He would have been better keeping up the estranged part of his family relationships, as you can tell from the title what will happen to him when he ventures back. Considering what some remakes do to their source material, this reimagining of the old Lon Chaney Jr semi-classic was remarkably faithful, even if it did open out the story as concessions to an audience expecting far more special effects and action than the original provided, but was that enough to supplant it in the minds of those who liked, even loved, those old Universal horror movies of the Golden Age? The answer, judging by the poor returns this received, would appear to have been no.
The main problem was that while they remained respectful to the basic plotline of the 1941 effort, what they did add did not do much for the qualities that they hoped to carry over: the tragedy, the ominous mood, that sense of an ancient mythology that had been pretty much made up by the scriptwriter Curt Siodmak, yet felt authentic enough to be used in many of the werewolf works that followed in its footsteps. What it did have was the predictable computer graphics which stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the Victorian setting, and an uncertain pacing that could not make up its mind whether it was aiming for the mean and moody or the rollercoaster ride.
Del Toro was a fan of the Lon Chaney Jr movie, and had been attached to star for the years that it took this to be finally completed, a production that could best be described as troubled and involving differences of opinion about what it was exactly they were making here. He is a little lost in the period trappings, not to mention the confusion of themes that erupt from the first ten minutes - was this about anti-gypsy racism? Lawrence's daddy issues? A simple doomed romance? They never quite made up their mind. Once our uneasily undynamic hero arrives home he finds his father diffident (Hopkins introduces so many bits of business in his eccentric performance he verges on the unruly) and the locals suspicious.
Display comments