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I got into this argument with my friend about what the coolest werewolf ever was. Now clearly the best werewolf ever to appear in any movie is those in An American Werewolf in Paris, they really were so original and had incredible changing scenes.

My friend says that those in Underworld, were by far the greatest werewolfs ever. I am at a bit of a disadvantage since I REFUSE to watch that movie if I can help it. But I have seen commercials and the werewolves look like turds on legs. They look incredibally fake and very lame.

Here are the greatest werewolves in order
1) American Werewolf in Paris
2) Van Helsing
3) Dog Soldiers
4) Nazi Werewolves in An American Werewolf in London
5)  Lon Cheyney Jr.


anyways, not many people have seen these so please weigh in. Also am I giving Underworld too hard of a time? Should I watch it?

The Howling had the coolest .  This movie had the first  transformation without camera tricks.  Rob Bottin (The Thing, Robocop) beat Rick Baker to the punch by a few months,  although Baker got the oscar for An American Werewolf in London.  

Of course  The Howling went on to have several really bad sequels, at least one of which Andrew has reviewed on this site.  

I will always love the scene where Robert Picardo (ST:Voyager) confronts Dee Wallace in the doctors office and does his transfomation.

Trek Geezer makes a good point about the Howling, but I think the American Werewolf in LONDON edges those guys by a little bit.  The Dog Soldiers werewolves reminded me a lot of the Howling werewolves and were also very good.

Interesting that you liked the Paris werewolves, Evan3.  I didn't like them at all.  To me they were obviously CGI and looked like something out of a video game (which to me is a bad thing).  I felt the same way about Underworld's werewolves.  I think CGI still has a long way to go.  I think it is best used to achieve things that would be impossible without it (Peter Jackson's LOTR armies) and not something that the filmmaker is just too lazy to do (like a good werewolf).

Still, WORST werewolf ever: Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf.

Trek Geezer:

Too true. And Andrew's reviewed two movies Holwing II and Howling III (BadMovies.org geek here.) I haven't seen American Werewolf in Paris but I vote for Howling also and Dog Soliders and I hate CGI werewolfs (except for the one's in video games. When they're in videogames they're cool I guess)

Not sure about the coolest Werewolf, but the best is of course Lon Chaney Jr. and Paul Naschy.

(http://movies.monstrous.com/pictures/Werewolf_Movie_10.jpg)

(http://www.thebigpicturedvd.com/DVD%20ART/wolfman1.jpg)

I like when Chaney tells the people that he turns into a werewolf when the moon is full and nobody believes him. It's to funny.



Post Edited (05-18-04 00:33)

"a american werewolf in london " i dont know 9if its the best werewolf but its   a great film one of the most impressive transformations of te 80ies films.

I will go for "The Howling" as well.  My favorite is probably "An American Werewolf in London" due to the black humor involved, like him talking to his victim's spirits.  And, as has been pointed out, the beasties in "Dog Soldiers" were surprisingly good.

You know, a movie based on White Wolf's "Werewolf" game could be quite interesting.  Unfortunately, being turned into a movie would probably totally screw up any promise.  I blame writers and directors for that.

I vote for "Woolfie" from the old GROOVY GHOULIES cartoon show.  (Those of you who grew up in the 70s will remember it).

Mmmmm... I don't remember the werewolfes on "Dog soldiers" being that good. They looked quite static and expression-less to me, but the did quite a good job disguising that with the camerawork, at least in their first appearences.

If I had to vote on any, I would choose "An american werewolf in London", like several of you did.

BTW, "Romasanta", the latest Fantastic Factory film opened last week in Spain, and it is quite good. The studio seems to move to serious horror with every new release, and this particular film recreates the killings of Romasanta (Julian Sands), a XIXth century merchant who believed he could turn into a wolf. I found it excellent most of the time, but haven't heard of US releases yet, so all you can get right now is a Quicktime trailer:

http://www.quedetrailers.com/trailers934.htm

Did I say "American Werewolf in Paris"? or "London?" I remember one is often debated (like right now) against the Howling for best werewolf effects. Which one is it? I haven't seen either actually. And if I said the wrong movie I meant the one with good werewolf effects.

Glad someone mentioned Paul Naschy. His "Waldemar Daninsky" werewolf movies may not always be the best, but they're always entertaining. Chaney Jr.'s a classic, too, but my vote for absolute coolest werewolf ever, and my personel favorite....Oliver Reed as the savage, silver-furred lycanthrope in Hammer's "The Curse of the Werewolf!"

daveblackeye - You meant London.  In addition to being (IMO) the best werewolf, it is also (IMO) the best modern werewolf movie.  Rent it as soon as possible and print up Andrew's review to read along.  Guaranteed enjoyment.

