New Wolfman is sounding a little like Werewolf of London

[Wolf Man]

A friend has sent me the trailer in a format that after only a few frustrating downloads and upgrades I was able to watch.

After watching this about a dozen times or so with more to follow I am convinced this may be the best werewolf movie ever and a great adaptation of the Wolf Man. 

During many pauses and examining the stills there is indeed a new version of the Silver head cane being made for this. 

Does anyone know if someone has gotten the licence for this?  Will it be available for purchase by somebody? 

Lets keep eyes and ears peeled on this.  If it becomes available I will be the first in line to get one to add to my collection.  Well, maybe the third or fifth in line behind some of you who knows. 

The cane looks pretty cool.  The handle is a bit more ergonomic compared to the Chaney cane.  I am glad they are making a different version so we have another cool prop to acquire. 

I will work on my cane sources to see what I can find out too. 

[Crazy1van]

I have high hopes for it too, though I've yet to successfully see a trailer.  Is the monster visible in it?  I've seen the stills, but an action shot, especially a tiny snip of a transformation scene, could help this movie draw fans that may be leery of another remake.

[Wolf Man]

The scenes in the trailer show the Wolf Man attacking some poor guy, running along the forest with the moon in the background, pulling some poor guy into a hole and ripping him apart, pulling Sir John through some cloth like a tent (hope its a dream sequence or something), Gwen is hiding by a tree while the Wolf Man is stalking her in the background, a couple of shots of him attacking various random victims and there is a good but quick shot of the Silver Cane that looks good when you pause it.  Overall, every scene looked great to me, but then I have a slanted view on this project.  I am keeping my paws crossed that they have an extended version DVD and/or show deleted scenes.  I just can't get enough of this huge awesome looking Wolf Man.  Rick Baker is a genius.  I wish you could see it.  I will see what I can do to get a copy to you.  Do you have Divx?  I had to download that to view my copy.  Let me work on this for you. 

[CreepysFan]

  I agree the werewolf make-up on this is really awsome, and the scenes look spectacular.  I've always been impressed with Rick Baker's work.  As far as being first in line for the cane, only by clawing your way over my mutilated carcuss. Back you beast, back. lol.

[Wolf Man]

I have written to one cane company and already received a reply.  They have no current plans to offer the cane but might when the film comes out so they can see it really well and have references to use for a replica.  So there is hope.  I am sure there will be knock offs by other companies, perhaps unlicensed replicas.  We will see.  I have a few more companies to speak with, two that offer a number of movie prop replicas.  I will keep everyone updated on what I find out. 

[CreepysFan]

 From what I could see, it will be a very desirable piece for any collection.  Depending on how accurate the reproduction from the movie.  Please keep us informed.  The wait for this movie seems endless, like spring will never finally come.  I've just about clawed all my own fur off in anticipation.

[Wolf Man]

I know what you mean.  Now that I have a trailer to watch it just wets my appetite for this movie to hurry up and arrive.  I, of course have to hope though for a little bit later release in the spring so I will be able to watch the film in the theaters.  I would be devestated to have to wait for a the DVD release before seeing it.  I will be home on April 14th so if it is still in theaters I will be happy. 

The cane looks to me from what I could see of it in the trailer to "not" have the pentagram on it.  It looks like a specific cane I found called the Silver swirl but with the wolf head.  The head looks like the classic in shape but a bit more defined and detailed.  Maybe more photos of it will surface that we can zoom in on. 

[Crazy1van]

I could imagine that movie makers would shy away from 'villifying' the pentagram in light of it's current wiccan use.  I'd hope this wasn't really a factor on the movie though, and we simply have a new design for the cane.

As for DivX, I have it on my laptop, so if I could get the file, I could play it... but I can't download anything bigger than 3M, so odds are I'll have to wait till my next port visit and find a wi-fi place out in town.  I was planning to do that anyway, so that's just one more thing to do when I get there.

[Wolf Man]

I suspect that rather than downplay the pentagram they are going more for Victorian authenticity with the cane itself.  From what I could see it resembles more of the classic Victorian look of a cane.  The original was a very odd piece and was not really Victorian in style.  Actually, The Wolf Man always had an identity crisis anyway when it came to what period the story was set in.  When Talbot is arriving at the castle he is dressed in a normal 1941 suit.  Then, when we see him in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man there seems to be a little time period slip backwards.  Same in several of the other sequels.  Horror just seems to play better in the Victorian age rather than modern day 1941.  Costuming of the day in fact did not try and stick to one period in most films, they would use whatever they thought looked good at the time and fit the character.  It seems there was not a whole lot of attention to the authenticity details. 

