Werewolves

Stephen King’s Silver Bullet

Chris — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:41:52 +0000

In memory of Corey Haim Werewolves.Com presents Stephen King’s Silver Bullet.

When a drunken railway worker is found dead on the tracks after the night of a full moon no one in the small town of Tarker’s Mills has any idea that their long nightmare has begun.

Before Corey Haim became a Lost Boy he starred in Stephen King’s Silver Bullet as Marty Coslaw, a young paraplegic boy who finds himself caught in the middle of a series of gruesome murders. First his girlfriend’s father is brutally slain causing the rest of her family to move away and then his best friend is also found murdered. There are other killings as well, in fact at least one person is killed every month and always during a full moon.

The police are sure there’s a maniac on the loose but Marty thinks that something far more sinister is to blame. After the funeral of his best friend Brady (played by Joe Wright) he confides to his alcoholic uncle Red (played by Gary Busey) that he believes that a werewolf has been killing the people of Tarker’s Mills. This revelation is of course met with disbelief since everyone knows there are no such things as werewolves.

Nevertheless Marty is determined to prove to his uncle that the werewolf is real. In fact after Marty is attacked by the werewolf, injuring it with a firework to the eye allowing him to escape, convincing uncle Red becomes a matter of life and death. With the help of his sister Jane (played by Megan Follows) Marty must discover the werewolf’s identity before it’s too late by finding the person in town who is now missing an eye.

After spending an entire day searching the town for a suspect Jane becomes discouraged and begins to feel the fool. That is until she accidentally stumbles across the man with the missing eye, the local preacher Reverend Lowe (played by Everett McGill). Now that they know who the werewolf is it’s time to get uncle Red on board. Red refuses to budge on the matter until Marty confesses that he has been sending Reverend Lowe anonymous letters demanding that he kill himself. Red is furious until Reverend Lowe, in retaliation to the letters tries to kill Marty by running him off a bridge.

Red isn’t convinced that Reverend Lowe is a werewolf but it’s obvious that something about the Reverend just isn’t right. Now with uncle Red in tow Marty and Jane devise a plan to destroy the werewolf and even though there are hundreds of different legends they all claim one thing… It takes silver to kill a werewolf.

Silver Bullet is based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf and even though the special effects may seem primitive today they are still pretty impressive. Particularly impressive is the Reverend’s reversion from werewolf back to human. A great movie all round with one hell of a climax, I highly recommend Silver Bullet to any werewolf fan.

RIP Corey

December 23, 1971- March 10, 2010

-Chris

Spiritual Shapeshifting

moonlight — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:16 +0000

In ancient times there were once wise shamans that wished not to physically transform into animals, but to instead to absorb the strength, agility, nobility and spiritual power of the animals they admired and respected. And so I bring you spiritual shapeshifting – not the power to change the form of your body, but the ability to spiritually transform into the essence of a wolf.

Unfortunately this is easier said than done. To do this properly you need an incredible amount of control, direction and knowledge. I recommend first doing as much research as possible on wolves. Watch documentaries, read books, and memorize everything. How do their bodies work, their strengths and their weakness – from their pads to their snout. What do they eat, how do packs work, how do they hunt? And on and on, learn as much as you can about this majestic animal.

Second, more research. But this time study spiritualism and relaxation. Yes, relaxation. I’m afraid being in a perfect state of relaxation is very difficult. Being able to clear your mind and focus perfectly on one goal is not an easy task. As for spiritualism, learn the details behind spiritual shapeshifting; learn about auras and earthly powers. Do certain colors mean specific things? What does it mean to contact the spiritual plane? Learn everything you can so that you can get a better understanding of what you need to do.

As for actually doing the spiritual wolf transformation yourself, you will need guides. You can’t sit in your room, close your eyes real tight and wish over and over to be a wolf. Haha, it’s more work than that. There are entire books on the topic, but the one I would recommend is The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger. Now, this may be an encyclopedia on overall werewolf information, but there is a long section about spiritual shapeshifting in it. Steiger wrote out very detailed and complicated instructions for those that wish to attempt to bring out their spiritual wolf. That is why I choose this book, because he specifically targets wolves, not all animals. If you are genuinely interested in this sort of thing then I recommend picking the book up.

