A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.
Wolf-O-Vision
Unusual film that takes a very different path from the traditional werewolf movie. The use of the negative image when we see through the eyes of the wolves is great, its less plastic than ordinary SFX and far more realistic than CGI.
This is a serial killer crime thriller with a huge twist and part of that twist is that the film is so well made that no matter how far fetched it may seem, you truly understand it and enjoy it.
The old decayed and abandoned New York is the majority setting for Wolfen, which suits its style to the ground and provides some chilling moments, especially as Albert Finney portrays one of the most unhealthy and out of shape detectives ever devoted to lead character. It's refreshing to see an older film like this where talent overrides appearance.
James Horner (Aliens, Enemy At The Gates, Troy) provides the chilling old-school orchestral soundtrack, which really sets the scenes on edge and the dialogue is all original, making the characters all very believable and down to earth.
It's a "message" horror film--it tries to give us a little moral message about civilization, the environment, Indians... Albert Finney looks like he's drunk most of the time. Gregory Hines is more than a simple sidekick, although how he gets from pathology to being a street sniper is brushed over without explanation.
Dustin Hoffman seriously wanted to play the role of Dewey Wilson, but was refused the part by director Michael Wadleigh who really wanted to work with Albert Finney, who was his favorite actor. It was the only time in his career that Hoffman was rejected for a part.
The film was the first movie to use a thermographic visual photographic look to represent the point-of-view of a character, in this case, the wolfen. The type of effect shot has been used in a number of movies to show the POV of a character, usually villainous, like a beast. One notable example of the popularizing of this kind of visual effects perspective is its use in the "Predator" films.
Director Michael Wadleigh's cut of the film that he handed to the studio in Febuary 1980 before his removal from the film in post-production, was over four and a half hours.
Composer Craig Safan wrote an original score for this film and was replaced at the last minute by future Academy Award winner James Horner, who had only 12 days to write and record his score.
One of the few films to be released theatrically with the "Megasound" sound system format. Megasound was a movie theater sound system created by Warner Bros in the early 1980s. It was used to enhance the premiere engagements of a handful of Warner features. Theaters equipped for Megasound had additional speakers mounted on the left, right and rear walls of the auditorium. Selected soundtrack events with lots of low-frequency content (thuds, crashes, explosions, etc) were directed to these speakers at very high volume, creating a visceral effect intended to thrill the audience.
The film was delayed because the effects for the Wolfen were unusable and the filmmakers had to hire another effects company to handle them.
The old decayed and abandoned New York is the majority setting for Wolfen, which suits its style to the ground and provides some chilling moments, especially as Albert Finney portrays one of the most unhealthy and out of shape detectives ever devoted to lead character. It's refreshing to see an older film like this where talent overrides appearance.
James Horner (Aliens, Enemy At The Gates, Troy) provides the chilling old-school orchestral soundtrack, which really sets the scenes on edge and the dialogue is all original, making the characters all very believable and down to earth.
"They can hear a cloud pass overhead, the rhythm of your blood. They can track you by yesterday's shadow. And they can tear the scream from your throat. There is no defense."
"Wolfen" withholds any glimpses of the titular creatures until the film's final ½ hour, but the wait turns out to be well worth it. The rampaging beasts are revealed to be both beautiful to look at and remarkably savage to behold as well, their eyes bespeaking both supreme intelligence and invincible power; no wonder that Eddie Holt holds them to be gods
I am surprised that more people don't talk about this film as it is pretty good but it seems to have escaped major attention due to the Howling and An American Werewolf in London which were released around the same time frame. It is worth viewing at least once if only to say you've seen it.
I am surprised that more people don't talk about this film as it is pretty good but it seems to have escaped major attention due to the Howling and An American Werewolf in London which were released around the same time frame. It is worth viewing at least once if only to say you've seen it.
Yeah I've been drinking....fuck you.
Trivia:
Dustin Hoffman seriously wanted to play the role of Dewey Wilson, but was refused the part by director Michael Wadleigh who really wanted to work with Albert Finney, who was his favorite actor. It was the only time in his career that Hoffman was rejected for a part.
Nothing to see here. Just a dude dancing on top of a bridge.
First filmed adaptation of a Whitley Strieber novel. Others that would follow would be "The Hunger (1983)" a couple of years after then later "Communion (1989)."
