Review- Wolfen

WOLFEN (1981)

The plot:  Urban renewal threaten the feeding grounds of a race of super intelligent -and possibly supernatural- wolves living in the slums of New York, and they ain't havin' it.

The poop: 1981 was the year of the werewolf picture, and in addition to 'Wolfen,' we had 'An American Werewolf in London,' 'The Howling,' and Larry Cohen's 'Full Moon High.' But no one remembers 'Full Moon High,' at least until Michael J. Fox was in it's half-assed remake. Well... no. No one remembered it after that, either.

In any case, 'Wolfen' was the only 1981 werewolf offering that played it completely straight. Sure, there's some gallows humor here and there, but compared to the other werewolf pictures that year, it was the only one that didn't openly rely on humor to get the job done. Not that there's anything wrong with humor in horror in general, or anything specifically wrong with the humor in the other 1981 werewolf pictures. 

So, yeah, 'Wolfen' is a pretty serious movie. It's also a pretty respectful movie. It respects wolves and their place in the world. It respects Native Americans and their traditions, and the idea that magic exists in the word, whether or not you see or even believe in it.

Deal-breakers: The main Native American character is not played by a Native American, but on the other hand he's played by Edward James Olmos. And he's naked in one scene. Which probably should be a separate Deal-Breaker.

I don't think this is a particularly lefty movie, but I lean that direction anyway, so maybe I'm missing something. But, again, on the other hand this is a movie about wolves who eat the homeless, so how lefty could it really be?

The up-side: Fantastic performances all around. No a single weak-link in the bunch.

This is the first werewolf picture that goes out of it's way to separate genuine wolf behavior from all the myths and misconceptions.

Makes a great double-bill with: The other werewolf pictures of 1981, which would actually be a triple-bill. A quadruple-bill if you count 'Full Moon High.'

Other stuff: The studios releasing 'Wolfen' -Warner Bros.and Orion- were disappointed that the finished product wasn't a straight-forward exploitation picture. They recut it, and recut it and recut it again, and none of the recut versions came close to what they wanted either. So what did they finally release? Basically the same version that director Michael Wadleigh handed in originally.

Still sorta bombed, though. At least compared to 'The Howling' and 'American Werewolf.'