Last Updated on July 26, 2021
Werewolf movies have a fairly weak track record. Usually you get stuck with a poorly developed story involving gypsies or some other sort of curse slinger, while a dude in a rubber mask runs around looking ridiculous.
The upside of all this is that when somebody really focuses on doing it right, you end up with some of the best flicks that horror has to offer. It’s so damn easy to get these wrong, that you almost have to end up well above the mean with an honest attempt to get some lycanthrope done up proper.
So let’s take a closer look at these hairy cinematic bastards, and if I’ve missed your favorite shapeshifter then spit some silver bullets below.
5. THE HOWLING
You’re typically going to find this one in most people’s immediate top 2 if you ask them about best werewolf flicks, but aside from some of the best transformations ever, it does carry some significant problems. The acting is a bit hammy, the plot isn’t particularly involving, and at times it feels more like a subpar drama than a genre throwdown. Despite all that, nobody’s lycan education is complete without some QT with this flick.
4. WOLFEN
I’m not 100% sure, but I think Wolfen was the first time I saw a human head get separated from its body on screen. What a sweet, sweet memory. Even better is that, with a top notch cast and script, this is way more than a tale of man gets bitten and starts getting hairy. The flick carries a social message that actually works. Plus the wolf vision is totally kick ass.
3. GINGER SNAPS
I guess you could say this is like a mash up of JUNO, HEATHERS, and THE HOWLING, but that all sounds like it would suck. Truth be told, this is one of my favorite genre movies for the simple fact that the horror comes as much from the f*ckupediness of adolescent development as it does from the furry homicide going on. For a while there everybody was bowing down to J-horror, but this flick helped prove that Canada is a mean sumbitch too.
Before rocking the collective with THE DESCENT, Neil Marshall announced his presence in a major way with this simple project done up right. The easy and perfect premise involves dropping soldiers into a war game that unfortunately is interrupted by werewolves. Well, make that fortunately for us. Good characters, great kills, and an unrelenting intensity are what follows.
1. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
John Landis manages to take the transformation effects that blew us all away in THE HOWLING, and used them in context of a story that kicked ass too. The mixture of humor and horror is done about as perfectly as possible. When you set that against the unavoidably tragic arc of the events at play, you’ve got yourself one unbelievable piece of furburger to chow down on.
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