Saturday, October 12, 2013

31 Werewolves | Wolfen



Whitley Strieber's werewolf novel was published in 1978 to mostly positive reviews. Told from the dual perspectives of a race of people descended from wolves and the police detectives investigating their grisly work, The Wolfen offers a scientific - instead of a supernatural - explanation for werewolves. In fact, the Wolfen aren't technically werewolves at all, though they've inspired those kinds of legends.

A couple of years later, the book was adapted into a movie starring Albert Finney and Diane Verona as the detectives. The film differs from the novel's plot in several respects, but a couple of huge differences are the way it ties the Wolfen specifically to Native American folklore and a heavy environmental theme. The Wolfen are predators, but in the movie they're predators with a cause.

Strieber followed up The Wolfen with a vampire novel, The Hungerwhich was adapted into a Tony Scott film starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. A few years after that, he wrote the controversial Communion: A True Story, which claimed to be an accurate account of his abduction by aliens. Communion was also made into a film, this one starring Christopher Walken.

4 comments:

Wings1295 said...

I read the book a few years ago. It was good, quite different, gritty. I don't think I have seen the film, or if I have, it has been awhile. Strieber has always been such a very strange figure, to me.

Michael May said...

I had the reverse experience. I have vague memories of seeing the movie on TV at some point as a kid and not liking it because it wasn't real werewolves. That kept me from checking out the book, so I've never read it.

After researching this post and hearing your recommendation though, I want to read it now.

Ken O said...

I remember the movie but I've never read the book. Every time I hear the name I think of the Michael Keaton moive Dream Team where he tells the other mental patients that their in the place where Wolfen was filmed, "They filmed it here because this is exactlly where it happened. It's a true story."

Paxton said...

I briefly considered Wolfen for my own werewolf Halloween countdown, but ultimately nixed the idea because I never liked the movie.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails