The Werewolf's gruesome final scene is sure to crack up horror fans

This article contains mild spoilers for “Wolf Man”.

The centerpiece of any werewolf movie is its transformation sequence. Starting with George Wagner's “Wolf Man” in 1941watching a man transform into a hairy, wolf-like beast, attracting hordes of terror nuts. In The Wolf Man, Lon Chaney, Jr. sat still in a chair for a static shot of his face. Then the film's top makeup technicians would add a little makeup and hair, and Chaney would be shot again. Several shots were stitched together using a clever cross-fade, giving the impression that he was transforming. It looks great to this day.

1981 was also a banner year for the werewolf transformation, with the release of Joe Dante's The Howling and John Landis' An American Werewolf in London. Both of these films made extensive use of makeup, puppetry, models and rubber creature heads to create truly terrifying werewolf transformations. I also want to draw attention to the transformation in the 1988 film “Howling IV: The Original Nightmare”, where a person literally melts into a puddle and then transforms into a Werewolf, like the T-1000 in “Terminator 2”. It is new to most.

There are, for those who don't mind, spoilers for the wolf transformations in Leigh Winnell's new The Wolf Man film. were already available onlinealthough I recommend saving the video until after you've watched the movie. Needless to say, the sequence is likely to divide audiences. On the one hand, Wannell seems to have wanted to dramatize a werewolf transformation that was as realistic as possible, keeping wolf-like mutations to a minimum and keeping the Werewolf more human than wolf. On the other hand, the lack of particularly dramatic changes might upset horror fans raised on “An American Werewolf” and “Howling.” For many, the transformation will not be long enough, different or strange enough.

Unfortunately, there are no scenes where Christopher Abbott's face is creepily stretched into a wolf's muzzle.

It should be explained that the werewolf curses Kella “Wolf Man” not a magical curse but a biological virus. Christopher Abbott plays the character Blake, who contracts a virus from a werewolf attack while en route to his dead father's cabin in the Oregon woods. The virus takes hold quickly, and his transformation happens quickly. At first, his feelings improve. For example, he can hear a spider walking on the wall from several rooms. Fun novel detail: Blake also loses the ability to understand human speech. After a while, his wife (Julie Garner) and daughter (Matilda Firth) sound like they're talking rudely.

However, since the transformation is so quick and there's no explicit magic involved, it seems Vanel wanted to keep the wolfishness of his central monster to a minimum. It seems he wanted to create a realistic monster. Blake's hair is falling out on his head, but a little extra is growing on his back. His claws become claws and his hands seem to expand. His face swells slightly and his nose becomes flattened and more animal-like. His ears are also getting a little pointy. Oh yeah, and he grows teeth and his eyes turn yellow and more wolf lives. He's more of a weird, scary dude than a wolf.

But that's it. Unlike “An American Werewolf in London”, “Howling” or 1941's “The Wolf Man”, this new werewolf does not become a wolf. His feet do not break in the paws of wolves. His ears do not go towards the top of his head. He has no tail. Wolf mutations seem, at least for a horror movie, more believable. It is theoretically possible for a person's face to swell or teeth to fall out when faced with a serious illness. You may even lose your mental faculties. These are symptoms of several serious diseases.

But in his move toward realism, Vannell robbed The Wolf Man of a brilliant transformation sequence. Wannell is a thoughtful and effective horror director (he previously made “Invisible Man” and “Upgrade”) who knows how to work on a budget. It would have been thrilling for horror fans to watch him swing on the walls and stretch the tight budget of The Wolfman by creating a werewolf mutation for the ages. He couldn't use expensive modern CGI, but there's still a lot that can be done with carefully planned, cheap practical effects. Also, while “Wolf Man” is relatively low-key and subdued, gorehounds know that Wannell can be wild. In addition to writing the first three Saw films and the first four Insidious films, he also directed Insidious: Chapter 3.

He brings a wild Australian sensibility to his films that only he and his compatriots can provide. Acclaimed Austrian director Philip Mora directed both Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf and Howling III: The Marsupials. Gunnell could have taken cues from Mora.

But then it all comes down to preference. Each of them likes realistic werewolves based on biology, and others like magical werewolves that fully transform into large carnivorous monsters. Wannell's goal was the former, but it will potentially upset fans of the latter.

Something tells me this is going to be an easy debate that goes on for years. Something similar slow zombies vs fast zombies argument. The conclusion will never be drawn.

“The Wolf Man” is now playing in theaters everywhere.