Zombies and wolves

I watched Zombieland this afternoon. The movie was fun, mainly because it showed survivors in a world run amuck with zombies doing what I imagine would be the most fun to do. That is load up with a bunch of the best weapons you can find, put on some comfortable clothes, hop into a cool car, and drive around taking out as many of the undead as possible. There are also nods to the Zombie Survival Guide in the rules described by the character Columbus. And in general the movie tries to put a tongue in cheek spin on the zombie fascination of the past decade. While not Shaun of the Dead level funny, Zombieland is enjoyable and features amusing characters who find greater satisfaction as ghoul exterminators than they had before the rise of the undead. The movie doesn't try too hard to scare but it does create some suspense when people attempt to avoid the gnashing jaws of the undead. Fun stuff, if you like zombies, and these days it seems everybody in America does. 21st century zombies may not carry the symbolic weight of the ghouls in George Romero's classics Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead, but zombies have acquired pop status. That is nice and all, but the thing is, when it comes to movie monsters, I prefer werewolves. I say this days away from the premiere of the new Wolfman with Benicio del Toro which may or may not be terrible. But while the zombie (and depressed vampires in love) may be most popular these days, I'm still a sucker for werewolves.

Zombies are creepy but also rather boring. Whether the shambling ghouls in Romero's movies or the modern day speedy zombies, they remain mindless eating machines. The zombies don't care that they are zombies. They are just decomposing sacks of instinct. To paraphrase Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, zombies just walk and eat and make more zombies. That's it.

Werewolves are much more exciting. They represent the unleashed fury of the human subconscious. They are people who are monsters and have, at best, a limited control over their monstrous abilities. Werewolves have personality and can figures of pity or scorn depending on how their plight came about and how they deal with their full moon fever. This leads to two types of werewolf. Type A are tormented figures who agonize about the horrible deeds they do when the moon is full and try to control their bestial urges. Type A werewolves began with Lon Chaney Jr.'s Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man. Type B are the more than happy to unleash the beast and revel in their supernatural strength and power. And they also love chewing up people. For this sort of nasty fellow check out Robert Picardo as Eddie Quist in The Howling.

Now werewolves have been used as action heroes and vampire menaces in the Underworld series and as, well, I have no idea what they do in Twilight but there is apparently a werewolf in there somewhere. But I generally like my werewolf movies uncluttered by other monsters. I want werewolves on their own, snarling and stalking through foggy woods or leaping out of dark alleys. Which movies do this best? I'd like to suggest a few.

The Wolf Man (1941) This is the one that established the mythology of werewolves- the full moon, the silver bullets, the cursed victim trying to come to grips with the monster he unleashes. Lon Chaney and Claude Rains are great, Bela Lugosi appears as a cursed gypsy whose idea of a midnight snack is young women. Also important for Marie Ouspenskaya as Meleva the gypsy who tells us for the first time that even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers at night can become a wolf when then wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Sure, it is a comedy, but there are some genuine thrills and chills here as Larry Talbot (Chaney again) enlists Bud and Lou to stop Dracula's plan to revive the Frankenstein monster. Perhaps this helped inspire the werewolves versus vampires theme of Underworld? At any rate these monsters tear it up a mansion and though Talbot is still tormented by his werewolf curse, he is also determined to stop Dracula's evil plan at any cost.

Curse of the Werewolf (1961) It has been ages since I've seen this British werewolf movie but I remember being enthralled by the story of Oliver Reed's wolfish hero who becomes a wolf man and loses the love of his life. This movie took the werewolf legend back to medieval Europe and benefits from the great atmosphere and gorgeous technicolor blood.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) This movie set the gold standard for werewolf transformation. Rick Baker's special effects are still outstanding and remind me that in this era of CGI effects sometimes the detail and work of the more complicated make up effects used in days of yore. Also, the movie is wickedly funny and has its share of good scares.

The Howling (1981) This is probably my favorite werewolf movie. Joe Dante packs this movie with great cameo performances and lots of in jokes for horror buffs (including naming characters for directors of earlier werewolf movies). Rob Bottin's werewolf makeup is extremely gruesome and the creatures are terrifying. Also, the movie generates genuine scares, especially in the scenes involving the psychotic Eddie. This guy would be terrifying if he wasn't a monster. Also, the movie's dark humor sends up the 1970's New Age gurus who urge people to find happiness by getting back to nature by showing that some folks can go back too far. The ending suggests that even monsters aren't enough to scare people these days and there is a running gag that connects the ubiquitous Smiley Face button with psychos before Rorschach came along.

Dog Soldiers (2002) This movie tells of a group of British commandos whose training exercise in the wilds of Scotland takes a horrific turn when one of the group is bitten by a werewolf. Soon the squad are holed up in a deserted farm house and fending off some very nasty werewolves. This movie delivers excellent tension, fine performances and some wonderful makeup effects. The monsters are truly spectacular creations writer/director Neil Marshall creates a picture that is like a haunted house thriller with some genuine monster scares. This is a great modern addition to the genre.

So, I don't know what the new Wolf Man will hold. Looking at the trailers I can't say I'm filled with high hopes as it looks like a lot of decent actors running about a lot of computerized fog and some watery looking monster CGI. Frankly, I'm afraid that George Waggoner's 1941 monster classic has been remade with the more-is-more treatment. I don't know how scary it will be because I'm afraid that the filmmakers will have worked so hard to put all their money on screen that the monster aspect will be watered down and the scares will be few and far between. The long delay of The Wolf Man's release doesn't indicate that the studio had much faith in this product but studios have been wrong before. I suppose I might find out. Though to be honest, a big budget Hollywood remake sounds like a werewolf movie made by a bunch of zombies. That is scary indeed.