Artwork by Goldenwolf




The coolest monster legend that unfortunately always seems to get bumped out of the limelight by the vampire. While vampires are about sophistication and seduction werewolves are about pure raw energy and bloody gut ripping fury!
This page will summarize some of the cool facts about werewolves and possibly inform you of some facts that Hollywood skipped over or changed. We will start with some "were" facts and shift into movies that star our furry friends. Our tale has to begin somewhere so why not with the lovable creature of the night known as the wolf...


The Wolf
Werewolf type beings had been around for centuries in various legends but the terror of the werewolf reached its peak in the middle ages. During that time the shy and elusive wolf was unfairly stigmatasized by the churches to be evil and they were said to be the face of Satan himself.
Wolves were originally respected and thought of as noble (albeit feared) creatures that had a place in many ancient rites and ceremonies and were even worshipped by some cultures as gods. It wasnt until the christians took over that the wolf became thought of as an evil entity that according to them was worshipped only by heathenistic pagans and Satan worshippers. The courts of middle age europe tortured murderers, recluses and the criminally insane into admitting to commiting crimes as werewolves and caused many people to fear and hate the wolf and werewolf alike.





The werewolf
A werewolf (Were meaning "man" in olde English) is a person who changes into a wolf, either by purposefully using magic or by being placed under a curse. The medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury associated the transformation with the appearance of the full moon, but this concept was rarely associated with the werewolf until the idea was picked up by modern fiction writers. Most modern references imply that a werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet, although this is more a reflection of fiction's influence than an authentic feature of the folk legends.
Contrary to Modern versions of the werewolf many of the legends tell of humans who transformed at will into an actual (albeit more powerful and bloodthirsty) wolf using a magical item such as a "wolf-belt" or magical wolfskin. Sometimes witchcraft (incatations, potions etc) was used as a means of transforming into a wolf either temporarily or permanantly.


Norse and Greek mythologies
The Norse and Greeks had many legends of humans transforming into wolves (sometimes by choice and sometimes by curse).

Lyacon
The legend of Lycaon in Greek mythology, was the first king of Arcadia. according to legend Lyacon and his sons were to entertain the God Zeus with a feast. They were members of a canibalistic cult that worshiped wolves and when they Set before Zeus a dish of human flesh the god angriliy turned him and his sons into wolves.

The Berserks
Old Norse legends of the feared warriors known as Berserkers (or Berserks) may have spawned some of the european tales of were creatures as well. The Bearsark (Bear- shirt ) and the Ulfsark (Wolf- shirt) were powerful warriors that were equally respected and hated. They were respected for thier great fighting skill and ability to fight ferociously even when mortally wounded. and yet they were feared and hated for thier tendency to destroy anything or anyone that crossed thier path when they were in what has been coined as thier "Beserker rage". They would slaughter friend or foe without second thought while in a rage.
They were known to leap into battle armorless, wearing only Bear or wolf skins and sometimes they would charge into battle fully nude.
It was said they would bang thier weapons together, howl, scream and bite thier shields before setting upon villages, pillaging, raping and indescriminately destroying everything in thier paths.
In battle they were beleived to be unstoppable and Immune to pain and weapons and fire could not harm them.
Before going into a beserker rage they would shiver, shake and scream. After the rage subsided and the killing was done the beserker would become weak and had to rest. It was thought by the norse ancients that you could only kill a beserker while they were resting after a rage.





France, England and Germany
France seemed to be particulary full of werewolf stories in the 16th century and england had numerous "were" stories in the 17th century.
France was plagued with many instances of canibalism and witchcraft related shapeshifters during this time and numerous Werewolf or (or loup-garous) trials ensued rivaling the salem witch hunts that would occur in america in the latter half of the same century.
In 17th century England King James I Persecuted not only suspected werewolves but (since the wolf was mercilessly hunted into extinction in England by this time) now people who were suspected of transforming themselves via witchcraft into cats, hares and other creatures were also hanged, tortured and otherwise punished for thier supposed crimes against god.
There are Numerous stories of people using "wolf straps" and "wolf belts" in Germany to become a werewolf as well. They sometimes beleived a werewolf would become a vampire after it died so they took special care to always behead and/or burn the bodies of accused werewolves and thier victims.

