March 28- Clap for the Wolf Man

Many of you have been happy to see some of the old classic Universal monster flicks on our show- especially the “big name” monsters whop have formed the very basis of the Universal monster legend- from Dracula through to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s certainly no secret
That Universal has been trying for a while now to revive the monster legacy-their greatest success so far has been with the Mummy movies (another one is on the way…)-and the attempt to jumpstart most of the big name monsters in “Van Helsing”
Has fans and detractors- but, the one thing they can both agree on is- it didn’t bring back a new wave of monstermania
As it was intended to- there had been big plans for animated “Van Helsing” stuff, and theme park attractions- but the lack of success of the film brought all that to a very swift halt.
Nevertheless, the popularity of the monsters – so much so that you still see things referencing them at the Universal theme parks and tours-has the studio determined to bring ‘em back alive (or, undead, in some cases…) We’ve mentioned the remake of “the Creature from the Black Lagoon” with a guy in a suit, as opposed to a computer generated monster (some say that’s the studio having learned its lesson with “Van Helsing” and it’s c.g. monsters)-and now, we’ve seen stills from a new version of –“the Wolf Man!”
It’s Benicio Del Toro who plays Larry Talbot this time (the ONLY person other than Lon Chaney Jr. to ever play the role) and yes, he’ll be wearing the wolf make-up- designed by make-up great Rick Baker. The rumor is that a lot of the story from the original movie will survive, and, in fact, be amplified –like the strained family relations that Larry refers to early on in the original film. One thing I’d like to know- will they do the transformations from man to wolf the old-fashioned way- shoot a few frames, add make-up, roll again, stop, add more make-up- or will the transformation be done quicker and easier using computer generated effects? There seem to be hints that it will be a combination of both-which could make for a very cool change.
Those in the know seem to think this one will be a success, and open the door to bringing back more of the classic Universal monsters- and, possibly, also in the traditional way- with actors in costume and make-up, instead of as computer generated creatures- which means we may again be able to see the tortured souls of the monsters, as Karloff and his cronies could so brilliantly pull off!