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Let's settle this. Best Werewolf design in film.

Which practical werewolf design is the best?

  • Wolfman

    Votes: 35 6.9%

  • The Howling

    Votes: 43 8.4%

  • And American Werewolf in London

    Votes: 185 36.3%

  • Bad Moon

    Votes: 19 3.7%

  • Dog Soldiers

    Votes: 67 13.1%

  • Underworld

    Votes: 123 24.1%

  • Other (please state)

    Votes: 38 7.5%
  • Total voters
    510

Deleted member 29939

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
1,572
The Wolf/Vampire beast in Coppola's Dracula is the closest thing to a perfect werewolf design in film IMO

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Unsurprisingly it also had the best depiction of a beast mode Vampire ever

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Fuck I love this movie so much
 
Percival Sparkletrout

Percival Sparkletrout

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,365
I'd have to go with AWIL. Very few movies go for the quadruped design. This one not only did it, but included having the werewolf's skeleton shift from human to a wolf-like structure. I gotta give them credit for that feature alone. Throw in the fact that the design is great on top of that and that gets my vote.

As an aside, there was a furniture store in L.A. next to Canter's Delicatessen (I'm not sure if the furniture store still there. Been a while since I've been there) that in October would do Halloween displays in their store windows. Usually pretty well executed, creepy stuff. One they would do involved a full sized replica of the American Werewolf in London wolf leaping over a bed towards the store window. Seeing that thing in person, and just how big it is, it's terrifying.

My runner up vote has to go to the werewolves from the original Underworld. The practical effects for them were amazing.
 
Uncivilized Elk

Uncivilized Elk

Banned
Jun 22, 2019
3,660
The Company of Wolves, if I remember correctly, just has Husky doggos as the transformed werewolves.

So that one.
 
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devenger

devenger

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
2,736
Bitch Pudding said:
Of course it's American Werewolf. Best. Transformation. Ever.
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This is true, bu far, but as a few have pointed out, the actual monster is not as good as the transformation.

I like a real Wolfman, so the Del Toro one looks fantastic for being a shit movie. Honestly my favorite werewolf design is Marvel's Werewolf By Night, just a badass looking wolfman.

When theyre huge with giant dog heads, eh...
 
Heynongman!

Heynongman!

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,946
Universal Orlando did an American Werewolf in London haunted house a couple times a few years back. Those motherfuckers are terrifying in person.

Their recreation of the transformation scene was incredible.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,869
A werewolf in London's is the best of the list but honestly all practical werewolves look terrible and are clearly oversized costumes. Any living thinf that's meant to be twice the size of a normal human looks terrible as a costume.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
6,659
More_Badass said:
Well then, now I have to check out Waxwork
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Waxwork I and II are both fun movies (the second one was made in the early 90s). The werewolf part is just a part of the story though so don't expect a full werewolf movie, it's just a smaller part of the movie (but one of the best). The basic premise is about a group of friends going to a weird Wax museum and they find themselves being trapped into the different places that the pieces are based on and trying to get out, there's a good vampire story bit too among others. Both of them star the guy that played in Gremlins.

Waxwork you can watch on vudu for free (with ads),

The second one is on Tubi (which is free to watch)
 
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Saucycarpdog

Saucycarpdog

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,524
I honestly wish a horror director today would take a stab at making a good werewolf film with modern effects.

I feel like a mix of practical and CGI is the best solution. Like Jurassic Park.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,655
Saucycarpdog said:
I honestly wish a horror director today would take a stab at making a good werewolf film with modern effects.

I feel like a mix of practical and CGI is the best solution. Like Jurassic Park.
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The director of Tigers Are Not Afraid is making a werewolf western next. Del Toro is producing; at the very least, stuff he produces has good monster effects (Scary Stories..., Splice, Mama, plus the upcoming Antlers looks promising)
 
Turin

Turin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,469
I really liked the Underworld lycans even though those movies were pretty lame after the first.
 
