The book

I read the book like five years ago or so. Ran into it by accident in a library. I think it was really great and I'm not sure as to whether or not I should see the movie.

It's very pulpy - it's full of lines like 'He didn't know he had only two minutes to live' - often pretty dumb, and it's nowhere near as ambitious as the film. It has its moments, but it's really best regarded as just a springboard for the film.


"Gentlemen, is this a great moment or a small one? I'm afraid I don't know."

I have never seen the movie - but I read the book about a month ago...I had no idea that this movie was based on that book - even though I knew of the movie...
(didn't read the book in English, so I never really noticed the original title)

Now I want to see it...though I'll probably be disappointed ;o)
In the description of the movie it sounds like Wilson is the main character - when in the book it was Neff....




"We are the keepers of the sacred words: Ni, Peng and Neee-wom!"

I don't remember Indian shape-shifters in the book. I thought the movie was typical Hollywood rubbish.

I've read the book (and am re-reading it now) and seen the film, though I saw the latter first (probably the best way to do that with any film-of-the-book).

I think both are excellent in their own ways, and each complements the other (cf HEAT and LA TAKEDOWN); whereas the book is, as others have said, much better in its depiction of the wolfen and their origins, and has two outstandingly atmospheric scenes (Wilson's night stakeout and the climax), the film takes elements of those scenes and creates its own magic. For example, the stake out in the old church merges several scenes in the book and adds its own aspects yet comes out very well.

Similarly although arguably the most effective story strand from the book - the wolfen's origin and the 'race memory'/folklore links to vampires - is absent from the film, the native American element added to the film is quite effective.

Probably the most disappointing element of the film if the fact that the wolfen are simply depicted as wolves, whereas in the book they are clearly positioned as a separate species, not wolf or human but something else. Clearly, though, this is mainly a result of the limits of film FX technology of the time.

To make up for it, that shot of the housing being imploded and the old church left standing, well...that gets my hairs standing up everytime.

In summary, if you've seen the film, try to read the book as it will add to your enjoyment; and if you've read the book, catch the film as they are sufficiently different but both good to enjoy.

I thought the book was excellent, just read it recently. It is more of a straightforward story than the film. It is also more intense and more frightening at moments, especially the end. I did not like the end of the film at all, as it is totally different from the book and not nearly as intense.

I think the film is all right, but I think it is very different, because Wadleigh put his own agendas into the story, and that ended up turning it into a different kind of story. There was no Native American element to the book, nor was there any rich guy who was murdered, who was about to create a huge development in a rundown part of the city. I think those elements took away from the intensity of the original story.

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I finished the book, "The Wolfen," yesterday. I tought it was an excellent light read, far from a classic, but interesting and even thought-provoking at times. However, comparing it to the movie seems pointless. The connections are as superficial as substantive. The most one could say is that the movie is "inspired" by the book.

The characters share some similarities, but differ significantly. The same is true of the plot. And there are no American Indians anywhere. But the biggest difference is in the title creatures. Those in the book are considerably more interesting than those in the movie. And the connection to werewolf and vampire myths is one of the the parts that I found to be thought-provoking. Another is the discussion of the intelligence of the creatures, which cannot speak but can communicate and sense the world around them through smell and sight and hearing to an extraordinary degree.

I have been a fan of the movie since it was released in 1981. That hasn't changed. However, I am now a fan of the book also.

Werewolves Ate My Platoon!