Here Are The 18 Finest Werewolf Movies You Can Watch Right Now:
The funny thing regarding werewolves is that, even though they’re a well-known and beloved horror as well as fantasy creature, there are shockingly few movies that tell werewolf stories, and even fewer that do them well.
People have been fascinated by werewolves for thousands of years, so it makes sense that they have stayed popular in movies all over the world. However, these man-wolves do not originate from well-known literature like “Dracula” or “Frankenstein” do. Their roots are much deeper, in the strange stories of European folklore rather than Victorian fiction.
According to folklore, these scary figures are people who can turn into wild wolves every night when the moon is full. They can do this by choice, a curse, or a bite. This act of changing has a lot of metaphorical meaning; it can represent the physical form of the wild animal that lives inside both men and women.
Werewolf movies are known for having some of the most amazing realistic effects. In fact, Rick Baker’s groundbreaking work on An American Werewolf in London won the first Oscar for makeup effects.
They also make for stark, shocking stories of self-awakening and a constant way to look at our relationship with the beast that we all know lives inside us. Maybe that’s what makes the werewolf theme stand out: persistence.
Brotherhood Of The Wolf:
Brothers of the Wolf by Christophe Gans is a great choice if you want to see a werewolf movie that is a little distinct from the rest. This movie mixes Colonial French fighting with 18th-century aristocrats, bloody, brilliant filming, intense fight routines, and religious, scientific, and mythological points of view.
There’s a lot going on in this movie. In fact, Mark Dacascos, as an Iroquois martial arts master, makes perfect sense with everything else that’s happening. The story of the Brotherhood of the Wolf is partly based on the tale of the Beast of Gévaudan. The story takes place during the French Revolution.
The person telling the story talks about Grégoire de Fronsac, a French knight and scientist, and Mani, a Native American friend who came to negotiate with the creature that was causing trouble in the countryside.
The story that follows is exciting as the two people look into the attacks, find a plot that keeps changing, and end up in a fight for their lives. Brothers of the Wolf isn’t at all like other werewolf movies. It’s an interesting movie that you shouldn’t miss.
The Wolf Man:
Universal Pictures’ first attempt at a werewolf movie, 1935’s Werewolf in London, did not do well at the box office. The Wolf Man is their second try. This movie was much better received compared to the other one made by the company. Along with Dracula and Frankenstein, it is now considered one of the classics from those days of monster movies.
Lon Chaney Jr. plays the title character, the dogman, who is an American who goes back to Wales to bury his brother and, shortly thereafter, falls in love with a girl there. Too bad he turns into a werewolf to save her from a monster; that’s how romance stories work.
The Wolf Man stands out among the many great Universal monster movies due to its moody setting of fog and a dark forest, as well as the quality of its lead performance, rather than relying solely on its special effects makeup. Whether Chaney is dressed as a wolf or not, his performance electrifies with sadness and gloom.
Wolf:
Spec stories as well as star-director packages were popular in the 1990s, and sometimes they led to crazy movies like Wolf. These days, no company would put $70 million into a movie like Wolf.
Wolf by Mike Nichols is a truly strange hit movie. It’s a magical horror romance that’s as much about publishing company backstabbing as it is about screaming and killing. It’s possible that only the director of Heartburn and Carnal Knowledge could have talked Jack Nicholson into it. But Nicholson is a great choice to play a wolf man.
After getting bit by a wolf in Vermont, he starts acting like the cocky alpha male we expect him to, sweeping Michelle Pfeiffer off her feet as well as going to war with an oily James Spader.
Supporting roles go to David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Plummer, and Richard Jenkins. The score by Ennio Morricone is also very good. Wolf is a fun movie as long as it’s not about “Jack Behaving Badly.” The parts where he wears full fake make-up are silly.
Silver Bullet:
Silver Bullet was based on the Stephen King tale Cycle of the Monsters. Each part of that book tells a different short story about the same monster that haunts a small town in Maine.
The werewolf turns out to be the town’s minister, but as his condition slowly makes him lose his mind, he starts to hate Marty Coslaw, a young paralyzed boy in the town who has figured out who he is.
In Silver Bullet, Corey Haim plays Marty, Gary Busey plays Marty’s drunk uncle, and Everett McGill plays Reverend Lowe, who is very scary. The werewolf design is one of a kind, and while it’s not the best Stephen King version, the whole thing is fun to watch.
The Curse Of The Werewolf:
This 1960 movie from director Terence Fisher was the only werewolf movie Hammer Film Productions ever made. It was based on the book The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore.
In the first cruel story, a dumb servant girl gets raped and becomes pregnant. On Christmas Day, she dies giving birth. All of these things make Leon, the child who survived, a monster.
