Night Wolf (13Hours) -review by The Director

 

The Visit:

Attractive blonde Sarah Tyler (Isabelle Calthorpe) returns home to England during a break from college. She visits with her father, brothers, some friends, and her father. Her mother is out but on her way home. Things go wrong. It’s horror movie. The group of crude teens find themselves in the family’s mention with the power out…being hunted.

Night Wolf:

Great title because the whole movie takes place at night and there is a creature who is vaguely wolf-like. The movie was also released under the name 13 hours which is also a fitting title because that is the amount of time covered during the film.

When Sara returns her family is somewhat dysfunctional. After visiting her father she goes out to the barn where her brothers are sitting around drinking themselves drunk and smoking weed. They spend a lot of time being obnoxious. Telling jokes and insulting each other in a facetious manner. Some of them have strong british accents and I found I had to listen closely to understand them. Clearly there is some underling hard feelings toward Sarah from her brothers. Maybe it is because she left the family to go to school in America. It’s also hinted to in the film that their mother and father have a rocky relationship. I don’t see why it’s a big deal Sarah is going to school stateside.

The brash and sometimes cowardly personalities of the brothers makes them a little unlikable. I wonder if film makers feel they need to make the heroine seem like a sweetheart and the rest of the cast those about to die horrible deaths jerks. I just wasn’t digging the vibe straight away.

Sarah’s oldest brother Stephen is a total sociopath. He is a dead ringer for Loki in the Marvel Avergers movie. At every turn her he shows his asshole side. When the group does get in trouble and trapped while being hunted by the monster he is of little to no help. He is only out for himself.

Fortunaly for Sarah one of the group, Doug comes to her aid.

The group find themselves trapped in the attic of the mansion while beast hunts them. The monster is rally scene. It moves very fast and kills and brutally. What is this thing, who is it? You’ll have to watch and enjoy the tension, thrills, and reveals Night Wolf has in store.

Acting: Sarah Tyler (Isabelle Calthorpe)plays a solid lead. She is hot and that only helps watching her for the duration. Stephen her step brother is played by Peter Gadoit. He is great as the irritating jerk only out for himself. They shine and everyone else is serviceable. There wasn’t any bad acting to be critical of.

Gore: The movie seems a lot gorier than it actually is. The kills are heightened by the tension, a nod to the skill of the director, but not so satisfy to us gorehounds. We get some groovy transformations, and bloody after kills.

Sex and Nudity: Emily (Gemma Atkinson) is a good looking double D cup chick. While she does show off her copious cleavage we get no nudity. Sarah is nude in one part but her is only seen from the neck down. Fucking bullshit.

Directing: Jonathan Glendaling also responsible for Stripper’s vs. Werewolves does a great job of creating tension. His work it tight and professional. His shots of the transformations and kills are way too quick and off scene at times. I would like to have seen a lot more.

Final Thought: The plot is decent. The movie is a good watch. I think any horror fan would enjoy the view. It’s not by any means a bad movie. I did feel it was a one watch and not something you would ever go back to. The creatures that are called werewolves do not look like any werewolf I’ve ever seen.

I don’t want you to think that look ‘original’ is a good way. I personally did not like the werewolf make up. They wouldn’t even pass for werewolves at a costume party. The werewolf on the movie poster is not even in this movie. These werewolves are hairless. The make-up is solid though. Night wolf is a solid there. It’s fine for watch and entertaining but it’s not a movie you need to run out and see. If you have nothing better to watch and you like werewolf type stories you’re welcome to it.

-The Director.

 

 

The House of Frankenstein -review by Lawrence S. Talbot

 

I love this silly movie. While this was made during a low point in the Universal monster series and is often seen as an extremely watered down, tired version of the classic horror characters, I’ve always been fond of it. It’s very wacky and not even the least bit scary, even by 1940’s standards, but it’s a lot of fun. It expands upon the “Monster rally” formula that was set up with the previous film, Frankenstein meets the wolf man (1943) and becomes the one that really seems to have it all, for better or worse. Universal’s three most famous monsters-Dracula, Wolf man, Frankenstein monster, return in this one. They are joined by original Frankenstein monster actor, Boris Karloff as a mad scientist, A hunchback played by J Carrol Naish, and even a gorgeous Gypsy girl played by Helena Verdugo.

The film plays as something of a series of misadventures, with the scientist, Dr Nieman (Karloff) and his Hunchback friend, Daniel (Naish) escaping from prison and hijacking a traveling chamber of horrors. They revive the three monsters along the way, in order to get revenge on the Judges that put them in prison.

John Carradine plays Count Dracula very well and with his top hat and Pencil thin mustache, he more closely resembles the Dracula in the Stoker novel than had been attempted before. He’s charming and Suave and while he never quite captures the creepiness of Lugosi;s take on the character, he’s still quite splendid. Sadly, Dracula is quickly dispatched by the first half of the film, before he even has the chance to interact with the other two monsters.

Glen Strange is serviceable as the more hulking and monstrous Frankenstein creature. While he doesn’t have the pathos of Karloff’s monster (as a result of the brain surgery performed on him 2 movies back), it’s neat to see Karloff literally standing face to face with the role that he made famous. It’s a funny commentary on Karloff’s career and of the role that he would never completely escape from. While you can’t deny the classic beauty of the original Frankenstein monster makeup, Strange had a broader face and is really cool looking in as the creature in his own right.