According to director Michael Wadleigh, a dozen police sharpshooters were employed and positioned all over the place as the wolves were considered wild and uncontrollable animals. These sharpshooters were ordered to shoot to kill if a wolf got out of the enclosed area.
The theatrical trailer contains scenes/dialogue not present in the movie: When Van der Veer jumps out and startles his wife, the trailer shows a clip of their bodyguard reaching for his gun which is not present in the film; when Executive Security is reviewing the video of Becky Neff, someone says "team her up with Wilson". In the film, the head of security says "I want her."; the trailer includes a scene where Dewey and Becky, en route to the South Bronx, are talking in his car about the mysterious nature of the killings. This scene is not in the film; an overhead shot of the moon and clouds in "Wolfen-vision" that is present in the trailer is not in the film; in the scene where the Wolfen lures Becky up to the second floor of the abandoned church, there is a voice-over from Dewey (although it is NOT Albert Finney's voice) where he tells her that something was trying to lure her upstairs and separate them.
Director Michael Wadleigh's only non-Woodstock related film.
Trade Paper 'Variety' reported that the film "...was reportedly recut several times (four editors are credited)".
Rather than go for a big name supporting cast, director Michael Wadleigh decided to cast unknowns or actors that appeared on Broadway, which included Diane Venora, who beat out over 200 actresses for the part and Gregory Hines.
It will tear the scream from your throat.
A specific day-for-night shooting process was used to create the nocturnal point of view of the "killers".
The DVD sleeve notes state that the predators' perspectives were simulated with the use of a Louma crane and Steadicam camera.
Prior to the start of filming it was Albert Finney's idea that he and Gregory Hines hang out together to develop a camaraderie as their characters would show in the film.
Wolfen was the word used by the Dutch farmers who settled in America to describe the Indians and the wolves as wild animals. The original script for the film opens in the 17th Century.
The "Canis Lupus" mentioned in the film is a real zoological term. The species has thirty-nine subspecies. Though Canis is the term for the canine species, "Canis Lupus" is the term for "Gray Wolf". Another werewolf film would use real wolves as well, "Blood and Chocolate". Though Canis Lupus is in there just like this film, they would primarily use "Canis Rufus"-- Red Wolves.
The setting for the transient home of the wolves was shot in the South Bronx (intersection of Louis Nine Boulevard and Boston Road). The church seen in the opening panorama shot was located at the intersection of E 172nd Street and Seabury Place. The shot of this neighbourhood is from the north looking roughly south-south-east. The decrepit site of ruined buildings was no special effect. The church was built and burned exclusively for the film. Urban decay in the South Bronx in the early 1980s was so widespread that it was the ideal production setting.
The movie poster for this film is visible in an alley in the final minutes of "Joker" (2019).
Production on the film began in October 1979 and the production was halted in Febuary 1980 due to budget concerns as well as the dailies.
When the movie was being filmed, major parts of New York's boroughs were undergoing re-gentrification. This was incorporated into the story that if First Nations NAM protesters and iron worker 'sky walkers' were skin changers, or werewolves, and worked high rise construction by day, and hid in the ruins of Queens and hunted the inhabitants of New York City by night, thus creating a police investigation.
A brotha's gotta work.
Debut feature film of actress Diane Venora, and almost the first film for actor Gregory Hines, it being his second, as History of the World: Part I (1981) had premiered about a month earlier.
The source novel's title was changed from "The Wolfen" to simply "Wolfen" for the movie.
"The Wolfen" was Whitley Strieber's first novel.
This was Albert Finney's first film appearance since "The Duellists" in 1977, which had only been little more than a cameo because his then-girlfriend Diana Quick was also cast.
For Die Hard fans: Reginald VelJohson (Al Powell in Die Hard) as the morgue attendant who slaps the dead man on the gurney.
The score for this film by James Horner as highlighted in the final street showdown in front of the courthouse, can be heard, in part again within the 1982 Star Trek 'Wrath of Khan' score as the antagonist theme titled 'sneak attack' on the soundtrack.
The area shown in the opening neighborhood panorama was visited by President Carter in the fall of 1977. He stopped on Charlotte street between Boston Road and East 170th Street (also visible in the opening) and walked among the piles of bricks from demolished buildings. It was not until the mid 1980s that single family homes were built in this section of the city.
The book ends with the world discovering the truth about the Wolfen which implies that they will all be eventually hunted down and made extinct.
