Topic: Weekend Movie Marathon: Werewolves

[addicted2dvd]

Starting Tomorrow....

Weekend Movie Marathon
Werewolves

(The Above werewolf giving you the finger is courtesy of the Christina Ricci movie Cursed.)
I happened to notice on the calender that this weekend (Saturday) we will be having a full moon. So what better marathon to have this weekend then werewolf movies? I am a huge fan of werewolf movies. Werewolves would have to be in my top 3 favorite horror sub-genres. So I am really looking forward to seeing how many I can fit in this weekend.

I have a nice modest collection of Werewolf movies. Here is my list. If there is any here you are curious about please feel free to ask and I will do my best to fit it into the marathon.

- An American Werewolf in London
- An American Werewolf in Paris
- Cursed
- Darkwolf
- Dog Soldiers
- Full Eclipse
- Ginger Snaps
- Ginger Snaps2: Unleashed
- Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
- The Howling
- The Howling II: Your Sister's A Werewolf
- Howling V: Rebirth
- Howling VI: The Freaks
- She-Wolf of London
- Silver Bullet
- Underworld
- Underworld: Evolution
- Van Helsing (I Know a bit of a stretch)
- The Wolf Man (1941)
- Wolf Man (1979)
- Moon of the Wolf (unwatched)
- Werewolf of London
- Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man

I believe that is it... it is the most of them at least.

[Achim]

I have a nice modest collection of Werewolf movies. Here is my list. If there is any here you are curious about please feel free to ask and I will do my best to fit it into the marathon.

Here are my choices/requests:

- An American Werewolf in London
- An American Werewolf in Paris
- Cursed
- Dog Soldiers
- Ginger Snaps
- The Howling
- She-Wolf of London
- Underworld
- Underworld: Evolution

[addicted2dvd]

An American Werewolf in London
It's a rainy night on the Welsh moors. Two American students on a walking tour of Europe trudge on to the next town, when suddenly the air is pierced by an unearthly howl.... Three weeks later, one is dead, the other is in the hospital and the nightmare begins for An American Werewolf in London. David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter star in this contemporary story of the macabre which takes you from the Welsh moors to Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the grounds of Windsor Castle. It is written and directed by John Landis, the man who brought you National Lampoon's® Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, Innocent Blood and Coming to America. To add to the chill, there is art direction by Academy Award®-winner Les Dilley of Star Wars™ and Alien fame and special makeup effects by six-time Academy Award®-winner Rick Baker, whose work includes Star Wars, The Nutty Professor, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Men in Black.

My Thoughts:
This movie has always held a special place in my heart. Not only is it a good and fun werewolf movie. It is the first ever werewolf movie I remember seeing. It is the movie that started my love for werewolf movies. I absolutely love the effects of the werewolf transformation. I thought they did a wonderful job on it... especially considering how old this movie is. It is hard to believe this movie is almost 30 years old already! I think Rick Baker really needs to be praised for the work he did on the effects of this movie! I thought the cast did a wonderful job as well. What do I say about the gore of this movie? It is kind of hard to explain. While the gore is there some of it is done in a lighthearted way. Like with the visiting corpse of David's friend Jack. I don't know if I am making sense here as I am having trouble putting my thoughts into words... but it is like the gore is there... but in a light hearted almost comedic way... but it don't have a look of it. more of a feeling of it, the actual looks of it is fantastic. I hope I am not being too confusing there. It is like the movie has a mixture of both serious and fun gore. If there is such a thing as fun gore. OK... I am rambling now... lets end this in saying that I absolutely love every minute of it! In my opinion this is a true classic horror in every since of the word!

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[RossRoy]

I like that rating icon 

[addicted2dvd]

Thanks... originally found it as a large image I just shrunk it and converted it.

[Najemikon]

An American Werewolf in London

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

Hmmm... could it be? Could it?

It is! Possibly the first full mark agreement by me and Pete!

[addicted2dvd]

Wow! Will wonders ever cease?  but then again... it is An American Werewolf in London we are talking about! 

[addicted2dvd]

An American Werewolf in Paris
This hip edgy thriller - in the electrifying tradition of Scream, Scream 2 and From Dusk Till Dawn - delivers a howling good time with a hot young cast of stars! On the loose in Europe, three wild college grads bring their "Daredevil Tour" to Paris in search of some serious fun. There, Andy (Tom Everett Scott - That Thing You Do) falls for the beautiful and mysterious girl of his dreams (Julie Delpy - The Three Musketeers). The only problem is...when the moon is full, Andy's dream girl turns into a total nightmare! Rocking with a cool soundtrack featuring today's hottest cutting-edge recording artists, An American Werewolf In Paris is an outrageously thrilling adventure you don't want to miss!

