Werewolves » New moon

Werewolves: The Up And Coming Explosion?

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:18:23 +0000

Since the premier of Twilight in 2008 there has been an explosion of vampire mania. It would appear that people are taking a real interest in vampires and this is not the first time this has happened. Though it did not cause as big an uproar, Anne Rice did cause a new wave of vampire fans with her books and movie Interview With The Vampire back in 1994. It seems that every decade or so there are new vampire fans welcomed into the club.

However, there now seems to be coming some major competition for the vampire, the werewolf. All over the Internet you will see Team Edward and Team Jacob sites and most recently there is the new devastatingly hot werewolf, Alcide, in the hit series True Blood. Could these muscular badass wolves be competition for the dark mysterious creatures of the night? There was a post done before mine by Moonlight that says no. But I think that there is some indication pointing towards a werewolf explosion!

Evidence of a werewolf phenomenon seems to be quietly making its way. Such evidence as the recently remade movie: “The Wolfman”. Has mentioned before, the first appearance of Alcide in True Blood episode 3. Along with this is author’s such as, Alice Borchardt (Anne Rice’s sister!) who has introduced The Silver Wolf, Night Of The Wolf, and The Wolf King.

Even more evidence is the remake of the 1981 flick, “The Howling”. It was announced days after Twilight: New Moon scored the third largest opening weekend. Also, MTV is starting up a new series called Teen Wolf. There is no way to be sure but I would not be surprised in the least if new books based on werewolves began to come out a year from now. It would appear like lots are in the works to get werewolves up on the totem poll. But will this take away from the vampire craze or just add to it?

In my personal opinion it seems to just add to it all. What I am waiting for is the next witch craze. We have not had a good wave of new witch fans since “The Craft” was released. But who knows, maybe after werewolves have had their fill witches will be able to fly into the scene.

Back to the topic though, in the past werewolves have been less attractive due to their snarly outer appearance and the fact that they are not immortal or romantic. However, it seems like all of this could be changing for the wolf. In Twilight: New Moon you see a softness in Jacob along with a need to fight for Bella, just look at how protective of her he is. Not many werewolves have been like this in the past. In a way tween girls might see this as more romantic. Also, the normal half human half werewolf look seems to be out the door while just using a plain wolf appearance seems to be in. This is look is more appealing to lots of tweens out there.

Though not immortal like a vampire, in many book werewolves do live longer than humans. But what I think will attract girls to a werewolf is the fact that you can grow old together and not have to be turned into a monster of any kind. Someone that loves a vampire would have to become a vampire to be with him or her until they never die. This is not true for a werewolf and it might entice more people then some think.

Personally, I think times may be a changing. In a way, this could be a great thing! Werewolves need some more time in the moonlight then vampires get for a little while. But what do you think, could werewolves end up glamoring the girls more than a vampire does?

This was a follow-up response to “Will Werewolves kill the vampire craze?”

Elizabeth J. Kolodziej began writing in 2005. She has written articles for eHow and her specialties include literature, folklore, and travel. Recently, she published a book called “Vampyre Kisses” and is now working on doing some guest blogs and articles for Demand Studios. Much of her experience was obtained while at George Mason University, earning her bachelor’s degree in English, concentration: fiction writing. You can find Elizabeth on twitter @ejkolodziej or her web site at VampyreKisses.com

A Perfectly Planned Date with Jacob

Bryce — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:47:33 +0000

Maybe this is the 12 year-old girl in me coming out – or I’m just hopping on the Twilight bandwagon – but either way, who hasn’t thought about heading out on a date with Jacob (aka Taylor Lautner)? OK for you dudes out there, how about a man date?

Here are some ideas for what a lady should do on a date with the handsome werewolf, and some tips for a bromance:

Plan a picnic: Keep the raw meat at home, ladies. Jacob may be an animal, but he’s a big and beautiful thumping lad underneath it all. Cut some fresh flowers from a nearby field and place them in a basket, tied to perfection. Purchase some wine, cheese, crackers and light meaty pâté to quench his animalistic appetite. To top this date off, purchase some dark red dipped strawberries and feed them to each other.

