django wolfman

Universal’s remake of The Wolfman came awfully close to being an “Alan Smithee” production. You know, the nome de plume director’s take when their work has been hacked to unrecognizable pieces by studios who feel their work isn’t commercial enough. One director walked out (music video vet Mark Romanek) and another (Jurassic Park 3’s Joe Johnston) went through a number of reshoots before the movie was put on a shelf like a wheel of cheese to be aged for more than a year. The odds were pretty high that Benecio Del Toro’s transformation into a hairy howling beast was going to need some serious grooming. But, as they say in professional sports, “that’s why they play the game.” And surprisingly much of the high-profile artistry shines through in this updated but engagingly retro version of the 1941 classic. The sets, scenery and photography are all gloriously Victorian. Anthony Hopkins is enjoyably hammy. And make-up artist Rick Baker’s designs hearken back to Universal’s glory days…up until the embarrassing finale where the whole thing turns into a episode of WWE Raw . The director’s cut restores some much needed character development on the front end and keeps all the nutty dream sequences and CGI bloodshed intact. While it’s a far cry from the transcendent Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it’s no Mary Shelley’s Frankestein either. And that’s a good thing. The DVD comes with a few more deleted and extended scenes.

For most folks, Spaghetti Westerns begin and end with Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name trilogy (Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad & The Ugly). But in their native Italy, the western continued to be a money-making machine long after Clint ambled off to greener pastures. Django, starring Eastwood look-alike Franco Nero as mysterious drifter who stumbles into town dragging an equally mysterious coffin, inspired just as many imitators as Sergio Leone’s work, if not more. A slightly more violent take on Fistful’s double-agent scenario, Django straddles the political fence between a power-hungry Southern general and a devil-may-care Mexican revolutionary. In director Sergio Corbucci’s film, there are no friends or lovers; only tenuous alliances or a temporary truce. His film is ugly, brutal and borderline nihilistic. Is it any wonder modern directors like Tarantino and Rodriguez have cherry-picked the best scenes? Don’t worry, there are still some surprises left and what better way to discover them than the new hi-def transfer which, despite a few rough spots, looks better than it ever has before. Extras include several carry-overs from the previous standard-def release, including interviews with Franco and a 1968 documentary Western, Italian Style which is a campy piece of cinematic history all on its own.