Werewolves -More Man or More Beast?

[Moonshadow]

I was looking at film clips of different werewolves and it's obvious that over the years, as special effects technology has advanced, werewolves have gotten distinctly more wolf-like. Most modern werewolves are either hulking bipedal wolves, complete with snouts (like the Lycans from Underworld, or the ones in the Howling), or flat-out wolves (like the dreadful Twilight wolves or the lame werewolves from True Blood). The werewolf from American Werewolf in London could also probably slide into this category, since he was on all fours. The recent Wolf Man remake is an exception, but then, they were emulating the original. Old-school werewolves were clearly men with a bestial form, like the original Wolf Man, or the werewolf of London, or Oliver Reed's lycanthrope in Curse of the Werewolf.

So what do you prefer in your werewolves? More man, or more beast? Or all beast?

[Unknown Primate]

My top 5 favorite werewolf flicks are THE WOLF MAN ('41), THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF ('61), THE HOWLING ('81), AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON ('81) and a tie between THE WEREWOLF ('56) & THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON ('35).  Lean heavily toward the bipeds!

[Paul L]

More toward the bipeds, also. I've always found the sparse Werewolf of London make up to be the most intriguing & original. And a nod to the four leggeds: An American Werewolf In London is perhaps the scariest.

[BaronLatos35]

I think the bipedal ones are scarier and look better. However, the ones from Underworld were just OK. I liked the ones from The Howling, Dog Soldiers, The Wolf Man (both), Werewolf of London etc. I think the appearanace of a human in the wolf form is creepier than just on all fours, AWiL being the exception.

The Twilight/True Blood ones are lame, especially the TB ones, you could just kick them in the face and they'll fall over.

[Sean]

I like the bipeds.  I thought the makeup in Werewolf of London was good... but I like them a little wilder than him.  He kept his cap on, etc.  Very much a Mr. Hyde type.  My favs were the Wolf Man and Curse of the Werewolf.  I did like the original Howling and I liked Wolf better than I thought I would.  The werewolf in Wolf was animalistic.  Wilfred Glendon was rude without being savage.

When they become large beasts, like American Werewolf in London------it's no different than a lion being on the loose when you think about it.  It's just not the same to me.  I liked that movie-------but it's less of a transformation to something less human-------and more a 'genie's zap into a tiger'.  I like the more subtle change into something less human that is more savage than the 'rude' Wilfred Glendon... with a little more hair than Wolf.

[Pauspy]

More human, definitely. Werewolf stories (well, good ones anyway) are about human courage and suffering, not about how a carnivore uses it's fangs and claws. You want that, go watch a National geographic special.

[Scatter]

I'll take the classic bi-pedal Lon Chaney style any day!

[Moonshadow]

I wanted to see how everyone was going to respond before throwing in my two cents. All in all, I prefer the manlike monsters like our beloved Larry Talbot. Like Pauspy said, there should be that tragic element, the curse of being a werewolf, of losing control and becoming a vicious beast, a threat to those you love. That being said, I've enjoyed some of the big nasty werewolves too. But they don't stick with me like Talbot and his ilk.

But I can't see the appeal at all of becoming 'just' a wolf. That seems far too mundane. The American Werewolf was more like a dire wolf -some horrible gigantic prehistoric beast! Not bad, but still not as cool to me as a wolf-man.

[Sean]

More human, definitely. Werewolf stories (well, good ones anyway) are about human courage and suffering, not about how a carnivore uses it's fangs and claws. You want that, go watch a National geographic special.

Very well stated.

[RedKing]

I like both kinds of werewolves, but the best are the human bipeds like the Wolf Man and Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky character. As was stated in Werewolf of London, a werewolf is not just a man that turns into an animal but a creature with the worst qualities of both. An evil savage animal with human cunning, that's what a werewolf should be in my book. Don't even get me started on the Twilight giant doggies!

[Wicked Lester]

I like both kinds and certainly enjoy the classics. It looks like I'm in the vast minority on voting. My fave werewolf movie is Dog Soldiers. I'll take a big nasty 7' cunning creature over tortured soul anyday.

[Unknown Primate]

The DOG SOLDIER beasts were big & ferocious!  Weren't they 2-leggers, too?

[twilitezoner]

The DOG SOLDIER beasts were big & ferocious!  Weren't they 2-leggers, too?

I believe they were. Remember WL, you stand a better chance of survival against the tortured soul werewolves than the mindless beasts. 

[Type3Toys]

My all time favorite werewolf design was from the fox TV show Werewolf. Just an amazing creature. I even made a custom of it.

[twilitezoner]

That show was pretty good and it had a great 80s tales of the dark side type theme.


Per IMDB Trivia:

The head werewolf was deliberately named "Janos Skorzeny" as a homage to the vampire in Night Stalker, The (1971) (TV).

Werewolf ( TV Series ) Pilot Epilogue