[Crazy1van]

FMTWM took the action to the fictional Transylvanian village of Vasaria, which gave the directors free reign to make things as backwards or as modern as they saw fit to work in a particular story.  We know from the crypt marker at the beginning of the film that it was contemporary; I don't have it in front of me but I'm pretty sure Larry's birth / death years were shown as 1908 and 1941, respectively.

By putting the story in a Victorian setting, they are making it take place in the era of the Invisible Man, Mr Hyde, and Dracula, a huge plus for me.  But the original Uni-Monster flicks, once they got into sequel territory anyway, were all contemporary.

[Wolf Man]

Negatory, the inscription on his casket says "Lawrence Stewart Talbot who died at the youthful age of 31 RIP"  (I just checked it to verify).  The grave robber reads it also. 

You can see Sir John Talbots Tomb behind the grave robbers but I could not make out the dates on the casket. 

They show Martin and Elizabeth's tombs as dated in the mid 1800's Martin's is 1837 to be exact.  If these were Sir John's parents and Larry's Grandparents then most likely Sir John would have been born
in the later part of 1700s.  This is speculation of course because we really don't know who Martin and Elizabeth are.  Even if they were great grandparents to Sir John then that still puts him around the turn of the century 1900.  However, in the beginning of the Wolf Man they come tooling up in a car. 

Point is that they show a car and contemporary clothing in the Wolf Man but everything seems to take a backward turn toward horses and buggies through the rest of the films.  In House of Frankenstein there is nothing but horse drawn carriages.  I believe that Universal simply wanted to tell the stories in the Victorian age because they play better during that age for Horror but from the costuming stand point simply were not authentic to the period they were hinting at.  There is no exact nod however to a specific time period so between the vehicles and the clothing along with the sets it is all very confusing.  They seem to want to tell the stories during the Victorian age but can't seem to get everything else accurate for that period. 

That is one of the pluses to modern film making.  The new Wolf Man is not only accurate for the period they have set the film in but so are all the details, costumes, props and sets.  This is just another reason why I personally am looking forward to it and perhaps is even an improvement over the original. 

I am open to hearing about any examples from these or other Universal films that point to specific time periods.  I seem to remember Frankenstein also tooling around in horse drawn carriages as well.  The Invisible Man may be an exception however and not played in the same time periods as Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man.  The Mummy seems to also play during the contemporary time period of which it was filmed. 

I don't remember Dracula well enough to say, but were there any cars in that film?  I know that there was the horse drawn carriage Dracula picked up Renfield in.   

During those classic days of Hollywood they were more concerned with making the film and telling a story than time period accuracy and therefore often jumbled up the periods with whatever looked good at the moment for the character, set, prop, costume or overall shot.  There are way too many examples of this to deny it.  As a long time reenactor and living historian historical inaccuracies are just too easy to spot.  I would not go so far as to say it lessons my enjoyment of a classic but it is at the very least an annoyance. 

[CreepysFan]

 When Count Dracula is stading outside the theater before going in there were late `30's cars passing by, so it couldn't have been Victorian London in the Lagosi version. The coach at the beginning could still fit in, as there still weren't a lot of cars in use around the Carpathian Mountains in the `30's. The sailing ship near the  beginning seems out of date to me. The Invisible Man also had contemporary late `30's cars, he used one to get around in and another for murder by sending it over a cliff. The books  were written in the Victorian age, but the movies modernized by Universal. This is why I love reading the books, although I love the movies so much. The Victorian Age settings have a creepier feel, and are more suited to these type stories. I wish Universal had kept more to the original period, but I can overlook this and loose myself in them anyways.

[Wolf Man]

I thought I remembered cars in the Invisible Man.  It has been a long time since I have seen that movie. 

[josie monster]

  Can't wait to see this version, the make-up FX look really awsome.  The more sneek clips and pictures I see, the more I can't wait. But from what I've seen so far, the wait will be worth it.  Gonna step out on a limb and say it promises to be a worthy remake.

[Wolf Man]

I watch the trailer several times a day and I am still not tired of it.  The more I watch the trailer the more I want to see this.  I already like the acting from what I have seen.