Chaney continues his tried and true shtick as the tormented Larry Talbot but unfortunately spends little screen time as his lycanthropic counterpart. The addition of a gypsy girl is nice because it not only recalls Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Note Dame, with Daniel acting as a lovestruck Quasimodo type, but also references the previous Wolf man movies. The film recalls a lot of the wolf man lore from before, while adding new ones. For instance, this is the first film that mentions that a werewolf can only be killed with a silver bullet fired by someone who loves him. While the moon had been shown in the previous film, this is also the movie that really cements the idea of Werewolves changing as a result of it. The classic wolf man poem is even quoted once again and is further expanded upon.

This movie attempts to juggle its monsters around in order the make everyone happy and for the most part, it manages to work. The first half is Dracula’s movie, while the second belongs to the Wolf man, with the mad doctor and hunchback being the glue that holds it all together. Despite the title, The Frankenstein monster doesn’t get much to do here. In the film’s defense, the character had already had four movies to himself and one costarring role with the Wolf man, and having been virtually watered down to the role of mindless brute at this point, his destructive revival at the climax is satisfying enough.

While the classic monster movies had been reduced to clichéd kiddy fare at this point in the series, this really is the sum of its parts. The combination of Karloff, Carradine, Chaney, all of the monster characters, the gypsy girl, appearances by Universal favorites, Lional Atwill and George Zucco- all peppered with a beautiful score by genre veteran, Hans J. Salter, it really is the ultimate Monster Rally. Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein may be a better movie all around, but This is the one that really has it all.

-Lawrence S. Talbot

The Wolf Man (1941) -review by the Director.

The Wolf Man (1941)

 

During the continuing era of scientific enlightenment the curse of the werewolf becomes an unbelievable reality. Relatively naive Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) comes to England to learn and take over his aging father’s (Claude Rains) inheritance and business. Lawrence’s brother has murdered in a hunting accident, which also serves the plot as to why John wants his son to move in with him.

The Curse:

Lawrence, a stereotypical man of the 1940, comes to an old European town, home of his father’s mansion. He begins the tale with spying on the town through his father’s telescope. Instead of looking to the stars the horny man notices the beautiful and also an incongruous stereotypical 1940s American woman Gwen Conliffer (Evelyn Ankers). what is a woman like her doing in Europe, running an antique shoppe.
Lawrence asks Gwen out on a date and she denies him several times. He is woefully persistent in his courting. it’s uncomfortable, he is boarding on stalker behavior. Gwen sells Lawrence a can with a silver wolf handle. They discuss the werewolf lure which they both believe is a silly myth. Gwen who we latter find out is engaged finally agrees to a walk with Lawrence. Lawrence is sort of disappointed when Gwen brings along her friend Jenny for their walk.

The two women and Lawrence visit a Gypsy caravan. The women want to have their palms read. Maleva, the fortune teller, sees the sign of the pentagram in Jenny’s palm. Both women are freaked out. Jenny goes off running. Bela (Bela Lugosi) a Gypsy man turns into a werewolf. He chase Jenny down and mortally wounds her. Lawrence uses his silver cane to beat the living shit out of the wolf. As the Wolf dies he turns back into his mortal form.
Lawrence is confused. The police get invoked thinking Lawrence is a murderer. The problem is, Jenny was clearly attacked and killed by some kind of animal and Lawrence assues them he killed a wolf not a man. In the fight, Lawrence is wounded. His wound quickly heals and he begins to experience strange feelings. Soon as the wolf bane blooms and the full moon rises he will shape shift into the Wolf Man. The rest of the details I shall leave to the viewer.

Acting:

Lon Chaney Jr. is particularly good in his role. He captures the innocent fish out of water nature of his character. He is well mannered and kind. A gentleman before his sanity begins to break down ultimately giving way to the wolf man curse. His father John played by Claude Rains plays the enlightened skeptic, business man, and loving father quite well. He is confident in his stance until the mythical curse is no longer a myth by necessity. Werewolves are real.

I of course, as I mentioned in the Mummy (1959) review, found the 1940s era acting too notable and dated. I wished the characters had acted more timeless, but that is how people acted in the 40s so I shouldn’t be so xenophobic of the decades. I’m only warning you that the movie will have a distinct 1940s feel.

Gore:

Other than off screen beatings and a wound, nothing. Its all PG.

Sex:

Nothing, Lon Chaney Jr’s hairy legs if you are a homosexual man with a hairy leg fetish.

Directing:

George Wagner’s directing is suitable. The ubiquitous fog in the woods is done well, creating a creepy malevolent atmosphere.

One silly goof was when Lawrence transformed he was in his pajamas wearing a wife beater. When he lurks in the woods as the wolf man, both times he changes his outfit into a mechanics jumpsuit. Why the wolf man does this is never explained. The viewer just accepts it. I suppose movie goes in the 40s were not so continuity savvy as later movie watchers would become.

Full Orbit:

What is so fantastic about the Wolf Man is that until this point no one had ever made a werewolf movie (except for a less famous Universal movie Werewolf of London, six years the elder. Werewolf of London is more a Jekyll and Hyde movie as well, though it introduced the transmitting the curse via bite and hints at the moon). The mythos was there. But no one had created a popular Hollywood movie about it. Elements of the Wolf Man sub-genre created by Universal Studios, in it’s purest form, are still prevalent in today’s werewolf movies and books. I personally like the were wolf make up in this film and especially in the remake of the Wolf Man (2010). Even though the were wolves of American Werewolf in London and the Howling are very cool there is something about the very human looking were wolf of the Wolf Man movies that seems more like what a were wolf would look like instead of the wildly fantasy themed Minator looking were wolves in later werewolf sub-genre films like Dog Soliders and the Underworld film for example.

When the nostalgic mood is right, take a trip back and watch the original Universal Monster movies. These films were pioneers of the fantasy sub-genre of monster horror. They should hold a special place in a horror fan’s heart.

-The Director. (with additional input from reviewer Lawrence S. Talbot)