Twilight Fan: The Wolfman

E-mail hath no fury like a woman neck-deep in a Twilight frenzy.

Yesterday, George 'El Guapo' Roush from LatinoReview.com posted a fan's response to Universal's latest werewolf flick, The Wolfman – a remake of the 1941 classic. (Read Techland's review of the reboot here.) In a typo-ridden fit of rage, the note's author lets loose on the werewolf lore presented in The Wolfman, damning their accusations that any werewolf would ever transform into "some deformed mutation of a rapid dog" or be killed by a silver bullet.

I'll let you read for yourselves:

To whom this may concern:

This movie was a complete waste and I feel that it offends ALL Twilight Fans around the world, that including myself. For one, it was a COMPLETE remaking of the Wolf Pack from the Twilight Saga: New Moon. It gives the werewolves a bad name and makes them look like some deformed mutation of a rabid dog. I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was until I saw your crappy remake of what you call to be a "were wolf". I don't see how you live with yourself for making it the way you did. If I made this movie, I would be ashamed to even admit that I owned it. How can a werewolf be killed with a silver bullet? Better yet, have you saw the transformation of the man that is "supposed" to be the wolf? He sits in some chair and his entire body turns in to some mutated freak. If you would watch the transformation of Jacob Black, (Taylor Lautner) he doesn't come close to looking as fake, cheap and or mutated as the wolf man.  You tell me, who looks to be the better werewolf. Your stupid Wolf Movie didn't even make the top Movie for the charts; Valentines Day WITH TAYLOR Lautner! Get that this is MY oppinion and I felt I wanted to express it because I saw that your email was on your site. I wanted to let you know this is what i thought of the wolf man that sucks.
FREAKIN LAUTNER DID!

So what, good Techland readers, is the appropriate werewolf legend to follow? Do we look to Gilgamesh, carry wolfsbane, avoid full moons or pack enough silver heat to take out the wildest of beasts? In years past, tales of the children of the moon followed a similar storyline: one bite would turn you, like it or not, into an uncontrollable beast each time the full moon rose. Weren't we all agreed? It seemed that way.

But since the ascending to franchise fame, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series has done some serious meddling where our monster lore is concerned. (Oh god, we won't even get into the awful things she's done to vampires. Another post. Another day.) Nowadays, according to Ms. Meyer, werewolves are born with the ability to shape shift to protect innocent victims from blood-lusting vamps. However, they may transform whenever they like – no moon required. They're also in complete control of their wolfy minds – as long as they don't lose their tempers – eliminating any danger to those close to them. And as far as death is concerned, only one thing is a full-blown death sentence: vampire venom.

(More on Techland: What Twilight Means: John Granger, Professor of Meyerology)

This version certainly aids the romantic dribble being spoon fed to Team Jacobers 'round the world, but where does that leave the curse of the werewolf? It's our character's greatest tragedy, not his biggest strength. Right? Right? It doesn't look like that's the case anymore.

I say we put it to a vote. Silver bullets vs. shape shifters.

Would we win? As Twilight's devastating cloud of monster-fluff reaches further over sci-fi audiences, perhaps not.

More on Techland:

The Techland Show

Interview With Wolfman Director Joe Johnston

(via The Daily What)

Comments (23)

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  1. Zombies are taking over the world.

    braktalk88

    Feb. 19, 2010 17:37pm

  2. And they're after brains and those who won't read Twilight.

    Allie Townsend

    Feb. 19, 2010 17:44pm

  3. What's the world coming to when I'm forced to take the side of the crappy Wolfman movie?

    yogi

    Feb. 19, 2010 18:38pm

  4. @Allie That's redundant.

    Church

    Feb. 19, 2010 21:00pm

  5. ^Exactly. You could have just said either one of those, and it would mean the exact same group of people dead.

