benecio del toro

Few films run into the monumental production hiccups that have plagued The Wolfman from day one. With directors leaving, budgetary concerns, the firing and rehiring of Danny Elfman, and an emergency clean-up editing session after an LA screening it's not hard to understand why so many people considered this project a sinking ship. I have been following the woes of The Wolfman for some time but despite what I had read, possibly despite my better judgment, I went into the theater optimistic as a die-hard fan of the Universal monsters. Interestingly enough, this film is so patched together, so broken and stitched, that it more closely resembles Frankenstein's monster.

The tragic story of Lawrence Talbot is timeless. Here is a man cursed for reasons beyond his control; victimized by fate in the tradition of the protagonists of Shakespeare or Euripides. He is a man who becomes a monster upon the full moon and commits horrible atrocities that fill his heart with regret once the transformation is reversed. Lon Chaney, Jr., who played this role originally in several Universal films, brought so much sympathy to the part, particularly the scene in Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman wherein he is begging for someone to find a way to kill him, it was heartbreaking. You feel for this man and, though he is also a monster, you make an emotional connection.

Universal announced that their remake of the 1941 classic, The Wolfman, will have an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America when released February 10, 2010. Even though the studio has struggled with reshoots, delays and changes--fans can get excited about this movie again knowing that they haven't neutered old Wolfie with a PG-13 rating.

The trailers for Wolfman have promised R-rated worthy 'bloody horror, violence and gore' in telling the story of Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) who reunites with his estranged family after his brother vanishes. He discovers that a bloodthirsty beast has been terrorizing the town and while he and his father (Anthony Hopkins) try to hunt it down, Talbot discovers a horrifying destiny for himself. The film also stars Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik. Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) will be handling the gory special effects, so you know it will be good.

A PG-13 rating opens the film up to a broader audience and sometimes proves successful. Take Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell; the film was highly entertaining, had plenty of gross-out and delivered far more than some R-Rated films even. Still, the debate continues as to whether PG-13 movies have a place in the horror genre, considering they often get their rating to ensure maximum profit for the studio. Or do we blame the filmmakers? Have too many people sold their soul to the uber profitable scary movie/hot teen drama combination?

Don't get me wrong, I thought that the first trailer for the Joe Johnston directed remake of The Wolfman was an excellent debut that helped dispel some of the fears that built up during the troubled production and subsequent release date shuffling, but this new trailer...this one has me scrambling to somehow invent a time machine so I can travel to 02/10/2010 just to lay eyes on the full film. This new trailer, nestled lower down in this post, has a decidedly more modern feel to it, despite it's Victorian setting, thanks entirely to the same instrumental rock variant to Marilyn Manson's "If I was Your Vampire" that was used in the Max Payne trailer.

Yet those Max Payne rock cues do little to betray the fact that The Wolfman looks like an absolutely amazing creature feature. Sure, purists can complain, perhaps rightly so, that there is an over use of CGI and that Rick Baker should have been more involved in creating practical, on-set transformation effects. But I think there is little denying that this looks like a total, maniacal blast. We now have more of a glimpse at Benecio del Toro's ravaged soul, as well as a few key glimpses into the lives of those around him.

Perhaps my favorite shot of the trailer isn't even of the Wolfman, rather of Hugo Weaving with a fistful of non-silver bullets; a sure sign of the skin-ripping mayhem Universal is going to be offering up in February.