Book Review: FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO WEREWOLF MOVIES
If the truth be told, there has been a serious under-appreciation of the werewolf on screen over the years. While the horror sub-genre has delivered some undeniable classic films, it has never truly connected with mass audiences in the way that vampire movies have.
This fourth Fright Fest Guide takes a look the the werewolf sub-genre and shines a light on its origins, offering up insight into the obvious and the obscure. Written by ‘author, broadcaster, occult historian and lifelong werewolf obsessive’ Gavin Baddeley, the Fright Fest Guide – Werewolf Movies is yet another well researched and accessible look at horror movies from Fright Fest. It also comes with an introduction from Neil Marshall, the writer-director of one of the 21st Century’s great werewolf movies, Dog Soldiers.
Baddeley’s book delves into the origins of the lycanthrope in ancient Greece and illustrates how the werewolf became an allegory from everything from alcoholism through sexual awakening to serial murder.
Classics like Universal Picture’s The Wolf Man and An American Werewolf In London are detailed alongside curios like the Taiwanese fantasy film Wolfen Ninja. If The book has one flaw it’s that there’s a little too much ink given to The Twilight Saga and the Underworld franchise.
Overall, the FrightFest Guide To Werewolf Movies is an interesting and entertaining look at the lycanthrope. You’d be howling mad not to own it.