My Thoughts:
I remember when I first got this sequel 6 years ago... that I was not thrilled with it. And the fact that I have never watched it again till now had me not expecting much at all from it today. I tell you.. this movie isn't worthy of being a sequel to An American Werewolf in London! It fails miserably at even coming close to the bar that An American Werewolf in London set. That being said... it really isn't totally bad. I did like the girl, Serafine (played by Julie Delpy), quite a bit in this one. Not that Jenny Agutter was bad at all in the first one. This is just no more then a decent average werewolf romp. Not something that I will probably watch often. But entertaining every great now and then.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Ginger Snaps
Ginger and Brigitte, two sisters trapped in suburbia, are obsessed with mayhem, torture and death until they get a taste of the real thing. Bitten by wild animal, Ginger begins to mutate into a sexy, uncontrolled woman, with some nasty canine tendencies. Is it virus? Is it a curse? Or the first step towards becoming a vicious werewolf!

Intelligent, inspired and truly terrifying, this award-winning horror film makes you look at raging teenage hormones in a shocking new way!

My Thoughts:
This is another of my favorite werewolf movies. I originally first heard of the Ginger Snap movies when a good friend of mine started raving about them to me. I told her I couldn't wait to check them out and the next thing I knew she had given me all three of them for my birthday that year. It is one of those independent movies that you go into it not expecting too much but then you are pretty much blown away by it. Sure... some of the effects aren't as great as they could be if this movie had the budget of a blockbuster movie... but it looks like they did a very good job with what they had. It looks like they used the bulk of the effects budget for the end of the movie... using effects sparingly until then... which really seemed to work well for them. This movie also don't follow all the rules of Werewolves that Hollywood put into place. Of course there is nothing wrong with that. There is one downside... that is the portrayal of the sisters mother played by Mimi Rogers. Which is surprising to me as I normally like her in the things I have seen her in. But this time... not so much. But it could have been more the character then her performance. As she seemed more annoying then anything.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[Najemikon]

Ginger Snaps
...Sure... some of the effects aren't as great as they could be if this movie had the budget of a blockbuster movie... but it looks like they did a very good job with what they had. It looks like they used the bulk of the effects budget for the end of the movie... using effects sparingly until then... which really seemed to work well for them...

So far it seems me and you are completely in sync with werewolves!  One of the best tricks this movie pulled was the opening "suicide" montage. It had little to do with the story itself apart from establishing character, but they took the chance to show-off and put their cards on the table from the first moment. The later, more ambitious effects are weaker, but the mood was already set by that in-your-face opening.

[addicted2dvd]

Oh yeah! I agree... I meant to mention that suicide montage but it slipped my mind while writing the review. I am now watching part 2... I just didn't get enough with the first one.

[Achim]

It looks like they used the bulk of the effects budget for the end of the movie... using effects sparingly until then... which really seemed to work well for them.

It always works really well like this Spielberg did it out of necessity for Jaws but found ultimately that it was a blessing. The suspense/anticipation  is much higher this way and can pay of nicely at the end.

I once caught Ginger Snaps accidentally on TV. As you guys say, it was the suicide scene at the start that reeled me in and the film didn't really let loose till the end. I think I should be on the lookout for the DVD; unfortunately I think there only is one version and that is rather old...

So far it seems me and you are completely in sync with werewolves!  One of the best tricks this movie pulled was the opening "suicide" montage. It had little to do with the story itself apart from establishing character, but they took the chance to show-off and put their cards on the table from the first moment. The later, more ambitious effects are weaker, but the mood was already set by that in-your-face opening.

Umh, "you and me"...?

Something my parents taught me. There's even a saying for it in Germany...

[Najemikon]

So far it seems me and you are completely in sync with werewolves!  One of the best tricks this movie pulled was the opening "suicide" montage. It had little to do with the story itself apart from establishing character, but they took the chance to show-off and put their cards on the table from the first moment. The later, more ambitious effects are weaker, but the mood was already set by that in-your-face opening.

Umh, "you and me"...?

Something my parents taught me. There's even a saying for it in Germany...

  I was being slang-ish ironic in celebration of another agreement with Pete in the same marathon... "Me and you, dude! Werewolves ROCK! YEAH!" 

In case anyone was wondering, the correct term was "I and you"... 

[Achim]

In case anyone was wondering, the correct term was "I and you"... 

[addicted2dvd]

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed
Brigitte is an addict. After mixing blood with her sister Ginger in an attempt to learn more about the condition, she has been infected with "the curse." Each day the curse in her grows stronger and she must increase her dosage of injections. When she is found laying face down in the snow after a near-escape from another beast, she is thrown into drug rehabilitation – locked behind doors without her life-saving antodote.

My Thoughts:
I won't say I enjoyed this one as much as the first one... but I still definitely enjoyed this one. It of course takes place after the first one. But this time it centers around Bridget more then Ginger. Though you do see and hear from her throughout the movie. I liked the character of the younger girl who is nicknamed Ghost. I also liked the ending of this movie. It was both interesting and unexpected.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5