Since the Twentieth Century there has been an increase in the number of werewolf tales and some were made into film. Almost all the films portray the werewolf as an unsympathetic creature and an object of horror. There are too many to mention them all, but here are some of them:

‘The Werewolf of London’ (1935) was the first Hollywood mainstream werewolf movie. Here Wilfred Glendon, an English Botanist journeys to Tibet and is bitten by a creature later revealed to be a werewolf. This leads him to commit murder as he succumbs to the power of the beast within him and he is eventually killed. ‘The Wolf Man’ of 1941 tells the tale of Harry Talbot, which draws on elements of traditional folklore and highlights the werewolf’s vulnerability to silver, which appears to be a more recent belief.

We then jog forward to the Sixties, when Hammer Film Productions produced ‘The Curse of the Werewolf’, adapted from the 1933 film, ‘The Werewolf of Paris,’ by Guy Endore. ‘The Curse of the Werewolf’  (1961) stars the late Oliver Reed. This has left an imprint in my mind as I remember it vaguely – in fact I think I might watch this again very soon (- Caroline). The Eighties saw ‘The Howling’ and ‘An American Werewolf in London’ and Angela Carter’s, ‘Company of Wolves’, a Freudian take on Little Red Riding Hood. I remember being quite terrified of this! ( – Tina).

More recently there is ‘Dog Soldiers’ (2002), starring Sean Pertwee. A British horror set in the Scottish highlands where a group of regular soldiers are on a training mission against SAS soldiers and find the SAS soldiers’ savaged remains. It is now time for the regular soldiers to fight for their lives against the wolves! There is also the remake of the film mentioned above, ‘The Wolf Man’ (2010), starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. A different take on werewolves is ‘Teen Wolf’ (1985) and it’s sequel, ‘Teen Wolf Too’ (1987), starring Michael J. Fox. Having a more comedic view on werewolves, these films are pure fantasy/comedy and make light of the idea of werewolves rather than portraying them as some horrific monster which to fear. Due to this approach these films are more fitting for a younger audience and can also offer them an introduction into the idea behind the werewolf! 2011 saw the ‘Teen Wolf’ TV series, filmed for MTV. This series is a spin-off from the original movie but has a more serious dramatic approach with action, adventure and romance.

Tina’s earliest recollections of reading about a werewolves, apart from the tale of Red Riding Hood was Tanith Lee’s, ‘Lycanthia’ or the ‘Children of Wolves’. Written in 1981, the novel tells of Christian who comes into his inheritance of a neglected mansion in France and finds that there is another claim on his estate in the form of some were-cousins. Of course more recently we have the werewolves who are featured in the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer, which portray them in a more sympathetic light. There have also been oodles of novels, like Twilight, which fall under the genre of paranormal romance, which we will be talking about in a future post. If you have any paranormal romances featuring werewolves that you would like to recommend to us please let us know.

It would also be great if you have seen any of these films and would like to comment on them below, or likewise if there have been any other movies/TVseries based on werewolves that you would like to mention. It is always fab to hear from you guys and hear your opinions!

Caroline and Tina 🙂

References for article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_fiction

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