Stars:
Albert Finney, Gregory Hines, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, and Tom Noonan
Writers:
David Eyre and Michael Wadleigh
Based
On the Book By: Whitley Strieber
Director:
Michael Wadleigh
Feature
length: 114 minutes
Extras:
Trailer
Languages:
English Dolby Surround Stereo and French Language Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese,
Bahasa, Thai, and Korean Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Surround Stereo Sound and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1981/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures and Orion Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
The
early 1980s saw the rebirth of werewolf genre with breakthroughs in makeup
technology that actually allowed audiences to see a human transform into a wolf
creature without fades or other in camera tricks. Joe Dante’s “The
Howling” and John Landis’ “An American Werewolf In London” were at the
forefront of this technology. The big screen adaptation of “Wolfen”
followed, but “Wolfen” is not a werewolf movie. It fell into the genre by
default because of the time when it was released, but in some ways I think
“Wolfen” is a more supernatural film and also more interesting because it
deals with the cost of urban renewal, which is just as prominent today as it was
when the film was released theatrically. The film’s buildup is excellent with
a gritty New York City backdrop that in many ways no longer exists and yet just
like the creatures that exist in the urban jungle with humanity, the shadow of
the past is still ever-present as it is anywhere where beings regardless of
sentience are displaced from their natural homes. The statistics of people
disappearing and creatures preying upon the disenfranchised and forgotten as
well as the lost and unfortunate seems all the more haunting when one considers
what Strieber would later write about coupled with a metaphor for the oppression
of the masses by the shadowy force that could be viewed as corporate greed or
even the link between the aristocracy and government believing they are above
all laws including nature’s.
The
cast features an early screen appearance by Tom Noonan along with Albert Finney
starring along side Gregory Hines and a very young looking Edward James Olmos.
Warner Home Video has released “Wolfen” to DVD with a new anamorphic
widescreen (2.35:1) widescreen transfer featuring a good English Dolby Surround
Stereo Soundtrack coupled with a French Language Monaural Soundtrack and English
Captions and Closed Captions coupled with French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese,
Bahasa, Thai, and Korean Language Subtitles encoded as options. The picture
quality is pretty good considering the age of this film. In fact it is quite
solid and neither too dark or too light with no distortions. Viewers will note
that it appears James Horner recycled his own score from “Wolfen” for James
Cameron’s “Aliens.”
Extra
features include the theatrical trailer in a (2.35:1) aspect ratio, notes on
werewolf films, and a cast listing. The menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate. “Wolfen” is available on DVD-Video now
from Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.