HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN..WEDNESDAY..Even a Man Who is Pure of Heart..

Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon is bright. ~Wolfman, 1941~

Yikes! Doesn't sound like anything good can come from that now does it? Poor old Larry Talbot didn't think so either.  Universal Studio's classic The Wolfman starred Lon Chaney, Jr. as a cursed man who made the mistake of getting into a free-for-all with a wolf. The wolf lost the battle...but so did Larry Talbot.  With the onset of the first full moon after Larry's close encounter with a wolf, we see only his feet make the transformation from normal to a wolf's paws. Larry Talbot, it seems, was the two-legged variety of werewolf. Watch the scene closely, as Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) begins his walk as a werewolf, he slightly raises his trouser legs...and you can clearly see the top of his yak hair boots developed for the wolf transformation.  The Wolfman starred a veritable Who's Who of Hollywood including Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy and Maria Ouspenskaya as the rather pessimistic but helpful gypsy, Maleva. Look for Bela Lugosi in a short role as the son of Maleva, a werewolf of the four-legged kind who dooms Larry Talbot.

A list of my favorite werewolf movies would definitely include An American Werewolf in London.  David Naughton as David and Griffin Dunne as Jack are completing the requisite college backpacking thru England/Europe/wherever trip...hitching a ride along the way with a local sheep farmer who warns them about staying on the path. Fellows...you should've listened more closely.  After receiving a very cold reception at a pub called...The Slaughtered Lamb..(yeh that's what I thought too) the boys strike out on their own once again, and of course, do not stay on the path.  They soon find themselves in the middle of the moors..lost...and there are some very odd growls and movements which appear to be coming from all around them.  The werewolf strikes and Jack (Griffin Dunne) is killed...but David (David Naughton) runs hell bent for leather until his conscience finally gets the better of him..but its too late. He is, of course, wounded in the fracas....the werewolf is killed by the locals..and the cycle begins again. Jenny Agutter plays the love interest of our doomed David..who keeps seeing the ghosts of his victims; believe me, they are not the least bit sympathetic to his plight.  The werewolf transformation effects in this film stand out as some of the best.  There has been a sequel to this movie, An American Werewolf in Paris..but I can't say I cared for it.

Last is a film that probably most folks don't think of..but I rather like it. Silver Bullet is based on a novella by Stephen King, Cycle of the Werewolf. The story centers around Marty (Corey Haim) a paraplegic and his older sister Jane (Megan Follows), who find they must lay their differences aside when the town of Tarker's Mills, Maine has some very unexplained (and messy) deaths. Gary Busey is great in the role of Uncle Red...an excellent role-model in the form of a hard-drinking womanizer who must come to the aid of his niece and nephew.

Lon Chaney, Jr. revisited his role as The Wolfman four times for Universal Studios. The original Wolfman was released in 1941 and directed by George Waggner.

An American Werewolf in London was released in 1981 and directed by John Landis, who later directed Thriller for Michael Jackson.

Silver Bullet was released in 1985 and directed by Daniel Attias. Special effects were designed by effects guru Carlo Rambaldi.

Stay tuned...tomorrow we'll visit The Mummy.