Just seen this early 80s werewolf movie. Not great, but it's a cute little movie with some interesting touches, such as the treatment of the werewolf myth, the urban settings (there's a scene on top of one of the NY bridges that's like anything I've ever seen) or the numerous wolf POV, that help a big deal to turn the urban setting into a eerie and menacing scenario, not much unlike John McTiernan's "Nomads".
I've only seen part of 'Wolfen' on TV, and I must say that the POV of the werewolf chasing them through the slum was pretty creepy.
I actually saw this during its original theatrical release. I thought it was okay, but nothing special. Interesting to note that it was directed by Michael Wadleigh, who also directed WOODSTOCK, possibly the greatest music documentary of all time.
Yeah 'Wolfen' is definitely and acquired taste.
The POV shots are effective, as is some of the gore, but the rest of the movie not so much. Very weak ending.
The book is highly reccomended though. Believe it's out of print, I bought it used for $2. Heh. MUCH different than the film.
Yeah, the ending pretty much ruins it... I can understand the anger the Native Americans felt and all, but come on! I would say until the end, not half bad. The movie managed to make POV creepy in a way that- in my opinion- Predator didn't. It was weird seeing Dick O'Neil playing in this werewolf movie after seeing him in the American version of Gamera. The guys at the morgue really steal the show in my opinion; "Well, let me see what happened to my man... Two bullet holes upside the head; see? *slap!* You shouldn'ta been f**kin' with that b***h!"
I like WOLFEN a lot. It was kind of overshadowed the year it came out by THE HOWLING and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, which is a shame IMO. It's just as well made as the other two, but the lack of a real bonafide "werewolf" seems to turn a lot of people off. Personally I quite like the ending, but I often like ambiguous finales.
I think it had an interesting premise and did quite well with some of the building up. What most annoyed me about the movie was that, for 90% of it, the audience is led down the wrong path as to what the final revelation is going to be. This can be quite effective in some films where they put the facts in your face, but you had the wrong idea in your head. It is not impressive and aggravating when they deliberately mislead you.
And, damn you for mentioning the movie "Nomads." Ugh.
This movie lost my interest after a while. The pacing was just too slow after a point and the weirdly quirky direction just got on my nerves. If you don't mind a (very) leisurely pace, you'll probably like Wolfen.