A New Werewolf Movie Is Out: Can It Stack Up With The Five Best?

By Pete Vonder Haar Mon., Jan. 26 2009 at 11:21 AM

Categories: Movies

Compared to their cinematic horror counterparts, werewolves don't get no respect. While vampires and zombies have been done to death in recent years, it's still rare to see a werewolf in a movie without some vamps thrown in to secure the teenage-girl demographic. Here then are some of the best in the shapeshifter millieu to keep you going until you get a chance to download Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

5. Wolfen (1981) Rudy Giuliani never realized the downside of urban renewal was that it deprives urban lycanthropes of their steady diet of homeless and bums. On the other hand, Dick O'Neill definitely learned why you don't let the dog ride in the car with you.

4. The Howling (1981) More impressive than this non-CGI transformation scene is the fact that Dee Wallace sits and watches the whole thing with an open door ten feet behind her. Now, I'm now coward, but had I been in the same position I'd have had time to flee the room, find a couple of unattended infants to satiate the werewolf's hunger, and flee the room again.

3. The Wolf Man (1941) I still can't believe that's Casablanca's Capt. Renault beating the crap out of Lon Chaney, Jr. If only he'd shown that kind of take charge attitude with Major Strasser from the get go, Ugarte might still be alive.

2. Dog Soldiers (2002) Neil Marshall announced his presence with this hugely entertaining (and often hilarious - fast forward to the 8 minute mark in this clip) flick that probably makes the Scots wish they'd had a couple of werewolves at Culloden.

1. An American Werewolf in London (1981) John Landis produces a perfect mix of the frightening, funny, and touching in his first horror effort (1973's Schlock doesn't count). What's more, this scene was the primary reasons I left England off the itinerary of my 1993 backpacking trip to Europe.