Many European countries and cultures have stories of "were" creatures, including:
Greece (lycanthropos)
Spain (hombre lobo)
Bulgaria (varkolak, vulkodlak)
Czech Republic (vlkodlak)
Serbia (vukodlak)
Russia (oboroten' , vurdalak)
Ukraine (vovkulak(a),vovkun,pereverten' )
Poland (wilko?ak)
Romania (vârcolac)
England (werewolf)
Ireland (faoladh or conriocht)
Germany (Werwolf)
Denmark/Sweden (Varulv)
France (loup-garou)
Galicia, Portugal (lobisón, lobisomem)
Lithuania (vilkolakis and vilkatlakis)
Latvia (vilkatis and vilkacis)
Estonia (libahunt)
Argentina (lobizón, hombre lobo)
Italy (lupo mannaro)

The Werewolf legend according to the movies
Hollywood is not known for being faithful to source material. Add to that the fact that almost all the modern werewolf stories involve situations that were not in the original legends and it's a miracle that any good werewolf movies exist. We wont concentrate on the werewolf movies that were crap. Let's look at some of the good werewolf films to come out of Hollwood (and elsewhere).



The wolf-man

Lon Chaney Jr stars in this tale of a man who returns to England after his father dies and ends up become a night stalking "wolf-man"! He hears a girl screaming and tries to save her from what appears ot be a wolf. He beats the wolf with his silver tipped cane until it dies but not before it bites him. He soon discovers he is cursed to change into a wolf every full moon.
Of course this movie is cheesy by todays standards and the special effects are goofy looking but for it's time it was a high quality movie with the latest FX.
Sixty some years later it still holds up as a good movie. I greatly doubt anyone will hold the CGI crapfests of today in such high regard!!





An American werewolf in London

A modern classic of a werewolf movie that does a really great job of combining the old werewolf legends with what has become associated with modern werewolf lore. A great unique story, great direction (John Landis) and special effects (Rick Baker) and some genuine scares are to be had in this flick. If I had to nitpick it would be on the fact that they had this really great werewolf and I always ended watching the movie wishing I could have seen more of it. Also the ending is kind of anti climatic. Still one of the all time best werewolf flicks with the best transformation scene yet (without using any CGI!)
I have heard some people say they didn't like the humor in this movie (not wacky crazy stuff just dialogue) but the argument could be made that the humor actually makes the characters more likeable and realistic. I have also heard people say they didn't like the fact that the transformed wolf walks on all fours. While I personally usually prefer the squatting or walking on hind legs style werewolves for this movie it worked very well with the blending of the old legends and modern ideas and I wouldn't change a thing!






The Howling


A TV reporter and her husband go on a vacation to a place that ends up being a retreat inhabited by werewolves. Some of the werewolves just want to get along with humans while the others just want to eat them. More of a strait horror movie than American werewolf in London with great FX and werewolf costumes(Rob Bottin). The ending is kinda cheesy but it's still definitely worth a viewing if you are a werewolf fan. Actually chances are if you are a werewolf fan you have already seen this one since there are only a few werewolf movies available!!







Dog Soldiers

It's soldiers VS werewolves in an all out brawl. Guess who wins? A cool low budget movie made in the UK with really great wolf suits.
The story is fairly simple. Some murders have been occuring it the scottish highlands where a team of six soldiers are on a routine mission. They come across the remains of a special missions team that was torn to pieces when they get attacked themselves. They escape to a house where they have to prepare for the eventual onslaught of what they now realize are werewolves!
The FX guys took what the howling did with thier werewolves and made it more realistic by making "stilt' suits that the actors portraying the werewolves could walk around in and gave the wolves authentically colored fur. The suits really turned out kick ass!
A very good low budget film. I would love for these guys to get the chance to make another werewolf flick with a bigger budget. Maybe the werewolves would finally get a big blockbuster movie!