Cinema Wolfen (1981) - Expected Werewolves. Got Greenpeace Instead

[Arnox]

Rating

3.00 star(s)

First heard about this movie when I read a mention of it in Dresden Files. Having seen it now in my search to find a werewolf movie that can actually top Cursed though, it didn't live up to my imaginary hype at all. I will say I don't know if I would have disliked this movie as much if I had actually known what I was getting into with this, so I won't be too harsh in my rating of it, but even with that, this movie still has problems. For one, the way it's shot can sometimes be very stilted and awkward, and the main actor was either directed really badly or was just a bad actor, period. The pace is also just too damn slow in the middle. And finally, there's a few parts in this movie that just do not make any sense at all.

Spoiler

For the story, turns out it's not natural wolves or werewolves. They're wolfen! Super wolves! Yep, just plain super duper magical wolves that have senses so strong, they can even sense what you're thinking, bro, and are, like, so strong, bro, and they're protecting their territory and stuff and we're the evil white man who are so uncivilized and blah de blah de blah... Whatever. But hey, at very least I saw some really neat wolf shots. You don't really see actual wolves in movies often at all, and they are definitely pretty and lovely and majestic and I want one.

So, if you're looking for a good werewolf movie, stay away. If you wanted a movie that has a ponderous, slow, boring police detective plot mixed in with das wolves and some Native Americans thrown in, boy have I got the movie for you.

Spoiler

Oh, speaking of which, just a fun fact. In the movie, you'll see a Native American who strips naked and does a small ritual and starts acting pretty feral and wild. Believe it or not though, this is not actually super far from reality. In order to become better killing machines for ancient militaries, it was a practice among some of them to drive themselves and hype themselves up into an animalistic unsoppable berserk state, sometimes amplified with drugs, though they're not strictly needed at all. One should take care though as engaging in such a state too often will bring about pretty undesirable side effects such as random rages, slowed thinking, increased irritability, more impulsiveness, and etc.