Okay I totally disagree with this article b/c hello right now a lot of werewolf stuff is coming out. After the Twilight Saga, I grudgingly would say Wolfman will be big. Teen Wolf is coming out as well, but check out this article
do you agree or disagree with it.
http://vampirefilmfestival.com/Werewolv … ar%21.html
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there should be a werewolf picture in here, let me know if it got nixed and I'll send another link.
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Somebody at a site called *Vampire* Film Festival writes an article trying to convince people werewolves won't be a big deal. What a shock....
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Only skimmed the article yet, but so far I'm bound to agree with the author.
Without a serious influx of more talented screen writers I doubt werewolves to be the next big thing anytime now or in the future, there's just too few variation in the genre and the people that kept vampire movies alive (*giggle*) are the independents that shoot zombie & vampire flicks on shoestring budget, werewolf movies do have a huge disadvantage over those genres: the (more expensive) need for at least semi convincing FX in order to appeal beyond the limited number of die-hard fans.
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In truth, it comes down to the quality of the story. What nearly killed werewolf films in the 80's and 90's was the influx of badly written, poorly directed, and horrifically produced products that ultimately failed epically, and for nearly 20 years cast the werewolf genre into the cheapo bargain bin section.
I disagree with the author though. If GOOD werewolf films are produced, people will keep on coming, and the studio will keep producing them. I agree that werewolves, thanks largely to the Underworld series and Twilight (more on Twilight though) have brought the ancient mythological creature to light, and because the werewolf is suddenly the hero, people want to see heroic werewolves.
I give the author a bit of credit, but the reality he doesn't really know werewolves...
History, from antiquity to now, is full of both the constitutional werewolf (a man who is cursed to become a wolf) and unconstitutional werewolves ( a man who chooses to become a wolf) and both can be savage or noble. In fact in 12th century France, the noble werewolf was the craze... This is the time period where great epics like, Bisclavret, Melion, King Aurthor and Gorlagon, and Guilluame de Palerne, were written. Each of these tells the tale of a man, who was transformed into a wolf, but used his inner humanity, to ultimately find a way to break the spell.
The truth is, werewolf lore has ALWAYS been popular, and it has always gone through cycles... Today is no different.
While werewolf films tend to be more expensive, the reality is it is a LOT cheaper than it use to be. Rise of the Lycans of which made use of extensive CGI shots, was still filmed for around $50 million. New Moon featured high quality CGI giant wolves and it still cost only $50 million. Ten years ago, that same CGI, would have cost well over 80 to 90 million dollars, but things have become cheaper. In short you can get a good quality product without the nightmarish costs of yore.
Again though, it all comes down to STORY.
As for boosting werewolf popularity...
A friend of mine is producing, "Guardians of Luna". It is an anime series, featuring werewolves as main characters.
As a screenwriter, myself, I've delved into the world of werewolves and have two different projects that are being marketed at this time....
"The Wolf Prince" Fantasy/Adventure/Animation
"Hour of Darkness" Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Horror
All three projects listed above depict werewolves in a noble heroic fashion. We're going to make sure werewolves will leave several nasty marks on those dirty vampires.
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Too add to my former statement:
It's not as if Vampires are the big hit in movies either, one of the more important works in Vamp lore (I am Legend) even saw them exchanged for some kind of radioactive muties.
Vamps are currently just much more present in the media than Werewolves, but they too still have to prove that they are more than just a mere sparkling.
If we wanted to count winners we probably would have to award the Zombie movie which has proven itself to be much more than just the passing fad it was once thought to be.
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alphanubilus wrote:
In truth, it comes down to the quality of the story. What nearly killed werewolf films in the 80's and 90's was the influx of badly written, poorly directed, and horrifically produced products that ultimately failed epically, and for nearly 20 years cast the werewolf genre into the cheapo bargain bin section.
I disagree with the author though. If GOOD werewolf films are produced, people will keep on coming, and the studio will keep producing them. I agree that werewolves, thanks largely to the Underworld series and Twilight (more on Twilight though) have brought the ancient mythological creature to light, and because the werewolf is suddenly the hero, people want to see heroic werewolves.
I give the author a bit of credit, but the reality he doesn't really know werewolves...