Off the beaten path: Fellas, who doesn’t like a roam in the woods? On your man date, ask Jacob to take you on a tour of the woods he is familiar with. Make sure to tighten-up those hiking boots and pack tons of bug spray. When you come to that infamous cliff, take one for the team and jump your heart out! It’ll be worth it, living like the inner cub deep down inside of you.

For the two of you: This idea is a little different but both sexes can play reporter. Executing this plan takes some thinking outside of the box; grab a leather-bound pad and pen and start asking Jacob questions about what it’s like to be a creature of the night. Really try to get to the heart of his psyche and sympathize with him.

How would you spend a night with Jacob?

- Bryce

Traveling Around Werewolf Country

Bryce — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:45:35 +0000

I envision myself traveling to a faraway place … perhaps to Monteleone or hell, even Michigan (yes, there have been reports of werewolves running amuck in those parts of the country!). Someday, somehow, I will pack my bags and take a trip to werewolf country.

Maybe I shall recruit Mr. Crazy from Washington, or maybe I’ll go it alone. The first thing I would do is check-in at a funky little bed and breakfast or hunt around for the perfect haunted and humble abode.

I would then map out the most popular werewolf attractions in the area that I was staying. I would be careful not to forget my homemade silver bullets and throwing knives, not to mention rugged hiking boots and a change of clothes. I really want to be prepared to spend as much time as possible outside.

Once I spend a day or two getting familiar with my surroundings, I would set-up some meetings with lycanthropic educators and professors. I would pick their brains on any new happenings in the werewolf community, and get as much information out of them as possible so that someday, I may be a great werewolf enthusiast.

My last days in werewolf country would be spent sleeping-in and hitting-up tourist attractions like nobody’s business. I would even pay for an extra piece of luggage, so that I may return home with a conglomerate of werewolf memorabilia to share with friends and family.

Doesn’t that sound like the most perfect trip?

How would you spend a trip in werewolf country? Share your ideas and interests below!

- Bryce

5 Cool Werewolf Videos

kate — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:06:58 +0000

Craving a little bit of the wolf this weekend, I flipped through YouTube and other video sites to check out some cool werewolf videos. Here are the ones that struck me as some of the best!

Vampires vs. Werewolves. Pretty cool video depicting a battle between our favorite villains. Even cooler when you consider this video was just made by a die-hard fan! [MetaCafe]

Tribute to Werewolves. Exactly what it sounds like, this is a video compilation made by a die-hard fan of the wolf. And it’s awesome too! [YouTube]

Werewolves Dance. Some guys dressed like werewolves dance around against the backdrop of a full moon. While the focus comes off the wolves momentarily for some serious hip hop, the whole thing is pretty cool all around. [MetaCafe]

Werewolves Exist. A comical look at the fact that werewolves exist. In this monologue, the narrator tells an all too common story of a werewolf wounded only to reappear as a human with the same wound. [Yahoo Video]

New Moon werewolf transformation scene. C’mon, you didn’t really think that I was going to do a top five list of cool werewolf stuff and not include the New Moon wolves, did you? Enjoy! [YouTube]

- Kate

Werewolf Movies to Watch Out For

kate — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:36:12 +0000

With movies like The Wolfman and New Moon behind us, we’re all wondering when the next kick ass werewolf movie will be coming out. If you’re wondering what we have to look forward to, you’ll be happy to know – A LOT! There are tons of werewolf movies that are about to be released with Underworld 4 and Jack and Diane being just a couple of the names that we’re looking forward to. Here are 5 more that you may or may not have heard of yet. But once you do, you’ll definitely be marking your calendars to make sure you don’t miss a single furry second!

