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Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) discovers that even a man who’s pure of heart can transform into “The Wolfman.” |
Here’s a supposedly scary movie that thinks ripped body parts, spraying blood, video-game-quality CGI werewolves, false scares and Anthony Hopkins are frightening enough to compensate for dull and dreary characters wandering around dull and dreary British estates uttering dull and dreary dialogue.
Not even close.
“The Wolfman,” a remake of Universal Pictures’ 1941 classic, is an unrelentingly color-dead, humorless and passionless piece of horror with occasional bloody disembowelments and beheadings tossed in to stave off boredom.
This exercise in tempered tension begins with a disappointing, telling scene in 1891 England. A man named Ben hunts for someone in the woods when he’s scared by birds suddenly taking flight.
Yes. Birds.
Then a werewolf rips him to pieces. Yikes!
So, here’s a werewolf movie that thinks animals popping out of nowhere are shocking (later, a dog does the honors) and instantly kills off any suspense about what the mystery creature looks like. (Read more…)