    In any case, reading that e-mail has made me so angry and sad that I've been forced to shutter it away in an unused part of my brain (right next to the theme music to Matchgame). I will only draw it out again if I ever am in a face-to-face confrontation with Mrs. Meyer, in which case I will remember it and use the pure rage to kill her with my mind.

    tereglith

    Feb. 19, 2010 21:24pm

  6. It's a shame I'm admitting this, but I have read all Twilight books and whoever posted that letter is pretty wrong. To those who haven't read the last one, I'm sorry, but those wolves are just shapeshifters. In the Twilight book, one of the vampire leaders confirms that he is scared of werewolves, but the ones who have terrorized the nights in Europe. They are werewolves similar to the creatures we have grown to love in our nightmares. The wolves that girl speaks of in her comment are just humans who had shapeshifting abilities and just pretty much stuck to being wolves. Even that same vampire I mentioned earlier only saw the Team Jacob wolves as being oversized beast. But honestly, I do prefer a werewolf similar to those in Van Helsing or some of the older movies. At least those were scary and did make some sense.

    chitc

    Feb. 19, 2010 22:37pm

  7. To be technical, both are wrong. Original Werewolves were men that would strip naked, put on wolf's pelts, get high on majic salves made of lanolin and turn into feral creatures part man part wolf.

    Personally I have 2 favourite types of lycanthropes; The Wolfman, The Werewolf, and the Wolven.

    The Wolfman type is like that that Micheal Landon played, a mostly man with feral creatures with little control of himself on the full moon.

    The Werewolf, which is exemplified in Wolf and An American Werewolf in London, is a viloent metamorphasis into a creature with almost(ALMOST) no self control and apperantly disappears into the monster he becomes, only to tragically turn back and see what has happened.

    The ones I hate are the Shapeshifers, the Rabid, and the born human turn werewolf at puberty. These three types either overdo, underdo, or ignore the most compelling parts of the mythos.

    Oh yeah, people making werewolf movies... STOP BEATING US OVER THE HEAD WITH THE IMAGE OF ROMULUS AND REMUS AND THE SHE WOLF THAT ADOPTED THEM... hmmmkay! Thanks.

    wolvenspectre

    Feb. 20, 2010 02:28am

  8. "This movie was a complete waste and I feel that it offends ALL Twilight Fans around the world, that including myself."

    This cracks me up. Had to share it with the whole office we all laughed our ***** off. Sadly this is a argument I have had many times with my wife and her twilight friends. I cannot sit through 10 minutes of twilight without getting sad for seeing such great scifi/horror icons being turned into to cute loveable human pets. But I have got my wife to watch some classics now and she actually likes the old vampire/werewolf movies but sadly still likes twilight.

    midpipps

    Feb. 20, 2010 13:26pm

  9. I'm just so saddened how monsters have been dolled up by pop culture.

    fltm29

    Feb. 20, 2010 16:36pm

  10. Huh? Werewolves are creatures created by the earth and the moon eons ago to keep in check the Wyrm, the primodial force of disolution, to all die in the coming Apocolypse, and to spend the meantime before the oncoming end of all things fighting the Wyrm's creation, Pentax. And vampires. And hunters. And each other, as often as not.

    *Everyone* knows that.

    nedlum

    Feb. 21, 2010 14:56pm

  11. @chitc equally embarrassed to admit it, but agreed. One of the Twilight vamps tells the Volturi (Michael Sheen's character, for the blessedly uninitiated) that the pack wolves are not "children of the moon." We're led to believe that they started calling themselves werewolves to lend some familiarity to their condition.

    And I'mma let y'all finish, but Remus Lupin is the greatest werewolf of all time ;)

    ewstephe

    Feb. 22, 2010 09:40am

  12. It is truly sad to see that because of Twilight the great monsters of lore have been... I'm not even sure if the words I want to use are allowed to be posted here.

    Its almost as if people actually believe that the series created and defined the creatures they attempt to represent.

    Its as if they fail to comprehend that the creatures existed prior to their hallowed books being written and if anything their beliefs are the true bastardization of the true ideal.

    planckzero

    Feb. 22, 2010 11:08am

  13. To Twilight's defense, there is a part in either the third of fourth book where some of the vampires are talking about how the Twilight werewolves aren't really werewolves, they're just shapeshifters who happen to turn into wolves.

    They acknowledge that real werewolves are feral and a totally different animal.

    forfeit327

    Feb. 22, 2010 12:13pm

  14. I'm slightly surprised by the volume of Twilight readers that have just outed themselves here. I take it it was for "research purposes" only, right?

