The Wolfman is a classic horror movie in the greatest sense of the word. It takes the best elements of the scary films of yesteryear and reinvigorates them for new audiences with surprising depth for this kind of movie. The film oozes gothic charm from every frame and manages to balance great action pieces with real suspense and the occasional fright. Forget Twilight: New Moon, this is what a real werewolf movie looks like.

The remake of the 1941 classic of the same name has been in movie limbo for the past year. According to reports the film was plagued with editing problems that required substantial reshoots and a strange progression of firings and hirings. The story in this update follows the werewolf legend quite closely. Set in 19th century England, the movie deals with the night time escapades of one Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) who gets more than he bargained for when he returns home for his brother’s funeral. Describing any more of the plot would be somewhat futile as the title is pretty much self explanatory.  

The great:

The horror genre is filled with unfortunate attempts at scares that seem quite comfortable appealing to the lowest common denominator in viewing audiences. It is such a welcomed change to see a movie that attempts to achieve something beyond the standard cheep jolts and grounds the story in character rather than simply gore. Somewhat reminiscent of Tim Burton’s highly underrated Sleepy Hollow, if for nothing else this film should be viewed for the cinematography and stunning use of light and shadows.  

The good:

The cast is uniformly strong but both Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving are real standouts. The latter giving the movie some great morbid comedic moments in his role as the detective assigned to hunt down the wolf-like menace that’s terrorising the moors. Del Toro is well suited at playing the brooding dark types and the film is definitely written around his strengths.

The special effects are a great mix of CGI and prosthetics and while not up to the mythic standard of An American Werewolf in London, the transformation scenes are a squirm filled delight.  

The not so great:

This is an homage to the great Universal horror films of the past century and as such there are many moments that may be seen as clichéd and predictable by those who aren’t familiar with the subgenre. In that vein the film takes itself very seriously and if as a viewer you aren’t willing to go along with the fantasy, you may find much to giggle at.  

The Wolfman is an intensely creepy film that is the work of a group of people who clearly believe that the genre is much more than cheap thrills. Whatever internal difficulties the filmmakers experienced it has definitely not affected the quality of the final product.

The Wolfman opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, February 11.
You can view The Wolfman movie trailer here on TheVine.