Michael May's Blog, page 171

31 Werewolves | Oz

Geek Confession: I have never seen the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's on my very long list of things to correct, but it hasn't happened yet.



I still feel like Oz is kind of an important werewolf though - and hey, Seth Green - so I'm including him. You tell me though: Does he belong here? What do you think about him?

31 Scares of Casper #23

31 Werewolves | Wolf

With a few exceptions, werewolves of the '60s through the '80s were largely treated as fantasy creatures. There were good werewolves and bad ones, but they all pretty much just accepted their condition and audiences were expected to accept it, too. Rare was the story of a human who struggled with the curse. Rarer still was the one that did it exceptionally well.



I guess that's why I love Mike Nichols' Wolf from 1994, sort of an unofficial companion to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula and Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein from around the same time. Jack Nicholson plays a book editor who could teach Clark Kent something about being mild-mannered, until he's bitten by a wolf he accidentally hit with his car. Not since Lon Chaney Jr had we gotten a more sympathetic portrayal of someone who was frightened by this thing they were becoming. As the wolf side of his personality asserts itself, Nicholson's character starts seeing the benefit of living a more passionate life, but is also frightened by what could happen if he casts off all restraint. It's a complicated balance and Nicholson, of course, nails it.



Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, and Christopher Plummer also play important roles and this is probably my favorite werewolf movie second only to the original Wolf-Man.

31 Scares of Casper #22

31 Werewolves | The Wolves of Saint August

It was a werewolf that made me a Hellboy fan for life.



When Mike Mignola introduced his Hellboy character to the world, he lacked confidence in his writing ability and asked John Byrne to help with the scripts. Byrne wrote the first Hellboy story, Seed of Destruction, but quickly realized that Mignola was more than capable to write his own stuff and encouraged the artist to do so.



The short story, "The Wolves of Saint August" (serialized in Dark Horse Presents #88-91 before being collected in Hellboy, Volume 3: The Chained Coffin and Others) was Mignola's first attempt at writing Hellboy by himself and proved he was absolutely up to it. After reading it, I was hooked on whatever Mignola wanted to give me.



The sequence above isn't just one of my favorite Mignola bits, it's one of my favorite scenes of all time in any medium and goes to show how powerful comics can be. Any time someone says that horror comics can't be scary because the reader controls the pace... I point to this unbelievably effective and emotional scene.

31 Scares of Casper #21

31 Werewolves | Teen Wolf

I love werewolves and I love Michael J. Fox. Teen Wolf should've been a perfect combination, but that may have been the problem. Seeing it in the theater back in the day, my expectations going into it were extremely high. All Fox had really done up to that point had been Family Ties and Back to the Future, so in my world there was no such thing as even a middling Michael J. Fox project. It was impossible for everything he ever touched to equal those two things and unfortunately, Teen Wolf is what broke the streak.



There's a lot to like about the movie though. Fox, for instance. And James Hampton as his sympathetic and loving father (two traits that can't be taken for granted in '80s teen-movie parents). And I truly love the werewolf design and the journey Fox's character, Scott, makes in coming to terms with who he is. I also love how - once his secret is out - most of the kids at Scott's school accept him. That's a powerful fantasy and I'm glad the movie went there.



But there are other elements that lock Teen Wolf in '80s teen comedy mediocrity. It's been too long since I've seen it, so I don't remember a lot of details, but I do remember Stiles. He was maybe one notch above Mike Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but he was still an insufferable douche who wasn't as cool as he thought he was. I also remember not liking the van-surfing, but I don't recall if I actually thought it was dumb or was just jealous that I couldn't do it too.



Maybe I need to watch this movie again. It could use another visit now that I've got some distance and historical perspective. I still love Michael J. Fox, but with The Hard Way and Life With Mikey behind me, my standards for his vehicles are somewhat lower these days.

31 Scares of Casper #20

31 Werewolves | Ladyhawke

I don't usually think of Ladyhawke as a werewolf movie, but it totally is, even if it deviates from the standard legends and tropes in significant ways. Set in medieval times, it's about a knight (Rutger Hauer) who's been cursed by an evil bishop (John Wood) so that he becomes a wolf every night. The reason for the curse is that the bishop was once spurned by a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) because she was in love with the knight. She's cursed as well and becomes a hawk every day, so that the two lovers can only ever see each other's human forms for a heartbreaking moment at dawn and dusk when they're both in mid-transformation. Matthew Broderick is also in the movie as a young thief who befriends the doomed couple, and Alfred Molina plays a wolf-trapper.



It's an interesting take on the werewolf theme. There's a bit of the traditional metaphor for unrestrained passion going on and the knight accidentally wounds the thief while in wolf form. And as often happens in werewolf fiction, neither the knight nor the lady remember anything that happened while in their animal forms. That's especially significant for this tale, because it's a deliberate part of the curse that even though they can travel together, they can't enjoy the experience. If lycanthropy is a metaphor for indulging passions, I like the suggestion that we can't even enjoy them properly when we're in the midst of being consumed by them.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

Who's in it?: Lon Chaney (The Phantom of the Opera, London After Midnight), Patsy Ruth Miller (dozens of silent films, but this is the only one she's known for), and Norman Kerry (The Phantom of the Opera, The Unknown).



What's it about?: A gypsy girl captures the hearts of a royal knight (Kerry) and a deformed outcast (Chaney).



How is it?: Amazingly faithful to Victor Hugo's novel, which is quite a feat due to the numerous characters and plots Hugo liked to weave together in books like this and Les Miserables. Director Wallace Worseley's adaptation manages to condense everything while still feel like the real thing. Chaney of course is astonishing as Quasimodo, creating his own makeup and swinging around on gargoyles like he's Spider-Man. Miller perfectly gets across Esmerelda's innocence and kindness and makes me believe that everyone falls in love with her, because I'm right there with them. And Kerry may be wearing a goofy wig, but his Phoebus has a charming sense of humor and a light spirit that makes him a great contrast to all the scheming and misery going on in the rest of the film. It's easy to see why Esmerelda goes for him.



That said, the courtship between Esmerelda and Phoebus is rushed and awkward. By the end of the movie I believe that they care deeply about each other, but getting there is rough. They represent powerful things to each other though, so the attraction makes sense. Esmerelda's a stark contrast to the more sophisticated women Phoebus is used to, while he's the shining sun in her dark world.



That darkness makes for a powerful, contemporary theme as Esmerelda's friends grow increasingly frustrated with how they're treated by the rich, and the possibility of rebellion becomes more and more real. It's easy to relate to her foster father, Clopin, and his thirst for justice, even if I don't like the violent way with which he wants to seize it.



For all this extra richness though, the film is best when it's focusing on Quasimodo, a man so lowly that even the miserable Clopin and Company feel superior to him. Chaney makes Quasimodo incredibly sympathetic and I felt the pain when he was betrayed by someone he thought was his only friend. Just as I also experienced his joy and love in response to Esmerelda's forgiveness and kindness.



Rating: Five out of five pitchers of water.