The long delays The Wolfman survived have left the film with an air of mystique: Why the wait? Was there cut material? Why bother now? The finished product hints at possible compromises and shortcuts, but is an otherwise solid and entertaining B-picture. Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, the prodigal son of Anthony Hopkins’ mysterious Sir John, who lords over a crumbling manor, using the wolfman roaming the grounds as an excuse to let the property slip into gothic decay. The style and performances are straight-faced, but The Wolfman‘s effects are inescapably cheesy, which lends the film a welcome facetious tone. The Wolfman‘s deficits turn out to be its biggest boon.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2010.
While this movie isn’t total wash, I found it overly gory. I just don’t understand how modern films always equate “horror” with “slasher” film, but this is another instance of that happening, sadly. It was the only negative comment I really have for the film; Del Toro did what he does best, which is giving people dirty looks, and Hopkins played a perfectly mad patriarch.