ArgyleReptile

ArgyleReptile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,935
Watched Dog Soldier's on Amazon and was recommended another Werewolf flick called Howl. The wolves were a mix of (admittedly spotty at times) CG and Practical and had a pretty unique design. Was a decent movie as well.
 
Liquor

Liquor

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,715
I enjoy the variety of werewolf designs over the decades, with some being rather weak to being weird and unique enough to be memorable.

My opinion of Dog Soldiers in a summing up manner is that its an interesting concept with a subpar execution. Ultimately the design is disturbing, and the way it's filmed (barely shown in full low to no light), it works.

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Looks like they were going for a quasi wolf-like head, on a tall, hairless body, and it does give unsettling appearance that works well. Taking this design out of the the film is when we can really start to see the designs faults. You can see no Rick Baker created the costume. But from what I understand it was a low budget project anyway. It's raggity appearance actually aids in it's look on film.

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Works great in film. Director knew what he was doing. Not my fave, but far from the worst.
 
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Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

Member
Oct 29, 2017
13,605
Jotakori said:
I know you're looking for practical effects and not CG, but my favorite has always been Harry Potter's werewolf. I just love how lanky and creepy it looks when in motion. Somehow its design and movements always unnerved me more than any proper horror movie werewolf ever did.

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That is such a cool shot. I think that will makes just about anything look incredible, that said, the design is proper horror too. I've seen sketches of it by Wayne Barlowe, who I assume is the designer, and this guy is famous for drawing the horrors of Hell.
 
Gustaf

Gustaf

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
14,926
i find the distinction between horror werewolves and action werevolves really cool.

you can tell just by the design if the werewolf in question is a good guy or a bad guy
 
Deer

Deer

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,567
Sweden
The werewolves in Howling were scary as hell. Just seeing the gif from it made me scared 😬

I just saw Company of Wolves because of this thread. I thought it was interesting, but also massively boring. I had to take breaks because I became so uninterested. Some fun animation (and the idea of the re-imagining of Red Riding Hood was a good idea to examine violence towards women), and some really cute animals, mostly the dogs but credit also to the toads, rats, spiders and snakes. 🐶🐺🐭🐍🕷🐸
 
Liquor

Liquor

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,715
There's two extremes when it comes to werewolf designs in film: the mostly man you see in films like The Wolf Man (1941), and then the opposite being what you see in films like An American Werewolf in London (1981), where you have a creature who walks on all fours, and has no cues that this was once a man. Most werewolf designs fall somewhere in the middle of these two to varying degrees.

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We talked about the werewolves in Dog Soldiers a few post up. While having a doggy head, they are still humanoid in their appearance. The Wolfman (2010) had an interesting thing going on. While looking more in line with the more furry human

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I feel the best designs are going to be menacing and beastial, while at the same time give you cues that this creature was once a human being. The more unsettling a design is, the better it does it's job. In that respect I don't think we have yet to see the perfect werewolf design on film. At least not in a film strictly dedicated to werewolves. Cabin in the Wood's werewolf is mighty close, though.

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AliceAmber

AliceAmber

Drive-in Mutant
Administrator
May 2, 2018
6,834
Oh damn! I was going to say Ginger Snaps but I might have to change my answer to Dracula. So cool!

But honestly I think they're all cool in their own way.
 
NeverWas

NeverWas

Member
Feb 28, 2019
2,618
Out of the list, Howling is probably my favorite. I'll throw in Werewolf the TV series as well...

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Bitch Pudding

Bitch Pudding

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,202
I like Werewolf designs which show them as complete beasts with no humanity left. Which is why I don't like the "Hairy Human"-like designs of Wolfman.

What I like about American Werewolf is that just like in the first Alien movie the fully transformed beast can only be seen in a couple of shots, this one here is one of the first occasions where you can see the sheer size of it.

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As as result, this movie scares the shit out of me until this day. Today's werewolf movies with all their CGI just lost that magic, they might scare you for the first 1-2 minutes but you soon get used to it.

Basically any scene in this movie is either scary or funny. And it's also full of iconic scenes like the nightmare or the zoo ones which is why American Werewolf is the best Werewolf movie ever. Period.
 
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