Eirik wrote:
> Still, WORST werewolf ever: Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf.

Change Michael J. Fox to Jason Bateman and "Teen Wolf" to "Teen Wolf Too" and THEN you're talking the worst werewolf. Although the wolf in "Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory" may edge them both out.

The comment about the Werewolves in Underworld being CGI is incorrect. I'm sure there was a little bit of CGI used but if you watch the DVD and look at the special features section, there is a whole thing on how they made the wolves. They talk about how they wanted to stay away from CGI and go back to the way it should be...people in suits with special effects teams making them look right.
My votes on this (no particular order)-
Howling (the first and only Howling as far as I'm concerned)
American Werewolf in London
Underworld
Dog Soldiers

How about this one starring Micheal Landon.

(http://www.hillcity-comics.com/poster_archive/poster119.JPG)(http://www.williamsmith.org/teenage%20werewolf.jpg)

(http://www.fantafilm.it/Schede/1951d/57-25b.jpg)



Post Edited (05-18-04 13:36)

what about "The company of wolfes " neil jordan´s 1984 film, i think its a great film even i have read in many reviews its a bit boring i find  delitious. saw "romasanta "too and i have to admit that im impressed, at last the fantastic factory did a decent film, i must be dreaming, right???



Post Edited (05-18-04 15:27)

I like THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, though the werewolves are pretty weak IMO.

I liked the Ginger wolf in GINGER SNAPS too that nobody has mentioned.

My favorite is hands down AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.

Now I agree, American Werewolf in London was also an awesome film. I have seen Howling 2 in the 5 dollar bin at Wal Mart, but it looks so awful and I did read the review here as well.

Really quickly though, I just do not know how you can like American werewolf in London and not like American Werewolf in Paris. They both had the talking to the restless spirits (and the ghosts in Paris were excellently done without CGI) While the transformation and many scenes were CGI, I felt they were rather seamless and well done as were the bungee jumping scenes. It has a lot of the same humor and some wonderful stereotypes and the werewolves are big and bad. I have seen much worse CGI in any case, and while LOTR didn't use much, there were still many big CGI uses (such as the giant spider and Ogres and Dragon things). Ah well. I just feel the remake definitely caught the spirit of the first movie and even had a handicapped werewolf to boot.

Yes Scott, we must remember that tortured soul Larry Talbot, Lon Chaney Jr.'s best  part.

I also wanted to comment that one of the worst looking werewolves I've seen was Bradford Dillman in  Moon of the Wolf , a 1972  TV movie. The movie is actually pretty good with David Jansen as the sheriff of  a  small Louisiana town trying to figure out what killed a little girl. The makeup is terrible though, but then it was TV in 1972 .

An American Werewolf in Paris's humor doesn't work very well, its plotting isn't as good, the acting isn't as good, the special effects aren't as good...  Yeah.

Anyways, I like the Howling's wolves best, I guess.  Really, I think any werewolf who is a large part wolf is great.  I don't like the "Wolfman" look in old movies, where they're a furry guy with pointy teeth.  Much prefer the ones who at least have a muzzle.

Derf, I am certain you are right...  but I only wanted to comment on movies that I had seen (or was willing to ADMIT that I saw :) )

How about John Saxon and Susan Blakely in My Moms a Werewolf for the worst. They made Teenwolf look cool.

When I started reading this thread, the werewolves in the originla Howling were what first popped into my mind too. I always liked the scene in the doctor's office where her friend is snooping around and encounters the fully transformed werewolf.

For best movie overall, I'd have to say An American Werewolf in London.

As for worst werewolf, that would probably be the star of the kids show Big Wolf on Campus, which the Family channel was airing for a while a couple years ago.

He's not the first, but Paul Naschy always put on a unique wolfman.

How can you think the Werewolfs in Paris were better than in under world Evan3? I'll admit that Underworld was not a great movie but the Werewolfs in that movie were probably the best example of werewolfs in a movie that I have seen.
In Paris it was so easy to tell that the werewolfs were cgi and really bad cgi at that. And while there was some cgi used in Underworld, mainly for tranformations, most of it was guys in costums.



Post Edited (05-20-04 07:01)

I'd have to say that Michael J. Fox in "Teen Wolf" was SLIGHTLY (very slightly) better than Jason Bateman in "Teen Wolf Too".  But that's really sort of nitpicking.

Thanks for making me feel old, dude.

As stupid a movie as it was, I thought the werewolf in "Van Helsing" looked hella cool.  I'm usually not a big fan of CGI in my monster movies, but I think it worked okay this time.  Usually when an effects team tries to make a "big and imposing" werewolf, it ends up looking like a muppet with a hump on its back.

