages look a little bit...unfinished. Obviously CGI based effects weren't available to the makers of either of those movies but nevertheless 'The Wolfman' contains what is IMO the most realistic & believable transformation sequence I've ever seen in a werewolf flick.

Special effects aside, it should be said that this movie doesn't really offer anything new however a combination of an enjoyably over the top performance from Hopkins, Del Toro taking his role waaaaaaaaay more seriously than it deserves and a decent, albeit slightly obvious, twist makes this a horror flavoured drama that's well worth catching (as long as you remember to keep your expectations at a relatively low to medium level).

Razorback Rating = Decent