Warning: “Sometimes monsters come looking for you.”

The Wolfman, although somewhat unappealing to some, kept me interested and never bored throughout the whole movie.  It begins with Lawrence Talbot, played by the amazing Benicio del Toro, being asked to return home (after being estranged for many years) to help in the search of his missing brother Ben by Ben’s fiance’, Gwen (Emily Blunt). When Lawrence gets home he finds out from his strange and unfeeling father, John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins), that Ben was dead. Ben had been found in a ditch, murdered in such a grotesque manner. It is speculated throughout the village that the murderer could only be a beast or a lunatic.

Director Joe Johnston takes the 1941 classic and turns it into a new horror film for 2010.  I was scared by the sudden moves, growling and howling, and even some flashbacks that Lawrence has as a child.

The Wolfman is set in England in 1891. Most of the film takes place in a small village and the woods surrounding it, as well as John Talbot’s stately manor that is now hauntingly decrepit… Occupied only by John and his Indian servant Sikh. This is where Lawrence first meets Gwen and assures her he will do everything he can to find out what or who killed Ben.  Almost immediately, Gwen becomes a love interest for Lawrence.

Lawrence decides to go visit a gypsy camp in the woods to see what they know of a medallion that was with Ben’s belongings.  One of the gypsy’s kept a bear as a pet. Many of the villagers believe the bear was to blame for the recent killings and had also made their way to the gypsy village to ‘dispose’ of the animal. Of course, there was a full moon!  The wolfman quickly starts picking off people one by one. Lawrence and some of the others try shooting him. The beast is too fast for them and before he disappears many are dead from mutilation or being decapitated. Fortunately Lawrence survives but not before being bit.

After a few days and the bite miraculously heals itself, Lawrence becomes the werewolf and runs to woods where the villagers are hunting him when he falls into a deep hole. The villagers think they have him trapped.  One by one the werewolf tears and rips many of them apart by jumping up and pulling them down or they just fall in the hole themselves.  In one sequence, I did kind of laugh when he tore the arm off one guy and threw it out of the hole!  As it landed on the ground, you could see the hand was still holding a gun and then it fired a shot.

The next morning his father finds him on the outskirts of the manor.  He tells Lawrence that he did a lot of bad things. The police are there to arrest Lawrence and take him to an asylum. It happens to be the same asylum he spent a year in, as a boy, after his mother had died. The same doctor treats him again which is more like torture, for his lycanthropic delusions.

During a visit from his father, he finds out that his own father had killed his mother and his brother.  It is at that moment that Lawrence vows to kill his father. Later the doctor is in a room full of colleagues and others, including the police detective, when they wheel in Lawrence bound and gagged. During the doctor’s presentation Lawrence is able to see the full moon and the horrifying transformation into the wolfman takes place.  Again he kills many, tearing them into pieces. He escapes across the rooftops and into the cobblestone streets of London. In the morning, he finds himself hiding out in Gwen’s shop where she finds him and wants to help him.

Lawrence makes his way back to his home where he confronts his father. Lawrence tries to shoot his father using silver bullets. The gun doesn’t work and a fight starts between the two with Lawrence being beat by his father.  Then something happens that I won’t reveal!

I know this isn’t our normal “chick flick” but if you like to be heart thumping scared and can stomach a lot of blood, guts, and goriness you’ll like The Wolfman!