- Moonlight

Werewolf Book Watch: New Releases This Month

kate — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:12:53 +0000

Are all the werewolf books on your shelf tattered and torn from being read so many times? Do you want to add to your collection, or just try something completely new? If so, this is a great month to do it! Here are just a few of the awesome werewolf books that are coming out this month!

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs – Mercy Thompson just wanted to innocently return a book that she had borrowed from a fae. But when she tries to give it back, she finds that will be much easier said than done. Even worse, her good friend Samuel is having some serious issues that, if his father finds out, could end his life!

Werewolf Smackdown by Mario Acevedo – You know things are bad when an Alpha wolf tries to hire a vampire to kill another werewolf. But, when the vampire refuses, and then someone tries to kill him, suspicions rise quite quickly and soon, the Alpha’s own life is in danger.

Born to Be Wild by Christine Warren – Josie Barrett is a veterinarian and because of that, she’s used to seeing beastly creatures in her town of Stone Creek, Oregon, where more than half the population is comprised of shape-shifters. But while she’s used to these shapeshifters going from man to beast and back again, she’s not used to the virus that is now infecting them all and making them remain in their wolf forms. And just for fun, Josie also gets to find the answer alongside Eli Pace. And it becomes quite obvious that the wolves aren’t the only ones with animal instincts!

Never Cry Werewolf by L.A. Banks – Now that the city of New Orleans is aware of the presence of werewolves in their midst, martial law has gone into effect and magical creatures of every kind are coming out to try and create a truce between two fighting wolf packs. But with more humans being savagely killed by what appears to be a wolf, the real question is – Is it a wolf? A copycat vampire? Or something so horrific, no one could have ever imagined it.

Shift by Rachel Vincent – Faythe is the first woman werecat and in this new addition to the series, she must not only deal with her father’s impeachment and her brother’s death, but there’s a whole slew of new problems to contend with too! Mostly the fact that her pride is being attacked, and she’s doing everything she can to stop a war from breaking out!

Real-Life Wolves Used in ‘True Blood’ Season 3

moonlight — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:09 +0000

The creator and producer of ‘True Blood,’ Alan Ball, plans on making the upcoming third season the best season yet and one way he’s doing this is by bringing in real-life wolves to the set so that the animal transformations on the show will be as real as possible. While past seasons were focused mostly on the vampires, this time around it will be all about the werewolves. Woo!

Stephen Moyer, also known as vampire Bill, said in an interview that the third season’s storyline is packed full of the wild animals. “Yeah!” he told MTV News. “I’ve had to work with wolves. I like werewolves. I love that aspect of the show. It’s going to be amazing this year.”

The actor added, “I’ve been working with real wolves and I mean you don’t get to do that very often,” he said. “We’ve got real wolves in the show amazing. They’re beautiful and huge and wild and they feel like they’re the size of lions. It’s unbelievable.”

When asked what part the werewolves play in the new storyline Moyer played coy and said, “Well, I don’t know if you don’t know very much about the books, but the story is there is a guy who comes in to help Sookie and he will be a part of that gang. I don’t want to give anything away!”

Filming kicked off a few months ago and Joe Manganiello was cast as werewolf Alcide. In case you forgot, vampire Bill was kidnapped at the end of season two, but in the upcoming season Sookie uses this new character, Alcide, to find him. In the book by Charlaine Harris, Alcide is summoned by vampire Eric and ends up having fling with Sookie. However, Alcide is incredibly attached to his on and off girlfriend Debbie Pelt, who will be played by Brit Morgan. But so far the show hasn’t followed the books exactly, so we’ll see if Sookie and Alcide actually have this steamy fling. I sure hope so though, Joe Manganiello is so damn sexy.

- Moonlight

Review of The Wolfman

Chris — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:48:25 +0000

I was finally able to see The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins last night and I am afraid it did not quite live up to my expectations.

