Are there no fans of Wolfen?

I realized belatedly I should have put "has anyone seen Wolfen? " I was just surprised to find no discussions about it whatsoever. :-)

Funny. Gangster & zombie films are @ the bottom of my list. They require such little innovation.

Carpe Noctem!

One thing I really liked was the score. It started out sounding like a rip-off of "Alien", then it switched to music in the style of Horner's later effort "Aliens" (some of these cues eventually ended up in that score). I think this was Horner's first score for a non-Roger Corman movie (he didn't become well-known until "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" came out the following year).

The only other thing that really worked for me in this movie was keeping the Wolfen hidden throughout most of it (only hinting at where it is using sound effects, wolf-vision, and in one case, a pair of glowing eyes). As Ridley Scott once said about the creature in "Alien", it's more frightening when you DON'T see it, and that's definitely true of the Wolfen here.

The movie just got hokey once it was revealed that they were regular wolves (albeit, wolves that may be gods, and have been around for 20000 years, ten times your f***ing Christian era!). It's because I was able to create a general image of what I envisioned the Wolfen to look like in my mind, and that mental image was far more frightening than the real thing. Of course, being 1981, they couldn't use CGI to make far more threatening wolves.

I have a question: does anyone know if this was the first movie to portray infra-red or "heat vision"? The whole time I was watching, I was thinking, "Damn, the Predator movies totally ripped this off!"

Another note: I wonder how available this movie is. I was only able to find it on videocassette at my local Mom-and-Pop video store. Maybe the reason no one has made any real comments about it is that not many people have actually seen it since its initial release.

I have always had a fond place in my heart for this movie.

It is a movie I saw when I was younger and then since it is hardly ever on cable became like that girlfriend that was only a distant memory.

Also, having grown up in NYC, it really hit home with its eerie scenery shots.

Thumbs up.

Dalm.

I liked this movie. Very original in my opinion.

I taped Wolfen off the tv years ago and it scared the pants off me then. Loads of really creepy scenes, the initial 'hit', Finney running down the derelict church steps to turn and see the eyes floating in the darkness, the stakeout in the deserted tenements, Olmos' shape shifting freak out, Tom Noonan's bogus emergency call so he can stand under the bridge and listen to the siren's 'howl' only to be... well you know.

As for the final reveal, the mirror blinds are genius, I don't think it was the intention of the director for us to be terrified of the beast come the end, they are beautiful creatures (are they really wolves?) rather than slathering werewolfatronics. We're supposed to empathise, Finney even sides with them (admittedly to save his hide) and I found the scenes of the Wolfen running through the streets at the end rather moving (how sad am I?).

I think they try to fit one too many sub plots in though, with the terrorist interrogations and the strange big brother style security unit, fascinating but not developed enough to add anything to the story, bar red herring and a suggestion of natural eco-warriors, 'the earth biting back' metaphors blah blah.

I'll have to get the book, interesting thread segue (only for me tho) I recently read The Keep (big Mann fan), despite what people say I prefer the film, the book ain't that hot.

Lassie/Punisher I think.

No Clues!

I'm not exactly a fan, but I certainly like WOLFEN a lot.
It is here in my werewolf films collection as one of the better and more interesting gems.
Also nice is that Michael 'Woodstock' Wadleigh is the director. I suppose he liked the idea of the old religious Indian powers.

Albert Finney is good (as always) in the leading role.




"When there is no more room in the oven,
the Bread will walk the earth."

what does "lycanthrope" mean, please? couldn´t find it in dictionary and i´m interested to know what you wrote about that fantastic film.


cheers


m.

ALL LIFE IS EQUAL

Just purchased the Wolfen CD soundtrack from ebay, james horner's atmospheric score is outstanding.