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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Wolfen -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Unless my mind is playing tricks on me, I recall seeing Wolfen in late summer / early fall of 1981 in a 70mm blow-up with 6-track mag at a screening in LA.

I loved the film then, and continue with that appreciation decades later.

Based upon the novel by Whitley Strieber, Wolfen illuminates the genius of Michael Wadleigh, who is best known in the cinema for his documentary work.

Go into Wolfen without research, sit back, and enjoy the next couple of hours.

Warner Archive has created a new Blu-ray, which appears to have been based upon a IP, as it looks very much like the prints that I'm used to seeing.

Color, densities, black (and other levels) as captured by DP Gerry Fisher, are all in place.

The audio harvested for the Blu-ray is rich and full, and from the original created for 70mm screenings.

This is a release can be savored.

Image - 4.5

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

Flashgear

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And, Gregory Hines!...and the wolves have something akin to real charisma...making them especially terrifying.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Wolfen.jpg
 

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FoxyMulder

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This movie has lots of atmosphere, wonderful cinematography and a great music score too, good acting from everyone involved and i'm surprised the director didn't make more films, IMDB says he worked as a bus driver, sometime after this movie i presume, really, are they kidding me, surely not, anyways i recall the sound mix on whatever format i last watched it on as being very good.


It's a shame being from the UK i have to get these titles from Amazon as they never release them here, last one i bought was Greystoke, the first time i watched Wolfen was probably a VHS rental back in the eighties, i remember being a fan of werewolf flicks thanks to The Howling and An American Werewolf In London and i thought this was going to be another werewolf film, so you can imagine what i felt upon viewing the film, i will say no more, i still loved it.


I'll enjoy re-visiting this later in the year. I so glad i don't have to rush online to buy it in fear of it selling out because it's been licensed to some small label that has decided to make it a limited title to boost sales, nothing against that type of selling but sometimes you miss out and with this title i don't want to miss out.


*Wikipedia says the director, Michael Wadleigh is a Harvard Professor, so i guess he drives his bus to work.
 

EddieKE

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Regarding the film's 70mm engagement in LA, I saw it at the now demolished Picwood Theater. A beautiful single screen auditorium at the corner of Pico and Westwood Boulevards, the Picwood also was one of the few auditoriums left (at that time) with a working balcony.


Second RAH's assessment of the film. WOLFEN came out at the tail end (no pun intended; well, maybe...) of the werewolf film renaissance of 1981, which included the releases of THE HOWLING and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. After two back-to-back prosthetic fests (enjoyable in their own right), WOLFEN was an unique approach to the genre. I also remember Gregory Hines' gesture about the disposition of a missing character bringing the house down (those who have seen it know the reference)..


Looking forward to revisiting again with the new Blu-ray, but I do miss the Picwood.
 

dpippel

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I remember being disappointed by the film because the depiction of the Wolfen deviated so much from their representation in Strieber's novel, but I may have to revisit the movie when this BRD hits the shelves.
 

Oblivion138

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Looking forward to grabbing this disc. I've always had a soft spot for Wolfen, definitely the most unique film in the 1981 "Cycle of the Wolf," and I believe much superior to The Howling, at least. American Werewolf still holds up really well as a more traditional werewolf picture, and its juxtaposition of truly funny humor and truly upsetting horror is pitch perfect. Wolfen was sort of the dark horse...the more thoughtful, outside-the-box genre picture. Will be great to upgrade from my old DVD.
 

Brian Husar

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FoxyMulder said:
This movie has lots of atmosphere, wonderful cinematography and a great music score too, good acting from everyone involved and i'm surprised the director didn't make more films, IMDB says he worked as a bus driver, sometime after this movie i presume, really, are they kidding me, surely not, anyways i recall the sound mix on whatever format i last watched it on as being very good.


It's a shame being from the UK i have to get these titles from Amazon as they never release them here, last one i bought was Greystoke, the first time i watched Wolfen was probably a VHS rental back in the eighties, i remember being a fan of werewolf flicks thanks to The Howling and An American Werewolf In London and i thought this was going to be another werewolf film, so you can imagine what i felt upon viewing the film, i will say no more, i still loved it.


I'll enjoy re-visiting this later in the year. I so glad i don't have to rush online to buy it in fear of it selling out because it's been licensed to some small label that has decided to make it a limited title to boost sales, nothing against that type of selling but sometimes you miss out and with this title i don't want to miss out.