The Wolfman, a remake of the classic 1941 film starring Lon Chaney Jr., tells the tale of Laurence Talbot (played by del Toro), who upon learning of his brother’s disappearance returns home after many years as a traveling performer only to discover that his brother’s dead body has already been found. He decides to remain at his family’s estate with his eccentric father John (played by Hopkins) in an effort to capture his brother’s killer and avenge his death.

Everyone has their theories on who the killer might be. Laurence believes it could be the work of a madman, the locals believe that somehow the band of gypsies camped outside of town are to blame and the gypsies believe that Laurence’s brother was slain by a werewolf. Inspector Francis Aberline (played by Hugo Weaving) however believes that Laurence himself is to blame and is willing to do whatever it takes to prove it.

I’m afraid I found the film rather slow going and at just over one and a half hours The Wolfman seemed as if it went on much longer. The actors seemed to do their best with the materials they were given, with both del Toro and Weaving providing great performances but as I mentioned the film seemed to drag on much more than it needed to.

The sets, costumes and special effects were first rate with the transformation of del Toro into the werewolf paying homage to Chaney’s transformation in the original film. Instead of choosing the more ‘wolf like’ transformations that are common place thanks to the popularity of such films as Underworld and New Moon, The Wolfman’s transformations remained more humanoid which actually managed to make del Toro’s werewolf quite sympathetic.

In fact I found myself particularity sympathizing with del Toro after Talbot is captured and locked away in the same insane asylum in which he spent his childhood after witnessing the death of his mother. Upon being captured and declared delusional for believing that he was attacked by a werewolf and is therefore now one himself Talbot is subjected to different tortures masquerading as treatments in order to ‘cure’ him. He is mocked relentlessly by his captors, until of course the full moon rises.

There are many differences between this Wolfman and the original including Talbot’s capture and I believe that it is more accurate to call this film an homage rather than a remake. Is it as good as the original? It’s really up to the viewer to decide. While The Wolfman will probably not be winning any Oscars it’s still not a bad way to spend an evening.

-Chris

Big Wolf on Campus

Chris — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:00:23 +0000

Tommy Dawkins’ life was almost perfect. He was the star of his high school football team, he was dating the most popular girl in school and oh yeah… Tommy Dawkins was a werewolf.

Everything started the week before the beginning of senior year during a final summer camp out with some of his football buddies. While hanging out enjoying himself Tommy (played by Brandon Quinn) hears howling in the woods and being the brave sort goes to investigate. To his surprise Tommy doesn’t just stumble upon a wolf, he stumbles upon the biggest wolf he has ever seen and the wolf doesn’t seem too happy about it. The wolf attacks Tommy but strangely runs off after only biting him one single time.

Tommy considers himself lucky and quickly forgets about the wolf attack, after all he has more important things to worry about like girls, football and did I mention girls? Yep, Tommy knows that senior year is going to be perfect and nothing can possibly ruin it for him. That is until the full moon rises.

After Tommy transforms into a werewolf for the first time he realizes that he needs to talk to someone who can tell him what is happening so he reaches out to the one person he is sure will be able to help him… Merton J. Dingle, Pleasantville High’s one and only Goth. Of course Merton (played by Danny Smith) is reluctant to believe Tommy at first, after all he has had his share of bullying and why should this be any different but Tommy soon gives Merton proof that he can’t possibly ignore. Excited by the fact that he has actually met a real life werewolf Merton agrees to help Tommy and the two quickly become best friends.

As it turns out Tommy isn’t like the werewolves you see on TV or in horror movies. He can change into a werewolf whenever he wants night or day regardless of the full moon and he isn’t evil either. In fact unlike most werewolves, including the one who bit him, Tommy is a good werewolf and plans on staying that way.