Ok kinda off topic but i have this quote stuck in my head, what's it from?

Someone says "werewolf", and someone else replies "there a wolf"
ring a bell?

That's from Young Frankenstein...I love that movie.

From Drew's Script-O-Rama:

FREDDY: Werewolf.
IGOR: There.
FREDDY: I beg your pardon?
IGOR: There wolf! There castle!
FREDDY:  Why are you talking like that?
IGOR: I thought you wanted to.
FREDDY: No.
IGOR: Suit yourself...I'm easy.

>Ok kinda off topic but i have this quote stuck in my head, what's it from?

Weird, the same quote popped into my head too! I figured it was Young Frankenstein, but wasn't 100% sure till now.

"I'd have to say that Michael J. Fox in "Teen Wolf" was SLIGHTLY (very slightly) better than Jason Bateman in "Teen Wolf Too". But that's really sort of nitpicking."

*****  Yeah, that's sort of like saying Lincoln had a slightly better time at the theater than Kennedy did in Dallas.

Young Frankenstein

Just have a look at Fangoria Gastly Reviews of June 2004... it seems that we have a wonderful new entry.... "one of the best werewolf movie ever made"... what's the movie? .... ROMASANTA...

Mmmmm... I don't remember the werewolfes on "Dog soldiers" being that good. They looked quite static and expression-less to me, but the did quite a good job disguising that with the camerawork, at least in their first appearences.

I was going to say pretty much thye same thing.  The full body shots were pretty obviously guys on stilts and the head masks were fairly lifeless.  Over all, a decent movie, but the werewolves worked best the less they were seen

Does anyone remember the series Werewolf on FOX.  It was one  of their first shows when they only had programming on Saturday and Sunday night.  

It starred John J. York  as a college student turned werewolf who had to hunt down the first of   his line to remove the curse. He originally thought it was Chuck Connors a salty old sailor , but after he killed him he found out it was a 2000 year old werewolf/college professor played by Brian Thompson. The show ran for 29 episodes.

The werewolves were designed by Rick Baker and Greg Cammon.  The were pretty mean looking.

If you don't remember it or never saw it you can check it out here:

http://www.werewolftv.com/ (http://www.werewolftv.com/index.html)

trek_geezer wrote:

> Does anyone remember the series Werewolf on FOX.  It was one
> of their first shows when they only had programming on Saturday
> and Sunday night.  

Yeah, I remember it.  It was pretty impressive for a TV show about werewolves.

I remember it too. I was disappointed that they cancelled it without filming a conclusion to the story.

Actually, going back to the first post, I'd have flipped "Van Helsing" and "Dog Soldiers." (IMHO) the audioanimatronic and people-on-stilts werewolves in "Dog Soldiers" look better then the CGI werewolves in "Van Helsing." The problem with CGI werewolves (IMHO) is that you lose the humanity that is inside every werewolf.
For deep inside all that hair and fur, there is always a person trying to get out.

BoyScoutKevin wrote:

> For deep inside all that hair and fur, there is always a person
> trying to get out.
>

I can see your point, but I thought Van Helsing  did a very good job of portraying that very fact. For example, the brother kept fighting, and ripping himself out of the werewolf. The various sheddings I felt were a cool idea.

And I can see your point, and I agree with it, but, when a werewolf iis a werewolf and done in CGI, as they were in "Van Helsing," (IMHO) you cannot help but lose the humanity that still remains within the werewolf, because, at least in this case, the werewolf  part is so exaggerated. Something again (IMHO) you cannot lose, when a man puts on a werewolf costume, because, then they still look like a human to some extent.

[/i]you cannot help but lose the humanity that still remains within the werewolf[/i]

Tell that to Gollum

It's not the mechanism it's the care and execution

We were talking about werewolves not Gollums. And I agree, care and execution are important, but, I have yet to see any CGI werewolf that I prefer  over the way that werewolves use to be done in movies from the past. Maybe some day, I'll see a CGI werewolf that I prefer, but not yet.

We were talking about werewolves not Gollums. And I agree, care and execution are important, but, I have yet to see any CGI werewolf that I prefer over the way that werewolves use to be done in movies from the past.

Well, my point is that what you don't like about CG werewolves is really because of how they are done in terms of care and execution, not really the technology used to realize them.  I mean, Gollum and Jar Jar *did* have character and if you haven't seen it in a CG werewolf yet it's just because the artsts weren't goood at doing it, not really the CG itself.

Note: I have not seen Val Helsing yet but I've seen a lot of stupid 'traditional' monsters to I have no great love for 'traditional' effects over CG.  It really comes down to the skill of the artists