Wolfen (film)
Encyclopedia
Wolfen is the title of a 1981 horror film
starring Albert Finney
, Diane Venora
, Gregory Hines
and Edward James Olmos
based on Whitley Strieber
's 1978 novel The Wolfen
. It was directed by Michael Wadleigh
and the screenplay was by David Eyre, Eric Roth
(uncredited), and Wadleigh.
living in the vicinity. The Wolfen were not werewolves, but in fact a more advanced version of a wolf which sat above man on the food chain.
to portray the subjective POV
of a wolf. Similar to thermography
, the technique was later adopted by other horror films such as the Predator
series.
The setting for the transient home of the wolves was shot in the South Bronx (intersection of Louis Nine Blvd & Boston Road). The church seen in the opening panorama shot was located at the intersection of E 172nd & Seabury Pl. The shot of this neighborhood is from the north looking roughly S - SE. The decrepit site of ruined buildings was no special effect. The church was built (and burned) especially for the film. Urban decay
in the Bronx in the early 1980s was so widespread that it was the ideal production setting. Today, this community contains mostly suburban-style privately owned houses.
by Orion Pictures
through Warner Bros.
in July 1981. The film grossed $10,626,725 at the box office.
Selected premiere engagements of Wolfen were presented in Megasound
, a high-impact surround sound system similar to Sensurround
. Director Wadleigh was unsatisfied with the final cut of the movie, but so far no director's cut
of the film is available.
The film was released on DVD
in the United States
by Warner Home Video
in 2002.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
starring Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
, Diane Venora
Diane Venora
Diane Venora is an American stage, television, and film actress.-Early life:Venora was born Diana Venora in East Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Marie and Robert P. Venora, who owned a dry cleaning establishment. Diane graduated from East Hartford High School, class of 1970. During her...
, Gregory Hines
Gregory Hines
Gregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...
and Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
based on Whitley Strieber
Whitley Strieber
Louis Whitley Strieber is an American writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, a non-fiction account of his perceived experiences with non-human entities. Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the film about...
's 1978 novel The Wolfen
The Wolfen
The Wolfen , the debut novel by Whitley Strieber, tells the story of two police detectives in New York City who, while investigating the violent deaths of two policemen in a junk yard, discover that a pack of intelligent and savage wolf-like creatures are stalking the city...
. It was directed by Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh is an American movie director and cinematographer renowned for his groundbreaking documentary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Woodstock....
and the screenplay was by David Eyre, Eric Roth
Eric Roth
Eric Roth is an American screenwriter. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump . He also co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Mann's The Insider , the Steven Spielberg film Munich , and David Fincher's film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , all of which were nominated for...
(uncredited), and Wadleigh.
Plot
NYPD Detective Dewey Wilson (Finney) is assigned to solve a bizarre set of violent murders in which it appears the victims were killed by animals. In his investigation, Wilson learns of an Indian legend about wolf spirits, and that there may be predatory shapeshiftersShapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
living in the vicinity. The Wolfen were not werewolves, but in fact a more advanced version of a wolf which sat above man on the food chain.
Cast
- Albert FinneyAlbert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
as Dewey Wilson - Diane VenoraDiane VenoraDiane Venora is an American stage, television, and film actress.-Early life:Venora was born Diana Venora in East Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Marie and Robert P. Venora, who owned a dry cleaning establishment. Diane graduated from East Hartford High School, class of 1970. During her...
as Rebecca Neff - Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
as Eddie Holt - Gregory HinesGregory HinesGregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...
as Wittington - Tom NoonanTom NoonanTom Noonan is an American actor and film writer-director.-Early life:Noonan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rosaleen and Tom Noonan, who worked as a dentist and jazz musician respectively...
as Ferguson - Dick O'NeillDick O'NeillDick O'Neill was an American stage, film and television character actor best known for playing Irish cops, fathers, judges and army generals. He began his acting career as an original company member of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.He served in the Navy then returned to the theater. In the late...
as Warren - Dehl BertiDehl BertiDehl Berti was an Italian American actor who often played native Americans, perhaps best known for his appearance on the American TV show Paradise in the late 1980s...
as Old Indian - Peter Michael GoetzPeter Michael GoetzPeter Michael Goetz is an American actor.Goetz was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Esther L. and Irving A. Goetz, a construction engineer. Goetz studied at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the University of Minnesota, from which he...
as Ross - Reginald VelJohnsonReginald VelJohnsonReginald VelJohnson is an American actor of film, stage and television, well known for his role as Carl Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters, where he was the only cast member to appear in every single episode. He also portrayed LAPD Sgt...
as Morgue Attendant - Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
as Drunken Bar Owner (uncredited)
Production
The film is known for its early use of an in-camera effectIn-camera effect
An in-camera effect is any special effect in a video or movie that is created solely by using techniques in and on the camera and/or its parts. The in-camera effect is defined by the fact that the effect exists on the original camera negative or video recording before it is sent to a lab or modified...
to portray the subjective POV
Perspective (visual)
Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
of a wolf. Similar to thermography
Thermography
Infrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms...
, the technique was later adopted by other horror films such as the Predator
Predator (film)
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox....
series.
The setting for the transient home of the wolves was shot in the South Bronx (intersection of Louis Nine Blvd & Boston Road). The church seen in the opening panorama shot was located at the intersection of E 172nd & Seabury Pl. The shot of this neighborhood is from the north looking roughly S - SE. The decrepit site of ruined buildings was no special effect. The church was built (and burned) especially for the film. Urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
in the Bronx in the early 1980s was so widespread that it was the ideal production setting. Today, this community contains mostly suburban-style privately owned houses.
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
through Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
in July 1981. The film grossed $10,626,725 at the box office.
Selected premiere engagements of Wolfen were presented in Megasound
Megasound
Megasound was the name of a movie theater sound system created by Warner Bros. in the early 1980s. It was used to enhance the premiere engagements of a handful of Warner features, including Altered States , Outland, Wolfen and Superman II .Theaters equipped for Megasound had additional speakers...
, a high-impact surround sound system similar to Sensurround
Sensurround
Sensurround is the trademark name for a process developed in the 1970s by Cerwin-Vega in conjunction with Universal Studios to enhance the audio experience during film screenings...
. Director Wadleigh was unsatisfied with the final cut of the movie, but so far no director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
of the film is available.
The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
in 2002.