Oliver Reed’s first lead role in a movie is as Leon, a sad character with superb, gloomy energy that shows how the character fights inside due to a condition he can’t control. His pain is made worse by his desire for Christina, a girl from the area, and his desire to be free of his curse.
Fisher’s direction is always sure, and Roy Ashton’s design for the werewolf, when it finally shows up, is a sensitive mix of wolf as well as human, which fits Reed’s performance’s minor changes.
Trick ‘r Treat:
Trick ‘r Treat, which came out in 2007, was a collection of short stories set in a small town as people got ready for Halloween. In a number of interconnected stories, the movie shows different strange events. All of them involve a child named Sam, who wears a mysterious and scary cotton sack.
A masked killer living out his vampire fantasies picks a young girl as his target. He quickly learns he made a mistake when she breaks his bones and gives him to a group of beautiful women dancing around a fire. Soon, they show what they really are when they rip off their skin and let out their scary werewolf selves as they start to eat for the night.
Late Phases:
Here’s the thing regarding Silver Bullet: don’t get mad, but it’s not a great movie. It’s not true. But it is a well-liked, family-friendly book in the genre that got people interested in lycanthropic love for a generation. That’s right, I’m one of them.
That was the first Stephen King book I read, and it scared me. While Silver Bullet isn’t nearly as scary, it is a fun and carefree coming-of-age folk favorite in the Kingian style.
According to Don Coscarelli, he quit after producers threw out Stephen King’s writing notes, even though he had helped direct part of the movie. Daniel Attias, a famous TV director, made his directorial debut with his sole feature film.
It’s not the direction that’s wrong with Silver Bullet, though. The story is based on King’s original Cycle of the Werewolf calendar before it was turned into a novella.
But, despite some problems with the story, Silver Bullet is still a lot of fun. You root for the family as they fight a dangerous beast, and Gary Busey’s Uncle Red is one of the best adult characters in the history of teen horror. He is a commendable uncle who consistently strives to do what is right, making him a valuable asset in his own right.
The Howling:
There were three werewolf movies released in 1981, all of which had full moons, rabid dogs, and horrifying change scenes. Of all of them, “The Howling” is probably the most simple horror movie. Director Joe Dante became famous for his comedic horror movies after making “The Howling” before Gremlins.
But the movie with Dee Wallace as a news anchor who tries to relax at a country resort after a serial killer attack but makes things even worse for her is a good scare fest, with gory killings, great makeup by Rob Bottin, and a nerdy side that shows in the fact that almost every character is named after a horror film director.
The Howling additionally featured a longer tail than the movies it was competing with when it came out. It had a mind-numbing seven sequels, but it’s best not to talk about them.
Werewolves Within:
The hilarious and scary small-town comedy-horror by Josh Ruben is based on a video game, but you might not know it. The murder mystery and guess-the-lycanthrope premise from the medieval VR original are kept by Ruben as well as screenwriter Mishna Wolff.
However, in modern-day Vermont, a great group of oddballs and weirdos are locked up in a cabin together until they can determine the one who stands out. You can think of it as a magical The Hateful Eight meets Clue. As the forest guard, Sam Richardson, who is always great, gets a welcome lead part.
But it’s his awkward rom-com double act alongside mailwoman Milana Vayntrub that really warms the heart. While it was going on, it looked like the twist might be that there isn’t even a werewolf, though the fact that this movie is on the list might give you away.
Ginger Snaps:
“I can’t have chest hair!” That’s not good! Universal made She-Wolf of London within the 1940s, yet it’s still pretty rare to see a werewolf on TV or in movies who isn’t a wolf man.
Ginger Snaps came out after Buffy, so being a female-focused teen horror show, it already had some fans. But Buffy was never as cool or sweary as Katharine Isabelle or Emily Perkins, and she may not have been as funny either.
The high school bloodbath by John Fawcett and Karen Walton is very honest about the changes that happen during youth. It doesn’t hide the obvious link between lycanthropic monthly moon cycles and menstrual blood. If that sounds heavy, don’t worry the movie also has a light side, with a dark comedy tone that makes me think of Heathers.
Since it’s a Canadian independent film, it doesn’t have to follow the rules set by a company, so it keeps its quirks and rough edges. However, the fun prequel set in the 19th century, which was shot back-to-back in 2003, couldn’t quite capture the same mood.
An American Werewolf In London:
John Landis wrote An American Werewolf in London when he was only 19. It has horror, comedy, and romance in the buildup to its amazing change that won an Academy Award.
A terrible animal attacks two American students who are backpacking across the Yorkshire moors. The werewolf badly injures one and kills the other. When the survivor, David, wakes up, his dead friend comes to see him at night and tells him that they were attacked by a werewolf.
He will also turn into this magical being if he doesn’t kill himself before the following full moon. The movie films the amazing transformation scene in a normal living room during the middle of the day.
