When the lush remake of Universal's classic 1941 werewolf tragedy came out, I of course flew to the cinema to see it on opening night, me being that hardcore werewolf fan that so unabashedly I am. I reviewed the film immediately after seeing it, expressing my disappointment with it as a stolid MASTERPIECE THEATER treatment of what should by all rights be an exciting and visceral shocker. Its werewolf scenes featuring makeup effects by the legendary Rick Baker, he of hard-earned AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON renown, are savage, brutal, and bloody, and the CGI-assisted transformation in a London asylum for the insane is outstanding, so it's worth sitting through for the carnivorous lunar mayhem. That said, seeing THE WOLFMAN once in its entirety was enough for me, though I have watched all of the werewolf sequences on YouTube several times over the years. And now it's fourteen years later and the film has been issued in an unrated director's cut that restores seventeen minutes left on the cutting room floor, those minutes reportedly shorn in order to get the narrative to the transformation sequence faster. Considering how the film was already a dull slog, another seventeen minutes wouldn't have hurt the theatrical release, as it flopped anyway, but what the hell do I know? Anyway, upon becoming aware that a director's cut was available, for the sake of being able to comment on it, I resigned myself to see it.
I really should not have bothered.
The restored footage adds assorted bits of character business that mostly doesn't add anything of note to the story, and in the version found on Amazon Prime Video, an excellent deleted scene that's available on YouTube is not included. During the Wolfman's rampage after escaping from the mental asylum during a full moon, his bloody path leads him to a posh fancy dress ball where a blind opera diva performs for an enthralled masked crowd.
The werewolf walks in from the back of the ballroom, so no eyes are on him until he makes his way through the crowd toward the singing woman. Onlookers remark on how excellent his "costume" is and how he's sure to win first prize, but things swiftly turn savage when an attendee attempts to lead him away from the sightless diva, whose voice seems to fascinate and calm him, and werewolf registers confusion at her not reacting to his appearance even though he's right in her face.
Of course, she cannot see him, hence, the attendee grabbing the monster's arm to haul him away. You can guess how that works out... It's a great bit, and I have no idea why it was left on the cutting room floor. If you're making a lavish werewolf movie and can afford the makeup effects wizardry of Rick Baker, why would you cut a scene where the werewolf gets up to more butchery and mayhem? Anyway, you can find that sequence on YouTube. It may also be on the multi-disc Blu Ray edition, but I have no info on that.
Bottom line, if you've already seen the
theatrical version, you can skip this director's cut. Just make sure to
check out the scene with the diva on YouTube.
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