I’m interested to see how the Anita Blake TV series shows its Weres, I agree that most we’ve seen so far don’t look right, real or believable.

I have serious issues with ‘half-changed’ werewolves. One, they look horrible and not in a horrorfying way. Two, it makes no sense for them to be between forms. Three, have I mentioned they’re really ugly.

Half the reason people like werewolves is because it’s humans changing into sleek four-footed predators. (That bear a resemblance to our cute puppies.)
Not into ugly hybrids.

Aside from that though, I don’t have too much beef with movie/TV depictions, aside from how quick they change.
Give me a few minutes of bone-crunching shape changing and I’d be happy or even not showing it on-screen but it has to be a quick morph or a slowish one. It’s um… not supposed to be pleasant.

My only disclaimer to all of the above is if they’re shapeshifters, in which case they can be as quick as they please. Shapeshifting feels a bit more magical and a bit less “It’s a civilised human being turning into a savage beast” and more “It’s a human. Whose other skin is that of an animal”.

Just as FYI Anita Blake isn’t going to tv for now from what was on LKH blog a few posts ago.

I like the larger canine wolf shape myself. I know it’s not traditional horror look but I like it.

Then again I dont like scary movies much and the half shape with all the sfx just scares me sometimes. I’m not generally scared of actual wolves- they tend to have a bad rap overall. Best trained dog I ever had was 3/4 wolf — and he trained himself.

Rambling again.. Have a happy day!

Maybe we’re asking too much of movie makers, JalenJade. Perhaps the technology just isn’t there yet. But I think they can pull it off.

Interesting, Lauren. My hubby’s point was also that Hollywood thinks we need to be awed by something bigger and badder every time we go to the movies. But sometimes when you pull back and get real it can be even scarier. I think he might have something there.

I’m definitely into the bone-crunching bit, Chloe. I can’t imagine it would ever be pleasant. Magical, yes. Easy, no.

Cool. Thanks for the links, SanityAna.
For some reason I couldn’t bring your second one up. Let’s see if it’ll work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-sDU05gAmQ

Thanks for the input, Tori!

I agree, Vale. My impression was always that some humanity was left inside the werewolf, always warring with the animal instinct, which was generally much stronger once the change happened. But authors will play!

This is a great discussion after watching “Werewolf” last night on the SyFy channel. I sat there laughing at the way they portrayed the transformation itself because the actors looked like they had a bad case of poison ivy with pointy ears, claws and a Halloween dog nose painted on them. The story left me with the impression that the transformation was really long (like a day or two) and abnormally painful. At the very end of the movie though was this great moment where the last standing soldier looked over to the knoll from where he was gassing up his car and there were two wolves standing there watching him. Every viewer knew it was the hero and his mate that had survived the blood bath. One moment with a real animal gave me more goosebumps than the entire movie with black paint noses and fangs.

Personally some of the scariest movies I’ve seen are ones where you don’t actually see the monsters.
Wolves are not incrediably scary, as most of us can see a wolf (or dingo) like traits in our pet dogs.
That and the transformations on screen are normally crap, and the resulting animal is normally more funny than scary.

Have Bite Marks to read

I think cinematically speaking something is always lost in translation.
I agree with what has been said already: Their either too much like an extra out of Star Trek: The original series, or just too gory…what is it with todays movie makers, that unless their making us loose our popcorn they aren’t happy.
I’m not even sure I’ve found anything believable, even genre busting series BTVS was a little more sesame street than actually believable.

i have issues with shapechanging full stop (were, magic, or genetic)… there is no way that the mass of a human (ranging from 60-100kg) can be compacted down to a wolf (according to wiki the weight range for modern wolves are 25-40kg)… where does the extra mass go? if someone could change into a wolf, their wolf form would have to be the size of a saint bernard or great dane… hardly inconspicuous. not to mention the physiological changes that would need to take place- ribs, the spine, and limb structure would have to be realigned to accomodate a quadrupedal form. i like the idea of it, who wouldn’t? but from a purely academic viewpoint, it doesn’t make sense. i think some of the problem with modern takes on the were-wolf mythos in hollywood especially, is that the film-makers are trying to go for the shock value rather than realism, so some of the terror that should be there is lost.

Very true, they probably think it’ll give the film more impact, though in reality it’ll probably just make you remember it for the wrong reasons! I think it would give you more respect for them as predators! Seriously don’t see whats wrong with a pack of proper wolves chasing someone, it would certainly scare the hell out of me!

One of the basic laws of physics is that energy cannot be either created or destroyed. My biggest problem with most movie/TV versions of shapeshifting (either by choice or phases of the moon) is that the energy is not conserved. As Onyx pointed out, you simply cannot make a human take the form of an average wolf. That extra energy HAS to go somewhere, so I’m more likely to believe in giant wolves (or any other animal) as weres than a standard size wolf.

As for the changing itself, generally I’m over moviemakers going for the shock value. Yes, I understand it would be a long and painful process, but don’t insult my intelligence and disrespect my time by drawing it out. Watching someone scream at the camera for 10 seconds while their face bulges and pops is not something I’ve paid to see. Hint at it, make it more real by having someone in another room cringe and cry with every scream and pop wrung out of the shifter. Subtle is key.

Another bug bear for me is the infection itself. Don’t writers understand concepts of incubation periods and progression of disease? The MOI (Multiplicity of Infection) would have to be ridiculously high for a victim to receive a swipe from a were-animal and then change themselves a few minutes later.

Good science in paranormal stories just makes it that much better!

For anybody who has watched New Moon I thought the werewolves in that were actually pretty scary looking. Just like normal wolves but big.