It shows a very real and painful change, which is both a spectacle and a tragedy, since this is the moment that not only seals David’s fate but also starts his uncontrolled, bloody spree through central London.
The Company Of Wolves:
The Company of Wolves was a very different werewolf movie that used a lot of fairy tale tropes and social criticism.
The main story is about Little Red Riding Hood, and the main character, Rosaleen, imagines that she is in a fairy tale forest. Throughout the story, different characters tell stories about monsters.
In all of the movie’s different stories, the werewolves stand for dangerous men as well as the different kinds of risks they can pose, from leading women wrong to actually attacking them.
The movie has a lot of metaphor, which can clash with the skin-tearing change scenes. However, both of them together make monsters that will scare most people in some way.
Wolfen:
Jack Nicholson plays Will Randall, an editor who is having a terrible time in his life. Wolf feels like a white-collar monster movie made in the 1990s. He loses his job, finds out that his wife is cheating on him with one of his students, and gets a werewolf curse after being bitten by a wild animal on the side of the road.
That’s when he meets Laura Alden, the beautiful and mysterious daughter of rich publishing mogul Raymond Alden. Laura is spoiled but charming, and he starts an affair with her while he is changing into a werewolf.
It seems like Nicholson has always displayed a wolfish quality, like he’s always in the middle of some magical change. However, what surprises me most is his reserved portrayal in the part, which is a departure from his usual out-of-character behavior and is used to great effect.
Spader also makes great use of his trademark weirdness, and Pfeiffer is as exciting as she can be in a small role. Wolf is an unapologetically adult take on the werewolf theme. It doesn’t have any blood and guts or showy, animation-driven changes.
Director Mike Nichols takes the story seriously, but not so seriously that the movie stops being fun. The business setting is a new take on typical werewolf tropes. Wolf is not a scary movie at all, but it is a fun and fantastical spoof on sex and the tough business world, with an A-list cast as well as an Oscar-winning director.
Teen Wolf:
“Teen Wolf” is one of the silliest movies of the 1980s, a decade that loved being silly. Do not confuse it with the MTV teen soap/beefcake showcase that inspires it.
Michael J. Fox portrays Teen Wolf. He is a normal and unremarkable high school student who becomes the coolest dog in school when he finds out that he and his family are werewolves and uses his abilities to become the best basketball player on his team.
Despite not being among Fox’s top three teen comedies in the 1980s, Rod Daniel’s movie still showcases a likable actor and undeniable kitsch.
Dog Soldiers:
Neil Marshall’s first book, Berserk, has some dark wood, but it’s not as gothic as it is full of crazy action. Dog Soldiers excels as a war movie where a base is under attack by monsters. In the Scottish Highlands, a group of soldiers on a training mission against the SAS find the enemy boys dead and have to hide in a house to avoid being attacked by werewolves.
Marshall is a master of this genre, and it’s easy to see how Assault upon Precinct 13, Aliens, as well as your other favorites, influenced this. But Dog Soldiers is also its own beast, thanks to its fast pace and funny voice acting.
There is a lot going on, lots of blood, and Sean Pertwee is competing with a dog to get his innards. When you’re this creative, you can get a lot done at a small expense.
Underworld:
Not well received by critics when it first came out, Underworld was a big hit with audiences and gained enough fans to warrant the creation of both a sequel and a video game based on the story.
The movie’s success comes from its strong mix of gothic and Matrix-style images and its big idea: Selene, a cool as well as seductive vampire assassin, pursues and kills werewolves as part of a war that has been going on for decades between the two types of supernatural creatures.
Selene is the only huntress who wears skin-tight, wet black leather and shoots, hits, and kicks her way through the hordes of werewolves who want to kill her kind.
Within these acts, she kills them with grace and ease, and the use of slow motion and wire effects that resist gravity makes it even more beautiful. The movie is very visual and full of selfish joys.
When Animals Dream:
Werewolves tend to get more respect than other supernatural monsters because they are mostly humans. In fact, they are often the main characters in their own movies. Animals Dream really goes for this, and the main character, Marie, is a likable and sympathetic person who is suffering in a way that many teens can relate to.
A lot of the scary things in When Animals Dream happen to Marie when she becomes a lycanthrope. She doesn’t want to struggle with her morals; instead, she wants to hurt people who have hurt her.
Like Carrie, the movie’s monster is scary because the person who is killing people is a lot like real people. This makes people think about what they think about the character and how she acts.
Howl:
What happens in the 2015 movie Howl? A British passenger train traveling late at night between London and Eastborough during a full moon has to stop in the middle of nowhere to escape hitting deer bodies on the tracks.
Soon, a group of wild monsters from the forest starts to hunt the workers and travelers. Even though they turn into werewolves, the monsters within Howl still look a lot like humans. This makes a scary group of monsters that are not humans and are fast, strong, and very dangerous.