Werewolves!

[furtech]

I went out and got "Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning" (aka, "Ginger Snaps 3"). -Neat- film! Probably the best of the trilogy. The premise is silly (supposedly the ancestors of the original girls in GS1), but it's a period piece, taking place in 19th Century Canada (I love that they don't hide their Canadian roots!). So you have period costumes and lots (I mean, LOTS) of werewolves!

KNB did a terrific job on these suits: they actually look like wolves (as opposed to apes or hyperpilotic men or any-werewolf-that-doesn't-look-like-a-wolf). They also move on all fours: the designers did a great job on that aspect of design. Only complaint: tendency to lope like great apes...but I'll take it!

There's also some wonderful footage of behind the scenes stuff at the end, where you can see a lot of the werewolves and how they're designed. And it's always funny to see BTS on horror films. Loved this DVD!

Unfortunately, the only pics online I could find of the werewolves was one of their ass-end (on an effects-painter's site) and a blurry test.



While we're on it, I saw other werewolf movies at Suncoast. Are any of these any good? Brokken? Penh? Anyone?

"Dark Wolf"
"Blood Moon"
"Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf"

And a four pack, titled "Beasts of Terror": "Moon of the Wolf," "Snow Beast," "Scream of the Wolf," and "Wolf Man" (not the original).

I'm pretty sure I've been warned about some of these before, but my mind is going...dave...

Comments

[brerandalopex.livejournal.com]

[Alopex] Wow! Looks like neat stuff. I haven't seen any of the Ginger Snaps series yet, but your description makes me want to go out and rent the trilogy.

What exactly is in the second picture? Is that actually a skin that a performer wears? With all the detail, I presume this must be for a transformation sequence, rather than an under-skin that's going to be covered in fur.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The first GS was a pleasant surprise in the very-low-budget sense (nice take on the theme of, "My-first-Period-was-so- horrible-I-turned-into-a-snarling-beast"). Werewolf was neat, but face looked like a shaved Pekinese dog.

GS2 had the newer, better designs by KNB and had decent amount of werewolf footage, though the werewolf was kind of lame, fight-wise (when a girl can knock you out with a chamber pot...).

GS3 is the spectacular one: lots of werewolves and fighting. And the third one stand on its own, story-wise. But the three make a nice progression series if you watch them in order (ie, they get better with bigger budgets).

The second picture is of a dummy werewolf body (lots of dead werewolves, too, in GS3) before hair is added (sheer NFT fur).

[was1.livejournal.com]

Cool. I haven't heard much of the third movie and it had mixed reviews on it. Skorzy and I have both sceen the first two and really liked them. Does the third one manage to keep the twisted dark humor of the other films?

[was1.livejournal.com]

The first film was a real surprise. Skorzy and I rented it expecting it to be a bad monster movie to laugh at, but it turned out to be pretty good. Very clever story with some an undercurrent of dark humor that really worked. The second film kept the dark humor, plus some twisted plot elements.

Lex, I picked up Blood Moon at Best Buy on the cheap awhile ago on a lark. I'll try and remember to let you know how it is when I get around to watching it.

[auryanne.livejournal.com]

I have the 4-pack, it's pretty sucky. I don't remember seeing any actual werewolves in it.

But Van Helsing comes out Tuesday, I believe.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The humor's still there, dark and twisted. The best thing about the third one is that even if you don't think much of his storytelling, there's plenty of werewolves running around by the end. Personally, I think it hold together the best of the three, both story-wise and the unique setting.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Re: 4-pack: that's what I was afraid of. Why do they even -bother- to imply werewolves/creatures?!? Just call a spade a spade and refer to it as, "The unseen evil!"

BTW, speaking of creatures doing unspeakable things, how's Banjo? You might try giving him some petramalt (could be a blockage).

[auryanne.livejournal.com]

I took away his food for about a day and a half and he seems to be better now. It may be the putrid cat food he's eating that made him sick @_@

[penh.livejournal.com]

The 4-packs are generally whatever public domain movies they could slap together under some pretense of a theme, and are really only worth buying if you've got lots of spare money and are a total horror completist. As for the rest, "Darkwolf" is pretty much crap, with a godawful-looking werewolf. "Blood Moon" is a pretty good Canadian TV-movie about a girl with hypertrichosis (like JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy) in a travelling sideshow that stops in a town that starts having a werewolf problem. Just a coincidence? Well, it's one of those movies where there may be nothing supernatural going on at all, so you'd have to watch it and find out. No fancy werewolf effects, but there's an actual wolf in there.

I'd never heard of "(Blood) Slaves of the Vampire Werewolf," so I looked it up. Turns out it's directed by Conrad Brooks, one of the goofy cops from "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and former member of Ed Wood's posse, and "stars" Joe Estevez, the Billy Carter of the Sheen/Estevez clan. Watch it only if you're into pain.

I knew I could count on you!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info on the four-packs. I wonder if they're really PD? I love tracking down PD stuff and trying to find creative ways to use it.

I think you may have been the one who warned me about Dark Wolf originally...and Blood Moon is such a waste of a wonderful title (not sure if it's hypertrichosis or hyperpilosity, but the latter was used as a 2-language pun for a classic anime title!). If there was a wolf in Blood Moon I feel sorry for the poor, sad thing.

Considering how complex it is to make a film (just loading the camera!), I am forever amazed at how difficult they seem to think making a decent werewolf costume is.

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

Kick ass!! WOOF!
-J

Re: I knew I could count on you!

[crocuta.livejournal.com]

I think I warned you about Dark Wolf as well (we have it on VHS) and we also have Blood Moon. Which I actually thought was ok because of Tim Curry and Grace Jones *g* Once Westly hears the title of the other one I think we'll end up getting that. Ugh. If you're interested Wes or I can give you a run-down of a few others. He has seen more than I have however. We also have some other gems such as 'Moon of the WOlf'. Don't ask. We've also rented a few I wish we didn't and I'm rethinking collecting werewolf movies because the ones worth seeing more than once are so rare.

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

The only thing Dark Wolf has to offer is lots and lots of titty. No kidding... the opening shot is a tight close-up of a bare boob. What do you think is the first reaction of two women who discover an ancient book of werewolf lore? That's right, they get naked and dance. *rolls eyes*

Blood Moon is a treat... but only if you're really into circus freaks. Not a werewolf in sight. There is a wolf in the movies but it doesn't have much to do with anything and is in only three shots. If you liked the interminable line-dancing scenes in Howling IV you're bound to love the interminable midget-cast musical numbers in this one.

Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf is a beautifully directed, sensitive portrayal of a true-hearted werewolf with amazing special effects... okay, okay, I'm lying my head off. It's only saved from being the worst werewolf movie EVER because Werewolf Woman has that title locked down.


Ginger Snaps Back Sounds like fun. I just ordered it from Amazon.