Written By: Dan Geer

“Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.”

Recited at the beginning of the film, this famous poem (from the original 1941 film, The Wolf Man) sums up in a nutshell just what we are in for in the remake of this classic tale of lycanthropy: We’re finally going to get an updated version of the film from 1941 for modern audiences, but one that is meant to be a love letter to the fans of Universal’s original much-loved monster.

In this latest “Victorian-era” version of the story, Benicio Tel Toro takes on the role of Lawrence Talbot, an American actor with a troubled childhood who receives a letter from his brother’s wife, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) that his brother, Ben Talbot, has gone missing. Returning to his home in Great Britain, he finds out from his strangely offbeat father, Sir John Talbot (played with great style by Anthony Hopkins), that his brother was found dead. In fact, he was slain by a wild beast.

Determined to find out what was behind this attack, Lawrence ends up encountering the wild beast that has been terrorizing the countryside and almost ends up getting killed himself. In what seems like a fortunate circumstance, he esapes with only a large bite from the beast. But not everything is what it seems, as a mere bite from this particular creature is enough to change Talbot’s life forever.

Fans of the story will be pleasantly pleased with this updated version, as it is respectful of the original source material, giving plenty of nods to certain aspects of the 1941 story that Wolf Man devotees are usually particularly fond of. The film is also never short on creepy atmosphere, with plenty of foggy set pieces, dark forests and night skies with an autumn moon shining full and bright.

To top it all off, we finally receive a werewolf that does not simply look like any old wolf. Make-up artist Rick Baker, who is a big fan of the original film, does an incredible job bringing this famous monster to life. The Wolfman is very true to the original design from the 1941 film, but is also made presentable to a modern audience by updating his look in such a way that feels much more intimidating and vicious. I loved this Wolfman!

Where the film lacks, however, is in assisting the audience in developing a sense empathy for the main character, which was the original film’s primary focus. Del Toro’s portrayal of Lawrence Talbot is so “gloom and doom,” that we barely see a lighter side of him to connect with. This is perhaps due to the fact that not much time is spent on the romance between him and Gwen Conliffe. We only get one scene that focuses on developing their relationship – where we see that perhaps there is hope that life can be good again for Lawrence – but the rest of the time Talbot is such a cold and distant character that it becomes difficult to like him or relate to him in any way.

It makes sense, given the character’s history of having a mostly troubled life, but it seems reasonable to assume that if more time was focused on the romance, we would see a much more likable side to Lawrence Talbot, which would make his inevitably horrible life as a lycanthrope much more dramatic and saddening. As it stands in this film, we only feel sorry for him solely because it looks physically painful for him. There is not much of an emotional connection there.

But for where the film lacks in emotional association, it makes up for it with great horrific moments of werewolf carnage, wonderful ambiance and a surprisingly entertaining story – particularly in one new story element with Lawrence’s father that is a welcome addition to this time-honored tale. Anthony Hopkins brings such class to the film that the story would have suffered greatly without his intriguingly twisted performance. Classic horror fans are bound to love his role in the film.

Hopefully we’ll see more classic monsters brought to life in this fashion. After the last decade or so of witnessing “diet-monster”  films like Underworld, Van Helsing and the updated Mummy films, it is a breath of fresh air to see a monster movie that shows great reverence to what has come before while still keeping it new and compelling. This is the movie that Universal Monster movie junkies have been waiting for.

Rating: (out of four)