*Wikipedia says the director, Michael Wadleigh is a Harvard Professor, so i guess he drives his bus to work.
Wadleigh was heavily involved in the 1994 restoration of Woodstock, the film he is most known for, and was responsible for getting the Blu Ray together. The bus driver thing that IMDB says is total BS. He stopped making films after he couldnt get a number of projects off the grouns and was doing script doctoring work. There is a film he worked on, but he won't say which one, that was popular, but they changed his scripty so much they he took his name off of it. He has been a political activist. He is at Harvard, it's a project he has called the Homosapien project. Look it up. He doesn't have to worry about money because he gets heavy roaylties from Woodstock, and any footage used from the movie or any from his camera work from the movie. He is still a hippie and still lives it and still believes it. He hated the fact that Wolfen was considered a horror film, since to him it was a story about destroying the environment. Sorry for the long post.
 

Brian Husar

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Brian Husar said:
Wadleigh was heavily involved in the 1994 restoration of Woodstock, the film he is most known for, and was responsible for getting the Blu Ray together. The bus driver thing that IMDB says is total BS. He stopped making films after he couldnt get a number of projects off the ground and was doing script doctoring work. There is a film he worked on, but he won't say which one, that was popular, but they changed his script so much they he took his name off of it. He has been a political activist. He is at Harvard, it's a project he has called the Homosapien project. Look it up. He doesn't have to worry about money because he gets heavy royalties from Woodstock, and any footage used from the movie or any from his camera work from the movie. He is still a hippie and still lives it and still believes it. He hated the fact that Wolfen was considered a horror film, since to him it was a story about destroying the environment. Sorry for the long post.
Could not edit my post, reposting.
 

FoxyMulder

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Brian Husar said:
The bus driver thing that IMDB says is total BS.


He hated the fact that Wolfen was considered a horror film, since to him it was a story about destroying the environment. Sorry for the long post.

I figured it might be, they get a lot wrong on IMDB.


Yes, in many ways Wolfen was ahead of it's time, it has horror elements but i thought it more mystical than horror.
 

johnmcmasters

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I thought “Wolfen” was a really engrossing, visually stunning, film when I saw it on opening day in NYC. Despite having learned more about the film over the years and its prickly production history of replaced director and replaced score, etc, I still love the film. It is just so cool!


Intrada offered both versions of the film’s score – one by Craig Safan and one by James Horner:


http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7331/.f


http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7686/.f


The Horner CD, it appears, is sold out.


This critic apparently had access to the film’s producer, Rupert Hitzig: http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2008/03/19/wolfen-1981-2/. I’ve always been curious about the unfinished cut of the film that Wadleigh turned in to the studio. It really surprised me to learn that the "wolf-vision" scenes were done without his direct involvement – although it isn't clear to me if they were part of his plan all along and, thus, might have been realized by others using his vision of the scenes.


Anyway, I’m pinching pennies to get this.
 

Brian Husar

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johnmcmasters said:
I thought “Wolfen” was a really engrossing, visually stunning, film when I saw it on opening day in NYC. Despite having learned more about the film over the years and its prickly production history of replaced director and replaced score, etc, I still love the film. It is just so cool!


Intrada offered both versions of the film’s score – one by Craig Safan and one by James Horner:


http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7331/.f


http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7686/.f


The Horner CD, it appears, is sold out.


This critic apparently had access to the film’s producer, Rupert Hitzig: http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2008/03/19/wolfen-1981-2/. I’ve always been curious about the unfinished cut of the film that Wadleigh turned in to the studio. It really surprised me to learn that the "wolf-vision" scenes were done without his direct involvement – although it isn't clear to me if they were part of his plan all along and, thus, might have been realized by others using his vision of the scenes.


Anyway, I’m pinching pennies to get this.
I wonder if he had anything to do with the Blu Ray. Would be nice to see his cut of the film. That being said he does endorse this cut.
 

Brian Husar

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Interesting about Wadleigh not doing the POV shots. It seems like he does endorse this cut as he did appear at a screening and did a q&a afterwards. It's on You Tube I believe. There is an interesting interview he did when the Woodstock blu ray came out. He and Scorsese were in the same film class at NYU, and he said the reason why he hasn't directed or done another film is because he realised that he really didn't love it like Scorsese did. He used it more as a way to further his political ideas. I am paraphrasing it, and I don't have the exact quote. It's a shame. I would love to get my hands on the Merv Griffin Sidewalks Of New England special because Wadleigh and almost the entire team of Woodstock worked on that, and I guess alot of the multi image editing that was famous in Woodstock was used in that special.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Wolfen was one of four movies distributed by Warner Bros. released in Megasound, which took advantage of the six-track layout of the 70mm format to have split surrounds and baby booms, but also added horns up front behind the screen to fill in the areas vacated by the previous left screen and right screen channels. The other movies using this sound treatment (I hesitate to call it a format, as it was only used on 4 films) were Altered States, Superman II and Outland.
 

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