Curse of the Werewolf

I recently wrote about the Hammer Films classic Horror of Dracula, comparing that film to its much earlier Universal Studios equivalent. And as original as Hammer’s interpretation was, it just didn’t have that feel of originality to it. The Dracula character is too well known, the story the character comes from has been told too many times.

One Hammer film that does not suffer from this problem is the Curse of the Werewolf, a 1961 Hammer films offering starring Oliver Reed.



This werewolf movie is strikingly original. Where Dracula and Frankenstein both spring from famous novels, the werewolf not so much. Because of this, many more liberties can be taken with the character. So for fans of the 1941 Wolf Man film starring Lon Chaney Jr, rest assured that there is absolutely no similarity here. Well… except for basic furryness of the monster.

In the 1941 Wolfman movie, Larry Talbot becomes the Wolf Man by being bitten but not killed by another Wolf Man. Almost every villager he talks to chants to him the following:

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.


And so it goes for most origins of werewolves. Being bitten means you turn, right? Not in Curse of the Werewolf.

One of the things that makes Curse of the Werewolf feel so unique is the origin of the monster, which we don't learn until quite a ways into the movie. In fact, the movie spends quite a segment of time setting up the history and backstory of the character. Showing a beggar being toyed with and eventually imprisoned by a nobleman. Showing that beggar being forgotten about in the dungeon, where he eventually attacks and rapes a young, mute girl. She escapes and is found by the kindly couple of the movie. She dies giving birth to Leon Corledo, our main character, on Christmas Day. And the token superstitious older woman of the movie warns that Leon is cursed, both by the evil circumstances of his conception and being an unwanted child born on Christmas Day.


And that's it. It's the curse. Those factors somehow mixed together to make Leon a werewolf during a full moon.


OH! There's one other thing that sets Hammer's werewolf apart from the others. It's not just a silver bullet that will kill him, but a silver bullet made from a melted down crucifix.


I've heard people say that they feel the removal of the more superstitious elements from these classic monsters are making them more cool. Vampires don't burn in sunlight and don't care about crucifix's and stuff like that. I feel quite the opposite, feeling that these elements add a much needed dash of superstition to firmly plant these monsters into fantasy. Again... I don't care for my entertainment to be gritty and realistic, I want it to be entertaining. I'm often told I'm in the minority.


In terms of appearance, Wolf Man and Curse of the Werewolf share the idea of a flat faced monster who looks more like a man turned into a wolf than a wolf that can walk. Shying away from the full snout sported by werewolves of today.


Today's werewolves largely obey the idea of being cursed once your bitten. But the interesting thing to me is how different modern day werewolf depictions in movies are from older stuff. It seems like werewolves are just growling, ripping killing machines today. Or armies of furry beasts cultivated to fight vampires, or some such nonsense. The most interesting parts of Wolf Man and Curse of the Werewolf, at least in my opinion, are the parts where the main character is trying to restrain himself, resist the curse, and protect those around them. They generally don't want to BE werewolves. They want to be civilized men, not lost to the beast-like unpredictability of their curse. Which I think is the core meaning of the character. And if we're losing that point with modern storytelling and caving in to the idea that we want to be werewolves because werewolves are cool.... well what does that say about modern society.

I'm reminded of the most memorable werewolf moment in the movie Monster Squad from 1987. The moment when the man, frantically worried about the monster within him, starts to attack a station full of police and yells "LOCK ME UP!"


They just shoot him instead.

Thanks,
DCD