Wolfen

Wolfen
by Michael Wadleigh

Wolfen
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Albert Finney, Dick O'Neill, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines, Tom Noonan
Director: Michael Wadleigh
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-08-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video

Movie Reviews of Wolfen

Movie Review: Worth seeing if you missed it in '81.
Summary: 4 Stars

This film has a lot of atmospere. It turns a late 70s looking NYC into a gothic slum. If you like the tone of movies like the Shining, Howling, etc, then this one will catch your interest. I won't say it's as good as either of those movies, but there's a familiar late 70s vibe in Wolfen which came out in '81. The cinematography is eerie, high quality and artisic. At nearly 2 hours (114 mins) it's moody meandering drags occasionally. But viewers are rewarded with some splendid shots of the city (from atop the Brooklyn bridge, demolition lots in the Bronx, surreal wolfen POV shots etc.), putting it's erie 'Exorcist'-like spell over a now decades old New York (evidence World Trade Center).

I went into this more excited than I came out of it. It's premise is obviously far-flung and probably worked better in the book (which I didn't read). The Wolfen are creatures that ride that line between Native American symbol and Cujo (a great movie I might add) - which could be one of things that weaken the film. We're not sure how exactly to feel about these carnivores 'ridding the pack of the weak and sick'.

The actors carry the piece well though the main detective is a bit stodgy which helps slow the pace, but overall the acting fits and helps create the mood. As the plot really unfolds however, things got a little less intriguing for me, although I'll give 'em this much - they did a lot with the semi-wacky idea they were running on. I guess that's the supernatural for you. I'm happy I saw it. Halfway through the picture I'd have given it 5 stars. By the end I was down to 4 as it didn't reach the excitement level, or cleverness, of classics like The Shining or Exorcist. I wouldn't watch it again, but I'm happy to have seen it once. It certainly deserves that much, and sorry to hear the director never did another picture. He obviously had talent.

Summary of Wolfen

A real estate tycoon, his coke-binging wife and a slum wino have something grisly in common: they're the latest victims in a series of random murders. A veteran NYPD detective soon suspects the killings may be supernatural and deliberate: ages-old beings of cunning intelligence and incredible power, defending their turf from the encroachments of humankind.

DVD Features:
Filmographies:Cast/director film highlights
Interactive Menus
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Theatrical Trailer


Wolfen is definitely the oddest and most socially conscious of the three big werewolf movies released in 1981 (the others were The Howling and An American Werewolf in London). Rumpled detective Albert Finney is investigating some brutal NYC murders, which leads him to discover that the collapsing buildings of the South Bronx are home to a pack of very vindictive wolflike creatures. American Indian mythology and environmental issues are more to the point here than silver-bullet lycanthropy. As a police procedural, the movie's a bust, its rhythms wrong and Finney's tortured Brooklyn accent unconvincing. But as a horror-mood piece, it can get under your skin. Some trippy photography, plus a bunch of interesting actors at the beginnings of their film careers (Diane Venora, Gregory Hines, and a lean and hungry Edward James Olmos), outweigh the druggy pace and period hairstyles. Director Michael Wadleigh (Woodstock) never made another feature. --Robert Horton

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