Synopsis:

Though absent from his ancestral home of Blackmoor for many years, aristocrat Lawrence Talbot returns to find his missing brother at the request of the latter's fiancee, Gwen. He learns that a creature has links to an ancient curse turning people into werewolves when the moon is full. To save the village and protect Gwen, he must slay the bloodthirsty beast, but he contends with a horrifying family legacy.

Intentions:

The 1941 Woflman is one of my favorite films - it's in my top 20 anyhow. Out of all the Universal Classic monster movies, it's my absolute. Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy offer their share of scares over decades of filmmaking, but I find nothing more frightening than a creature secretly living beneath your own skin. While dated today, The 1941 film is still entertaining based purely on the charm of lead actor Lon Chaney Jr., who telegraphed horror and sadness so well in his performance. In the 2010 Wolfman remake, I can feel that lead actor and producer Benicio Del Toro wanted to convey the same emotive performance, but after fanediting the film, I can say that the script and editing hamstrung his ability to do so. There are so many moments where a character's motivations are spoken when they could be delivered through action alone. Additionally, so much of the runtime is spent on lingering - whether it be in between dialogue, in moments attempting to build suspense, or even in its action sequences. When I first saw this film in 2010, my main critique was that the film was simply boring, and weak editing is a major cause of this issue. I ultimately cut 15 minutes from the film. Some whole scenes are cut because they do not, individually, help to move the character development or plot along. The relationships between Lawrence Talbot, his father John, and his brother's widow Gwen are still paramount to the edit's story, but I worked to hone in on the most important exchanges that help progress each relationship. For example, Lawrence sending Gwen away and Gwen later meeting with Maleva don't ultimately affect the story or bonds between characters, so scenes like these are excised. In terms of action and effects - I'm no lover of CGI transformations and intended to trim any lingering transformation or effects scenes for the sake of reducing the chances for the audience's eye to detect digital effects. The longer a shot remains intact, the easier it is to discern as false, but shots that are too short are difficult to discern, so I had to strike a balance of using and keeping shots long enough for them to be understood without making the digital effects as noticeable. The same goes for action sequences, where wire-assisted fights become quite apparent without careful cutting. Visually, I found that the film as is lacks a visual identity. Following in the footsteps of Coppola's Gothic Dracula, Branagh's Shakespearean Frankenstein, or Sommer's Indiana Jones-esque Mummy, the Wolfman lacks any signature visual flair. I decided to take a page from Sleepy Hollow and last year's Nosferatu - going for muted, desaturated colors, along with heavy film grain and damage. My hope is that the end product will offer a visceral werewolf film that draws upon the theatrical version's strengths, while excising the weaknesses keeping it from being a classic in its own right.

Change List:

Cut list - - Trimmed down on some of the opening action sequence, cutting a few frames of the Wolfman - Shortened Miss Conliffe's conversation with Lawrence so that he immediately leaves for his home instead of telling her that he can't leave - He leaves shortly afterwards anyhow, so I saved some runtime by cutting the remainder of the conversation - Shortened the scene where Lawrence studies the cane that the train passenger left for him because this moment eats runtime and gives too much reverence to the cane that only nerds who watched the 1941 film will recognize - Removed the Talbot's dinner scene - Removed Lawrence's line "my behavior was unacceptable" - Removed the cuts to white during Lawrence's flashback to his mother's death to help reduce the film's modern editing sensibilities - Cut John Talbot saying he wouldn't want to lose Lawrence too because this goes against John's cold character at this point in the film - Removed the priest overtly saying that it's the full moon and Lawrence has the mark of the beast - My hope is to downplay the overt references to werewolves by the townspeople. The remaining dialogue is enough to infer that the Talbot family is cursed without reminding the audience that they're watching a werewolf movie - Cut Lawrence warning Gwen to leave because the delivery of the acting isn't incredibly believable, making the scene weak. Nothing is lost from the story if Lawrence orders her to leave - Removed conversation between Lawrence and John about Gwen leaving - Shortened Lawrence's pursuit of his father to the mausoleum - This is one of a few moment where the film really feels its runtime and without any significant discoveries in the chase, I figured that I might as well maintain enough shots to maintain the logical direction of the pursuit and maintain tension without allowing the audience to become bored - Reduced the suggestion that John is a werewolf once he locks himself inside the shrine - Cut the overtly digital shot of Lawrence's eye changing during his first transformation - During Lawrence's first werewolf onslaught, I shortened some shots to limit how often and clearly we see werewolf, and to keep the action more punchy and visceral. - Shortened the up close shots of the werewolf running on all fours because the digital compositing of the werewolf and background isn't entirely convincing - Trimmed up-close shots of Lawrence's eyes and face during his transformation at the sanitorium, along with lingering shots of his transforming hand and face - Removed Lawrence saying he was envious of his brother for having Gwen - I felt that the kiss that he and Gwen share later in the scene sums up their relationship well enough without devoting so many scenes to them talking about it - Cut Gwen searching for and meeting Maleva because nothing is learned in this scene and nothing about it alters the plot - Shortened Lawrence's search for his father in their home - another lengthy scene that stretched the original runtime - Trimmed some shots from the final fight that leaned heavily into WWE/kung fu fight choreography - Shortened the amount of time that Anthony Hopkins' CGI head remains onscreen - Shortened Lawrence chasing Gwen