History, from antiquity to now, is full of both the constitutional werewolf (a man who is cursed to become a wolf) and unconstitutional werewolves ( a man who chooses to become a wolf) and both can be savage or noble. In fact in 12th century France, the noble werewolf was the craze... This is the time period where great epics like, Bisclavret, Melion, King Aurthor and Gorlagon, and Guilluame de Palerne, were written. Each of these tells the tale of a man, who was transformed into a wolf, but used his inner humanity, to ultimately find a way to break the spell.
The truth is, werewolf lore has ALWAYS been popular, and it has always gone through cycles... Today is no different.
While werewolf films tend to be more expensive, the reality is it is a LOT cheaper than it use to be. Rise of the Lycans of which made use of extensive CGI shots, was still filmed for around $50 million. New Moon featured high quality CGI giant wolves and it still cost only $50 million. Ten years ago, that same CGI, would have cost well over 80 to 90 million dollars, but things have become cheaper. In short you can get a good quality product without the nightmarish costs of yore.
Again though, it all comes down to STORY.
As for boosting werewolf popularity...
A friend of mine is producing, "Guardians of Luna". It is an anime series, featuring werewolves as main characters.
As a screenwriter, myself, I've delved into the world of werewolves and have two different projects that are being marketed at this time....
"The Wolf Prince" Fantasy/Adventure/Animation
"Hour of Darkness" Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Horror
All three projects listed above depict werewolves in a noble heroic fashion. We're going to make sure werewolves will leave several nasty marks on those dirty vampires.
Ummmm 50 million's a lot of money. Some of the best vampire movies have been made for under 15 mill. But i guess back then that was expensive so....
You scripts sound rad so keep us posted!!!! There's less than a handful of werewolf anime out there
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Daninsky wrote:
Only skimmed the article yet, but so far I'm bound to agree with the author.
Without a serious influx of more talented screen writers I doubt werewolves to be the next big thing anytime now or in the future, there's just too few variation in the genre and the people that kept vampire movies alive (*giggle*) are the independents that shoot zombie & vampire flicks on shoestring budget, werewolf movies do have a huge disadvantage over those genres: the (more expensive) need for at least semi convincing FX in order to appeal beyond the limited number of die-hard fans.
I gotta disagree somewhat with the script. There have been a lot of great werewolf movies as far as the storyline but maybe the direction of it (or should i say acting) got cheesy. For me a lot of times the cheesy werewolf makeup, costume, mask, etc made the movie crap.
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ArcLight wrote:
Somebody at a site called *Vampire* Film Festival writes an article trying to convince people werewolves won't be a big deal. What a shock....
My thoughts exactly.
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well show us some sites where Werewolves are talked about in general. She/he does make some points. I think perhaps maybe we should see more Wolfman type movies b/c that just needs a mask or makeup and then gloves for the furry hands and you're good. That way you can make some cheaper movies that have quality. Let's just everybody support werewolf movies!!! Like Twilight b/c we might get more werewolf stuff.
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Well, there are some interesting thing in the article, and the pesimistic side of me agrees on many of its parts. But he has forgotten that some of his arguments could be applied also to vampire movies. And also something about the budget: I don't know if any of you have had some experience with fx... neither do I, but I have some experience with engineering costs, and I can tell you that the fx needed to create some decent are not that expensive. You can design and create a set of animatronics for less than 1M$. And the makeup and prosthetics are even cheaper.
And if you just have some thousands of dollars, you can still create something decent with unknown actors, amateur crew and homemade effects, if you have the decision and the will to for just "for the art" and not for the money .
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First off, New Moon is not a werewolf movie. Hell, it's not even a vampire movie!
Secondly, the person who wrote this cannot even use proper grammar. "There" not the next big thing?
Tsk tsk . . . Those idiotic vamps . . .
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When we look beyond the fact that the author of that "article" was severely grammar handicapped (I know, pot calling kettle *p*), and that very few if any fact reseach went into it, he makes a valid point by essentially boiling down werewolves to only two types.