The Coffin – This movie is about a young man and woman that lie in a coffin all night to get rid of all the bad luck they’ve been having lately. Turns out the trick works, at least for a little while. Then the couple is thrown into a world of horror that might even be worse than what they experienced before having a slumber party in a casket. [The Coffin Movie]

Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat – This is the sequel to the first movie and it starts exactly where Dog Soldiers ended – with Cooper being picked up by American soldiers. [Bloody Disgusting Horror]

First Howl – This movie touches on werewolves in pop culture and also tips its hat to classic werewolf movies. For fans who love going aways back, this is a movie coming out in 2011 that you shouldn’t miss! [Wikipedia]

Freeborn – This is definitely a movie that I want to see! No word yet on its release date but it’s from the point of view of a werewolf who has to decide on whether or not to tell his girlfriend whether or not he’s a werewolf. The choice is not easy, and it may get her killed. Be sure to check out this trailer! [YouTube]

Neowolf – This movie may appeal to a younger crowd as a rock band Neowolf travels to a small town. Not so mysterious on its own, until people start disappearing and it all seems to coincide with the appearance of the full moon. The good news on this one is that you don’t have to wait for it to be in theaters to see it. It’s coming out next month on DVD [Neowolf the Movie]

- Kate

The Big Werewolf War in Eclipse: Sneak Peek!

annimi — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:49:15 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yeah yeah, I know werewolf fans everywhere are usually aghast at the idea of werewolves in the Twilight Saga, but hey, –I’ve seen it, and I’m impressed, personally. Though, they aren’t really werewolves as we traditionally see them; they’re sort of shapeshifters. The werewolves in Twilight are a little similar to the whole shapeshifter culture that you might encounter in True Blood; ‘shifters’ dislike werewolves, in True Blood. While in the Twilight Saga, the werewolves are really just larger than life wolves. While on one hand, it’s nice to see more “wolf” in the creature, it’s easy to see how horror lovers want more gore, and less lore.

There’s a new sneak preview of the Eclipse film out there, driving Team Jacob crazy. Don’t bother searching Google, –the most popular video result is only about three minutes long. We have one that’s almost seven minutes long.

As for the question posed in Celebs-Gather, over who Bella will choose, –pretty much everyone who watches the movies has read the series about nine million times. And his name is “Taylor Lautner”, Lautner being the surname. Duh. But kudos for having the awesome video.

The longer video has more cast input from Eclipse, more scenes from the film, and more behind the scenes footage as well; the post in Celebs-Gather also includes a deleted scene from New Moon, –though, it kind of sucks. There was like, a solid 60 seconds of totally unnecessary conversation. Kind of easy to see why it was deleted in the first place. The DVD issued from Target includes a ton of extra features, including deleted scenes, and a bunch of other featurettes, while Best Buy competes with.. packaging.

Fans of 30 Days of Night will appreciate the next film in the saga a bit more knowing that the director of 30 Days, David Slade, has taken on Eclipse, and plans to turn it into a much more violent, action packed film than its predecessors.

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

Will Werewolves Kill the Vampire Craze?

moonlight — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:00:02 +0000

The big question on the minds of many bloggers today is “can werewolves kill the vampire craze?” I have been wondering that myself, is it the time where the werewolves take over the vampires? Maybe, maybe not.

The thing is, as kickass as werewolves are, they lack many of the elements that make vampires so desirable. There’s no pretty immortality, no ancient elegance, no sexy/thrilling appeal. With werewolves you have a ferocious beast that gets all furry. Sure, New Moon showed us that werewolves can be fucking hot, but that’s only one uncommon view. Even with the success of New Moon werewolves still haven’t taken the limelight from vampires.

“Vampires have always been more popular because there’s a romantic element,” Slantmagazine.com film critic Nick Schager said. “They’re striking, dashing, and there are sexual components to the legend.”

Nick is right, vamps have all of these romantic possibilities and while there are werewolf romance stories out there none of them compare to the success of the undead tales of forbidden love.

If you were to check out the bestsellers section at the bookstore you’ll most likely see something like this – 25% Angels, 25% Werewolves and 50% Vampires. There is no question that werewolves are way more popular now then they were 5 years ago. But will they surpass vampires or will the increasingly popular angels take over both?

