Its far from perfect, but the Gothic qualities of 2010’s The Wolfman are still worth howling over.
The same holds true for greatness and greatly missed opportunities.
Worse still is when the press gets wind of gusts blowing in the wrong direction.
Such was the fate of 2010s now all but forgottenThe Wolfmanremake starringBenicio del ToroandAnthony Hopkins.
Before the film was releasedand before it was even shotword on the street was that a disaster was imminent.
With reshoots it had ballooned to $150 million, and the critical knives were out.
To be clear,The Wolfmanis not a misunderstood classic of its genre.
In fact, they were huge fans.
He was an idol to Baker.
Bakers Wolfman design on Benicio del Toros face remains a stunning tour de force.
And not only because of the Oscar it won.
That is courtesy of del Toros greatest asset as an actor being left unaltered by Baker.
The worldbuilding, meanwhile, seems to intentionally invite placement in the same Gothic setting conjured in CoppolasDracula.
The cinematography by Shelly Johnson bathes almost all of the night scenes in an impossibly bright moonlight.
The movie is simply fun to look at.
Its also easy on the ears thanks to Danny Elfmans lushly romantic score.
This is where the 2010 movieruns into problems, albeit not from a lack of trying.
In the new movie, Lawrences older brother is clearly slaughtered by a werewolf in an opening prologue.
At its heart,The Wolfman(2010) wishes to be an Oedipal tragedy as defined by Freud.
He let the beast run free one full moon and it killed his eldest son.
Gwen is a surrogate for the woman they both jealously commit murder over.
It is a thematically rich conceit, but one which in execution is muddled.
Yet in something as naturally melodramatic and heightened asThe Wolfmanstory, Hopkins hamminess is not unwelcome.
Jekyll and Mr. HydeandFrankenstein.
It also fills a void left by del Toro.
And opposite Hopkins twinkling malevolence, he all but disappears.
The film is far too reliant on jump scares saying boo in absence of establishing genuine dread.
And when the directors cut runs at over two hours, this becomes a substantial problem.
Nonetheless, there is still a highly entertaining spectacle for audience members of a specific disposition.
Once again, the film is gorgeous to look at in nearly every moment.
The drawing room scenes may not emotionally ensnare you, but the werewolf attacks are a different animal entirely.
Pretty much every post-transformation scene where del Toro is in the full makeup is powered by a giddy gruesomeness.
Its a pure play to the most base, lurid appeal of so many horror stories.
It is not the stuff of classic cinema, and certainly not elevated horror.
The beast will out.