The rich variety with which the werewolf mythos is explored, twisted or simply had fun with in literature, gets barely reflected in Hollywood script writing, if you want a original story you have to relay on the occassional indie production, but those often struggle with painful bad attempts at recreating Hollywood style morph FX, playing up their weaknesses instead of concentrating on their strengths.
Last edited by Daninsky (2010-01-15 10:57:45)
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Rather hilarious how the author condemns werewolves as being a "fad" and is apparently completely oblivious to that fact that you can say the same thing about vampires. For example, the tired old "Vampire (usually male) in love with (usually female) human, two different worlds, chaos ensues" plotline, which has been kicking around since the 50's.
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Daninsky wrote:
When we look beyond the fact that the author of that "article" was severely grammar handicapped (I know, pot calling kettle *p*), and that very few if any fact reseach went into it, he makes a valid point by essentially boiling down werewolves to only two types.
The rich variety with which the werewolf mythos is explored, twisted or simply had fun with in literature, gets barely reflected in Hollywood script writing, if you want a original story you have to relay on the occassional indie production, but those often struggle with painful bad attempts at recreating Hollywood style morph FX, playing up their weaknesses instead of concentrating on their strengths.
Uh hem...
As stated...
"Guardians of Luna" of which will be an anime series featuring werewolves will start production sometime this year.
We are currently marking "The Wolf Prince" of which is loosely based upon several 12th century French Lais, and then given a little big of an extra punch...
Then "Hour of Darkness" in the middle of completely rebuilding the entire story from scracth. This one should be up on market within the next two to three months. If I have my way with this script, it will be the next "Avatar". It has a very strong, original story, as with WP, that will take werewolves hopefully to the next level.
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Daninsky wrote:
Too add to my former statement:
It's not as if Vampires are the big hit in movies either, one of the more important works in Vamp lore (I am Legend) even saw them exchanged for some kind of radioactive muties.
Vamps are currently just much more present in the media than Werewolves, but they too still have to prove that they are more than just a mere sparkling.
If we wanted to count winners we probably would have to award the Zombie movie which has proven itself to be much more than just the passing fad it was once thought to be.
I think that's b/c zombies were big at the time. I think 28 Days was out and Diary of the Dead was out so they might have wanted to capitalize on that
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WereWolfH wrote:
Daninsky wrote:
Only skimmed the article yet, but so far I'm bound to agree with the author.
Without a serious influx of more talented screen writers I doubt werewolves to be the next big thing anytime now or in the future, there's just too few variation in the genre and the people that kept vampire movies alive (*giggle*) are the independents that shoot zombie & vampire flicks on shoestring budget, werewolf movies do have a huge disadvantage over those genres: the (more expensive) need for at least semi convincing FX in order to appeal beyond the limited number of die-hard fans.I gotta disagree somewhat with the script. There have been a lot of great werewolf movies as far as the storyline but maybe the direction of it (or should i say acting) got cheesy. For me a lot of times the cheesy werewolf makeup, costume, mask, etc made the movie crap.
I agree with this. Skinwalkers started off awesome and got stupid by the end. (With everyone dying dumb) And the makeup, I only liked the females face. Didn't care for the bodies part. It didn't look real.
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Viergacht wrote:
Rather hilarious how the author condemns werewolves as being a "fad" and is apparently completely oblivious to that fact that you can say the same thing about vampires. For example, the tired old "Vampire (usually male) in love with (usually female) human, two different worlds, chaos ensues" plotline, which has been kicking around since the 50's.
This has been done over and over again and it works b/c a majority of vampire movies do this
You know I was looking around and saw they have a VampireCon!!! We need a WEREWOLF CON!!!!
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Ummmm this article isn't valid b/c check out this mtv article that pretty much says we're gonna get more werewolf type movies b/c of the popularity of Twilight. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/09/30/sh … t-success/
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yeah there's a poll on fearnet about WEREWOLVES. So werewolves are making a comeback!!!
You know I actually have to say that Twilight might not have brought the werewolves back to popularity. Perhaps it was the Underworld and Van Helsing movies that did it? What do you all think?