We have had werewolf fads in the past, every few years they rise out of the ashes and are reborn just like the vampires. You’ll go years without hearing much on either, then suddenly BAM they are everywhere. But even though vampire fever is cooling down and werewolves are shown more and more in entertainment it doesn’t mean that they’ll get the same amount of success. On that note, a lot of people expect the R-rated Wolfman flick will knock vampires on their ass. But while it will draw in horror-loving adults, it won’t appeal to the tweens who seem to control the whole damn world.

As much as I love werewolves I don’t think they can rise above vampires, or angels for that mater. Sure the new movie The Wolfman and upcoming Twilight movies will continue to give the wolves a big dose of love but I doubt it will be big enough to start a full out werewolf frenzy. Unfortunately.

Oh well, popularity aside I still adore the furry beasts… especially when they have the body of a perfectly tanned god.

What are your thoughts on the whole deal?

- Moonlight

New Moon DVD Release News

moonlight — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:00:21 +0000

Cue the screaming girls! The Twilight craze continues with the upcoming DVD release of the werewolf-filled New Moon on Saturday, March 20th, 2010.

Now, you hardcore Twilight fans are going to want to either wait in line at a midnight release, or you can pre-order from sites like Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The cool thing about pre-ordering from Barnes and Noble is that not only do you get the Special 2-disk Edition of the New Moon DVD, but you also get an exclusive Dreamcatcher bag clip. You can only get this Dreamcatcher from B&N though. The Dreamcatcher Bag Clip is a metal dangle finished in antique brass that combines a circular dreamcatcher, a sculptural Wolf Pack-tattoo charm and a Wolf Pack jewelry tag, feathers, and crystals. I admit, it looks pretty sweet.

As for the special features on the 2-disk DVD and Blu-Ray, well, unfortunately this time around there won’t be a commentary featuring New Moon stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, or Taylor Lautner. But, you will get a commentary with director Chris Weitz and editor Peter Lambert.

Along with the commentary there will also be a six-part, behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the creation of the film, 20-minutes worth of deleted scenes, rehearsal footage from Muse, three music videos from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina and Mute Math. So you are getting a lot of goodies, even though the cast didn’t join in on the commentary fun like in the Twilight DVD.

The DVD will retail for $32.99 and the Blu-Ray for $34.99 … both are a bit expensive if you ask me, but I suppose it’s nothing to the fans. Plus most stores usually have new release DVDs on sale their first week out, like Target did last year. Speaking of Target, they are selling a 3-disc Deluxe Edition of the DVD and with it you get a Target exclusive Collectible Film Cell. 3 disks!

So now you just have to decide where you’re going to get your copy at. Choice choices.

- Moonlight

Julia Jones Will Play Leah Clearwater in Eclipse

kate — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:51:44 +0000

New Moon mania has finally seemed to die down a bit and of course that means that now, we can all begin obsessing about Eclipse. I have to say that Eclipse might be one of those movies that I actually enjoy more than the book because the book I didn’t find all that fascinating. I didn’t even really care for the character of Leah Clearwater in the book. I know that Stephenie Meyer was going for the whole ‘irritating girl that saves the day’ kind of thing but, I just didn’t feel it with Leah. She was just annoying to me. But I think seeing that part played out on screen might be much better, especially when the part’s being played by Julia Jones.

Julia Jones, 28, isn’t very well known around Hollywood just yet although she’s creative in her own right and has studied at The Boston Ballet School since she was 4. She also played the role of Gigi in the 2003 movie The Look and appeared on ER for a few episodes. Understandably, there was a lot of competition for the role and a lot of young starlets desperately wanted the chance to become part of the Twilight Saga. Vanessa Hudgens, from High School Musical auditioned for the part while Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl), Jessica Lowndes (90210), and Kristen Kreuk (Smallville) were all contenders that Julia beat out for the part. Radar Online caught up with Julia before the holidays to talk about what’s surely to be her breakout role. You can check that video out here.

I’m excited to see Julia Jones take on the role as Leah Clearwater. I hadn’t heard of her before she was cast for the movie but I can definitely see her in the role of Leah. And hey, who knows, she might even make me end up liking the character a little more.

- Kate