15 October: Wolfen

 

Today for Cinematic Void’s 31 Days of Voidoween, we’re taking a trip to the big city for an unhealthy helping of “Urban Horror.” Before Disney came along and cleaned everything up, New York City was like one of those ambulatory corpses in a Romero movie. The city was rotting before our very eyes, bleeding money and people in equal amounts. The pictures of places like the South Bronx looked eerily like those taken in post-WWII England, Germany, and Japan. What better landscape for a horror movie, then? Let’s go back to 1981 and take a look at Michael Wadleigh’s adaptation of Whitley Streiber’s novel, Wolfen.

Albert Finney is former NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson. He’s been talked into investigating a strange bunch of murders only after a rich land developer and his wife are killed in Battery Park. Working with criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora) and coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines), Wilson uncovers clues that suggest the murders are being committed by wolves. Later, after speaking to Native American activist Eddie Holt (Edward James Olmos), Wilson begins to believe that shapeshifters - specifically The Wolfen - are responsible.

Wolfen was made at a time when there were a lot of werewolf movies hitting the theaters: An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Full Moon High. Wolfen stands out from the crowd by not really being about werewolves. The creatures in Wolfen are, instead, shapeshifters. And maybe that’s why the movie never really made a splash. While special effects artists like Rick Baker and Rob Bottin were busy creating mind-blowing human-to-wolf transformation sequences, Wolfen used POV camerawork filtered through a thermographic-esque in-camera technique to suggest the presence of its creatures. Real wolves were used as the Wolfen.

Another issue working against the movie is that perhaps its scariest scene has nothing to do with the Wolfen. When Dewey Wilson talks to Eddie Holt, their conversation is held high above the city atop the Manhattan Bridge. I’ve only seen Wolfen on television. I don’t know if I could handle this scene on the big screen:

[Eddie and Dewey are up on the top of a bridgeworks]

Eddie Holt: Shape shifting. We do it for kicks. Turn yourself into a different animal. One night a deer, next night a salmon...

Dewey Wilson: Or a wolf?

Eddie Holt: Sure.

[Eddie unhooks Dewey's safety line]

Eddie Holt: Or an eagle.

[Dewey looks down, a long way...]

Eddie Holt: C'mon Dewey, just flap your arms and jump, it’s easy. It's all in the head...

Nope. Don’t even want to try it. Just looking at the pictures of this scene makes my stomach flutter. I’m quite happy with the small screen, thank you very much.