Together Tommy and Merton battle a bazaar array of monsters from the Sandman to Medusa and everything in between. They even find themselves battling a pair of vampires whose only source of sustenance just happens to be werewolf blood. Oh, and did I mention the Evil Werewolf Syndicate who wants to turn Tommy evil and force him to join them? It’s a good thing Tommy and Merton are soon joined by Lori Baxter, a spunky kickboxing champion who is kicked out of her Catholic school and transferred to Pleasantville High. Lori (played by Aimee Castle) quickly uncovers Tommy’s secret and insists on joining the two of them in their fight against evil.

Big Wolf on Campus is a great show that is sure to entertain. It’s funny, often spoofing a wide range of horror movies including Frankenstein, A Nightmare on Elm Street and even The Terminator. The spoofs are often pointed out by Merton who often states how a predicament our three heroes find themselves in resembles a scene in a movie. When either Tommy or Lori ask him what happened Merton answers with a bit of trivia about the movie’s production or it’s reception at the box office (such as the Terminator franchise losing popularity when Arnold Schwarzenegger tried branching out into comedies) which is soon met with a smack in the head and the yelling of “In the movie Merton, what happened in the movie!?!”

Big Wolf on Campus has also had it’s share of guest stars including ‘The Two Coreys’ Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, each playing themselves. Haim shows up in Pleasantville one night to shoot a low budget, straight to video vampire flick. He also happens to be a real life vampire wanting to make Lori his vampire bride. Feldman, curious about the whereabouts of his friend shows up later in the series looking for Haim while posing as a vampire hunter.

Big Wolf On Campus ran for three seasons from 1999- 2002 and can sometimes still be found on BBC Kids and ABC Family. There is also an online petition floating around the internet demanding a DVD release. *Fingers Crossed*

-Chris

The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here!

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:41:12 +0000

Diana Mooney returns home with her new husband Gerald after being away studying medicine in Scotland. There are some dark secrets she had kept from the new husband, that unfold dramatically. An odd relationship between the family members is immediately apparent, and an eccentric elderly patriarch is urgent to complete his experiments before passing. We learn the father is terribly upset that Diana had gotten married, especially with the family curse. The curse we discover much later is genetic lycanthropy. She was supposed to study medicine and return to help him with his experiments, hoping to stop the family curse. In one scene a cross burns the middle sister in a struggle with Gerald, increasing his suspicion as it rightly should! The moon is almost full, so you’ll have to watch it yourself and see how it ends.

There’s a weird subplot involving rats for some reason that seems out of place, but this is the first film I’d seen by Andy Milligan and this could be par for the course. Willard was a popular movie in the 70s, and Ben a song by Michael Jackson about a rat. The film has one sister naming two rats, Willard and Ben. The soundtrack is wonderfully nostalgic of old films like this and the acting is over the top, -way- over the top! Andy Milligan is an independent producer, writer, and director of ultra-low-budget Grand Guignol horror films.

You can catch this 1972 movie for free at archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/TheRatsAreComingTheWerewolvesAreHere

Do Werewolves Need a Little More Girl Power?

kate — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:23:48 +0000

When talking about werewolves, we usually have the tendency to refer to them in the masculine sense. “He changed” or “the werewolf licked his wounds” are common phrases found in werewolf history. But what about all the women? Very little is said about female werewolves, especially in a historical sense, and even when they are mentioned, very few are given a name such as the “She-Wolf.” In fact, if you had to think of a few historical women werewolves, would you be able to name any except for this most infamous lady wolf?

What’s even more interesting is not only the fact that there are little to no women werewolves found in history, but that history doesn’t mind blaming women for turning men into wolves. Often it was a witch that would turn a man into a wolf or, it was sometimes the succession of birth that would turn a boy into a werewolf – as though it was the mother’s fault for not having him sooner or later. This classical depiction of a woman being the man’s demise is nothing new. In fact, it reaches as far back as the earliest Christianity books when Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. But even though women have been highly accredited with turning man into beast, there is still very little mention of women werewolves in the history books.

