Review – Wolfen

This isn’t your average werewolf movie. For openers, despite the amount of time devoted to the red-herring shapeshifting subplot, the monsters turn out not to be werewolves at all. For most of the film they’re shadowy creatures that we never get a good look at. Indeed, the shock shots are almost downright subtle, and they’re all the creepier for their lack of explicit special effects. Sadly, toward the end the production becomes a heavy-handed bit of environmentalist propaganda, and the beasts become cute, fluffy dogs who’s wire-induced snarling would be a lot more menacing if they didn’t wag their tails. Gregory Hines and Tom Noonan in supporting roles outshine Albert Finney in the lead. However, even the corpulent Finney gets points for having the guts to do a scene that by all appearances was actually shot at the very top of one of New York’s bridges. As a matter of passing, I also note that this is one of the few films Hollywood ever made that features more male than female nudity. Believe it or not, Edward James Olmos was once actually buff enough to pull off full frontal. Mildly amusing