    Allie Townsend

    Feb. 22, 2010 14:51pm

  15. @allie - is wanting to communicate with a 15-year-old sister an excuse?

    ewstephe

    Feb. 22, 2010 15:22pm

  16. @ewstephe - You'll get no judgment from me. I've read 'em. I'll even go further: I even kind of like 'em. I just don't like what they've done to our monster lore.

    Allie Townsend

    Feb. 22, 2010 16:07pm

  17. I agree with you Allie. I like *most* of these movies because they can bring in new characters in a fun way. It would be interesting to develop new myths and legends, though, rather than re-writing the old ones.
    There is so much fuel to create something new, and to some extent we have. Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, Superman....all those and more are really like monsters, men, and gods of old. Wouldn't it be interesting to see 1000 years from now and see what survived?
    I hope the next installment of Twilight is good, because my wife wants to see it. But I want to see the Wolfman movie...and The Crazies...and Legion. Can you tell me if those were any good? Sorry, I just saw Snyder's review of Legion, and I still want to see it. How about The Crazies?

    bignumone

    Feb. 23, 2010 12:54pm

  18. @bignumone -- Word in the office is that The Crazies is great. Expect reviews soon.

    Allie Townsend

    Feb. 23, 2010 15:52pm

  19. First of all, let me say that I saw Wolfman on Valentine's Day and it was amazing. I hope there is a second one to soon follow. Now, let me put this out there, I am a fellow twilighter and I have read the series a handful of times and I adore Stephanie Myers' writing. I think that she is a fantastic writer with a vision for taking timeless classics and adjusting them a little bit to allow for those people who are not into the more gorey folklore. However, the blogger who actually the nerve to post such a baseless and idiotic piece should be slapped for even making us listen to her retarded rambling. She obviously did not actually read the books and she is only interested in the movies because of one of two reason: Robert Pattison or Taylor Lautner. Personally, I think that they ruined the books with the movies and that the actors and actresses chosen to represent the characters in Stephanie Myers books did an abysmal job at recreating the story that was told throughout her series.

    There are many people out there who feel almost put out because of the changes that Stephanie made to traditional creatures. I understand your frustration with the changes that she has made to these characters; making them less horrific. However, as I already said, Stephanie takes the tradition creatures and makes them more likable for those people who have a weak stomach. So, for all of you who hate Stephanie Myer and the Twilight series, I apologize for the idiocy that this twilight fan has made you believe exists in all of the twilight fans. She is truly a disgrace to the term "twilight fan" and should really go back and reread all of the books before she opens her mouth again and spits her unneeded opinion.

    dreamer04t

    Feb. 27, 2010 06:04am

  20. It's unfortunate that the young believe that folklore only began with Harry Potter and Twilight, instead of actually bothering to seek out a book like Frankenstein, written back in 1816 by Mary Shelley? At least, it appears, the traumtized youngster who "actually" started to "like werewolves" (well, some of them don't think much of humans, either!) is not so far removed from the scandalized reactions people experienced when Mary Shelley wrote such a horrifying story. Imagine! A WOMAN writing such things!In 1816. What's the world coming to?? Shield the children!

    I am reminded of George Santayana's quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." However, in current popular culture, perhaps it ought to be amended to, "Those who cannot remember the past are confined to re-writing it."

    mcbrion

    Mar. 24, 2010 01:22am

  21. Ugh. Meyer has completely ruined monsters. Now, I'm not saying that i have a problem with soulfull vamps and sexy werewolfs (Angel and Oz ftw) But they're still deadly monsters who have killed people and need to be stabbed in the heart and sent to hell every once in a while. Meyer romanticized them and took all of the evil out of them. It makes me sick. That is all I have to say.

    kathleenliz

    May. 11, 2010 18:31pm

  22. Ugh....
    OK, I'm not a fan of Twilight, but I ended up reading the books to see what they were all about. And wasn't there a bit where it said that the wolves weren't REAL werewolves, but something like shape shifters?

    Either way the fan who wrote the letter is a moron. "How can a silver bullet kill a werewolf?" How the fuck do vampire sparkle, moron? This werewolf story was around long before fuckin' Stephanie Meyer raped the world of fiction with her garbage.

    -sc

    Shannon

    May. 25, 2010 18:59pm

  23. Twilight gives horror fans and literature a bad name.

    lorddanegerous

    Jun. 8, 2010 23:30pm