Today, authors such as Patricia Briggs and movies like Eclipse are doing a lot to change the face of women in werewolf folklore. Briggs’ Alpha and Omega novels feature Anna, the Omega werewolf heroine. And it will be in Eclipse that we get to see Leah Clearwater helping Jacob fight off evil vampires. But still, in the Alpha and Omega series, Anna is a somewhat weak werewolf that needs her mate, Charles’, help with much of what she does. And even though Leah Clearwater is tough in her own right, she is still largely portrayed as a whiny annoying girl that won’t leave Jacob alone in the book.

So when are we going to start seeing some tough, kick ass women werewolves? I’m sure that there are a few out there that I’m missing but, when I can’t think of five off the top of my head, that tells me that the world of werewolves definitely needs a little more girl power!

- Kate

Our Favorite Werewolf Artist!

moonlight — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:00:23 +0000

Kerem Beyit! You have seen the man’s incredible werewolf artwork all over the net, even here on this site. Not too long ago I was asked by a reader if I knew who created these kickass werewolf pictures and so I thought why not share the love with all of our readers.

Here’s the bio of Kerem Beyit taken from his wonderful website (you should totally click that link).

“I was born in Ankara, Turkey, (1980) started drawing in my early childhood with the effect of comic books. In Gazi University, department of graphics I studied graphic design for four years. I don’t have any formal training for illustration I trained myself and my teachers were the great fantasy artists like Frazetta and Brom. I worked for various places doing graphic and illustration studies, book covers, local comics also magazines and books for children.

I’ve been in the digital area for four years. I did lots of book covers. I am honoured by being awarded on CGSociety, CgChannel, Gfxartist, Cggallery , 3DTotal and CGArena. My works have been published in several magazines. My works have also been selected for inclusionin the Ballistic Publishing albums Expose and Exotique. I am currently working as a freelance artist.”

I am a huge art junkie and I have to say that Beyit’s artwork is for sure in my top ten list. From the mesmerizing colors and fierceness in his werewolves to the breathtaking intricacy of his dragons – it’s all unbelievably well done.

As I said, I love love love art, especially fantasy artwork, so if you guys know of any other great werewolf artists out there please pass it on. And if you’re an artist yourself and have some werewolf art to share then don’t be shy, let us take a look we’d love to see it.

- Moonlight

The Bloody Chamber

moonlight — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:18 +0000

The Bloody Chamber is an award winning anthology of short stories by Angela Carter. All of the stories share a common theme of being closely based upon fairytales or folk tales, and some of the stories in the book feature some twisted werewolves.

Lets take a peak at a few of the stories in The Bloody Chamber (without giving the ending away).

The Werewolf (based on Little Red Riding Hood)

This story is about a girl that goes to visit her grandmother, but encounters a werewolf on the way. The girl ends up cutting the werewolf‘s paw off with a knife. When she reaches her grandmother’s house, the paw has turned into a hand with a certain special ring on it.

The Company of Wolves (based on Little Red Riding Hood)

In this short story a girl meets a seemingly charming young man whilst wandering through the forest towards her grandmother’s house. She soon arrives at her grandmother’s home, unaware that the same man got there before her and killed her poor grandmother. The young man, who is really a wolf in disguise, then tells her to remove and burn her clothing one by one. This twisted tale brings back the classic lines like, “What big teeth you have!”

The Company of Wolves was later turned into a movie directed by the famous Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire).

Wolf-Alice (loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There)

This story is about an incredibly feral child, whom nuns have attempted to civilize, that is left in the house of the vampiric Duke when she does not develop social skills and continues to act wolf-like. This story explores the journey towards subjectivity and self-awareness from the perspective of a feral child.

If you are looking for something way different than the bestselling werewolf books that are hitting shelves now, then I highly suggest picking this collection up.

- Moonlight

Werewolves

Stephen King’s Silver Bullet

Related Reading:

Spiritual Shapeshifting

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Werewolf Book Watch: New Releases This Month

Related Reading:

Real-Life Wolves Used in ‘True Blood’ Season 3

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Review of The Wolfman

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Big Wolf on Campus

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The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here!

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Do Werewolves Need a Little More Girl Power?

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Our Favorite Werewolf Artist!

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The Bloody Chamber

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