What makes werewolves scary

Okay, here's a topic I bore my friends and family to death with periodically (except for those friends who, like me, are horror nerds), and it has to do particularly with the recent spate of lycanthropy films, so here goes.

It seems to me that every classic mythological monster has one thing, one aspect of its nature or character, wherein the "horror" resides. For vampires, it's the seductive, intelligent, Mephistopholean evil--Dracula is an incarnate devil, and he's more powerful than you, and he's going to drink your blood and enslave you. That's scary. Zombies--walking corpses. Scary. Psycho killers--they're out there hunting you, not reasonable, not normal, not stoppable. Scary.

So what is it that makes the werewolf scary? In my opinion, most modern ww flicks miss the fear point entirely. That is, a lot of the more recent flicks (American Werewolf in Paris, Wolf Lake, etc.) seem to think that the werewolf is scary because he's a big monster in the dark waitng to rip you to pieces. AWIP tried to make the werewolves like big hairy vampires--evil, seductive, wanting to be like gods, totally digging their power. But that's not the fear of the werewolf, and in my opinion is one of the big reasons such films are seldom scary.

In the classic werewolf flicks, the hero isn't the person being chased by the werewolf. The hero IS the werewolf. What makes it scary is not the werewolf hunting you, but the idea that you could BE the werewolf. He's a tragic figure, he knows he's going to kill, he doesn't want to but can't stop it, no one will believe him. There's the freudian id/superego struggle there, and the id wins. The only way out is death, and before you die you'll likely kill a lot of people that you love.

Scary.

The Wolf Man had that in spades. Chaney was born for that--such a big, brawny guy, with the sad eyes and the barely-contained violent streak, just perfect. And John Landis "got it" too, which is why American Werewolf in London is a modern classic. In my opinion, anyway.

So here's hoping that the new werewolf movie makers get it and try to play off the werewolf's unique horror, rather than trying to make him a furry Jason or a dog-like Dracula. There's a rich history there, and in modern flicks it's largely untapped.

What do you guys think?

Sorry walter, but I'll have to disagree with you dissin' my boy Lon. I thought he was great as Talbot, although he had few good performances after that. The more I watch the flick ( and I too watch it more than any of the others ), the more things I like about his performance. There are scenes where he's human and he plays up the barely-supressed violent streak which I think is just great. Of course that's probably the director and not him, but still, I thought it worked.

And what can you say about Claude Rains? Just awesome. And Evelyn Ankers...rowr.

BTW, the commentary on the wolf man DVD is the best I've run into in that series. Very entertaining.

littleotik--again, in my opinion, the " fearsome beast " thing is not the reason werewolves are scary--it's the BECOMING a werewolf and knowing you're going to murder everyone you love and there's nothing you can do to stop it--that's what's scary to me. The loss of control, the becoming a monster yourself, rather than just having a monster chasing you.

Incidentally, another facet of the legend that was in the early movies, particularly the Wolf Man, and which is not exploited much anymore, is the idea that the werewolf can see the mark on his next victim, and the idea I keep coming back to that these victims are often family and friends. That's a powerful dramatic situation that could be utilized more cinematically.

Of course Siodmak made it up. He also made up the "Even a man who is pure at heart..." mantra. That doesn't keep it from being a kickass cinematic idea, and, I would argue, part of the (cinematic) werewolf lore.