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The only big movie about werewolves on these looong years is The Wolfman. Others just were action movies with werewolves (Dog Soldiers), sword and sorcery (van helsing) or vampire movies (New Moon), so don't you get wrong.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media … 91762.html
Actually the interest in werewolves and werewolves alone, is growing. My good friend, and acclaimed paranormal writer, Brad Steiger, is getting tons of interviews both here in the US and abroad, with the very question of the future of werewolves...
How long it will last, will all depend on the quality of the products produced.
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alphanubilus wrote:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/the-return-of-the-werewolf-1891762.html
Actually the interest in werewolves and werewolves alone, is growing. My good friend, and acclaimed paranormal writer, Brad Steiger, is getting tons of interviews both here in the US and abroad, with the very question of the future of werewolves...
How long it will last, will all depend on the quality of the products produced.
Totally agree with you. I am just a bit disappointed about this last year, that supposed to be the "werewolf year", and finally nothing really remarkable happened, save for two or three low budget interesting shots and one fabulous series...
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zockereinstein wrote:
alphanubilus wrote:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/the-return-of-the-werewolf-1891762.html
How long it will last, will all depend on the quality of the products produced.Totally agree with you. I am just a bit disappointed about this last year, that supposed to be the "werewolf year", and finally nothing really remarkable happened, save for two or three low budget interesting shots and one fabulous series...
okay, I think you have too high of standards or perhaps you didn't look on the movies/tv list here. New Moon was the biggest movie. Being Human was the best looking werewolf (it's a british tv show), American Werewolf in London was RERELEASED (YOU GOTTA BUY THIS IT'S 10 BUCKS NOW AT WAL-MART), didn't Underworld come out on dvd early last year? and Wolfman was supposed to come out but got pushed forward (I think to revamp it), I'm sure there are tons else, look on this list. I agree some weren't good, but at least people were bringing them back again. (Fear Itself, the werewolf episode could have been better but I'm glad I saw it
the werewolf in Harry Potter was overhyped, but then again a lot of the people they promoted were overhyped, so, maybe this year with Harry Potter Fenrir will do awesome. It's a bloody shame the Anita Blake movie got cancelled. If they followed the book and were faithful I'm sure it'd have blown True Blood out of the water. True Blood was supposed to have a werewolf last season but guess what, THEY'RE APPEARING THIS SEASON!!!! Trick R' Treat was one of my favorite dvds featuring the coolest coolest werewolf scene. Oh and the many Thriller Michael Jackson werewolf t-shirts I saw. Check the one out at Hot Topic they also have the werewolf varsity jacket. And on the This is It dvd you see the cool/scary but REALLY COOL werewolf design inside the Red Thriller jacket that has red "blood" (dripping embroidery) on the shoulders. Phew
This year is going to be the good to excellent werewolf movies and stuff. And we'll see more and more b/c of it. Oh and I forgot I know it's cartoons and kid stuff but the Casper episode with the werewolf kid TOTALLY ROCKED and I still liked Wizards of Waverly vs. Werewolves for what it was.
Last edited by WereWolfH (2010-02-09 21:14:27)
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alphanubilus wrote:
In truth, it comes down to the quality of the story. What nearly killed werewolf films in the 80's and 90's was the influx of badly written, poorly directed, and horrifically produced products that ultimately failed epically, and for nearly 20 years cast the werewolf genre into the cheapo bargain bin section.
I completely agree. The article makes a couple of good points, but when it comes down to it, it only takes one really good flick to start the craze and a really crummy flick to end it. If The Wolfman is good (and does well), people are more likely to be excited about werewolves again. If it sucks, that'll kill it and it'll be back to B movies for werewolves.
Twilight is an interesting exception for vampires. The books tapped into that same successful vein Harry Potter did: a strong young adult following with a solid adult crossover audience. I also agree with the comment above that it's not necessarily a vampire series; it's a YA romance that happens to have vampires. Has it resulted in a ton of vampire flicks appearing? At least with wide theatrical releases and strong studio support? Not really. After 30 Days of Night tanked, there's what? Daybreakers? Another that didn't do so hot.
One more thing to keep in mind: if The Wolfman and Teen Wolf are the two big werewolf flicks of the year, they're more likely the result of the studios trying to cash in on the remake craze. In that respect, they're no different from Transformers, GI Joe, The A-Team, and The Karate Kid.
Mike
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