Phases of the Moon

Phases of the Moon 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd i 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd iiii 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM Phases of the Moon A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film Craig Ian Mann 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd iiiiii 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM For the Monster Squad Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com © Craig Ian Mann, 2020 © Foreword, Stacey Abbott, 2020 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road 12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Typeset in Monotype Ehrhardt by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd, and printed and bound in Great Britain A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 4111 7 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 4113 1 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 4114 8 (epub) The right of Craig Ian Mann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders for the images that appear in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Cover image by Mute: www.mutecult.com 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd iivv 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM Contents List of Figures vi Acknowledgements viii Foreword: Monsters Everywhere by Stacey Abbott xi Introduction: Bark at the Moon 1 1 Wolves at the Door 12 2 Dogs of War 39 3 Pack Mentality 62 4 Hounds of Love 86 5 What Big Teeth You Have 109 6 The Better to Eat You With 132 7 Old Dogs and New Tricks 158 8 Shapeshifters 181 Conclusion: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? 208 Notes 218 Bibliography 236 Index 247 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd v 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM Figures 1.1 A still from the lost film The Werewolf (1913), originally published in Universal Weekly, in which the she-wolf Watuma is confronted by men of God 15 1.2 The villainous Dr Yogami, as portrayed by Warner Oland in Werewolf of London (1935), functions as a xenophobic embodiment of the ‘yellow peril’ 22 1.3 The Wolf Man shows his heroism as he prepares to do battle with Frankenstein’s creature at the climax of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) 34 2.1 Phyllis Allenby fearfully reads up on werewolfery in She-Wolf of London (1946), before discovering she is not suffering from the ‘Allenby Curse’ at all 50 2.2 A lobby card produced to promote The Mad Monster (1942), illustrating the power that Dr Cameron holds over Petro, his test subject 55 2.3 The atomic mutant as imagined by The Werewolf (1956), in which Duncan Marsh becomes a monster after he is injected with irradiated wolf ’s blood 60 3.1 The Devil’s Advocates meet a group of satanic monks in Werewolves on Wheels (1971), creating a striking visual contrast between the bikers and the devil-worshippers 73 3.2 In The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973), monsters attack their families; here Robert Bridgestone looms over his sleeping wife, Sandy 77 3.3 An American theatrical poster for The Werewolf of Washington (1973), featuring an image and tagline that both belie its obvious political commentary 81 4.1 The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) features a beggar who takes on the characteristics of a wolf after years of imprisonment 90 4.2 An original Italian poster designed to promote Lycanthropus (1961), which clearly plays on the film’s preoccupation with sexual violence 98 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd vvii 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM FIGURES vii 4.3 At the opening of Werewolf Woman (1976), Daniela experiences a vision of her ancestor, who celebrates her sexuality before transforming into a she-wolf 100 5.1 The monstrous ‘new werewolf ’ as it appears in The Howling (1981) – a distinct departure from the wolf-men that had dominated the werewolf film since the 1930s 110 5.2 David Kessler experiences extreme pain and suffering as he transforms in An American Werewolf in London (1981) 118 5.3 In Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985), werewolfery is associated with sexual deviancy; here, Stirba has group sex with two of her followers 129 6.1 A poster for Silver Bullet (1985), depicting the baseball bat that functions as a recurring metaphor throughout the film 139 6.2 During a dream sequence in Silver Bullet (1985), the citizens of Tarker’s Mills transform into werewolves during a funeral in an indictment of conservative values 140 6.3 In a satirical comment on Reaganite masculinity, ‘The Wolf’ – portrayed here by Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf (1985) – resembles a caveman as much as a wolf-man 155 7.1 The special make-up effects worn by Jack Nicholson in Wolf (1994) were designed by Rick Baker to recall the classic wolf-men of the 1930s and 1940s 159 7.2 Having chosen to embrace his werewolfism, Will Randall fully and irreversibly transforms from human to lupine form at the conclusion of Wolf (1994) 165 7.3 The werewolf cops central to Full Eclipse (1993) are designed to recall comic book superheroes such as the X-Men 169 7.4 In Ginger Snaps (2000), the eponymous Ginger Fitzgerald becomes increasingly monstrous as her behaviour spirals out of control 175 8.1 When Animals Dream (2014) opens as Marie is enduring an invasive examination by Dr Larsen, establishing her distaste for being objectified 189 8.2 In WolfCop (2014), vigilante werewolf Lou Garou fights crime in his uniform even when transformed, but ultimately does not represent the establishment 199 8.3 In Howl (2015), werewolves slowly transform into monsters over a prolonged period of time, giving them a distinctly human appearance 203 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd vviiii 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM Acknowledgements One dark afternoon in the 1990s (when I was nine or ten years old), a friend invited me to his house to watch horror films, having convinced his parents to buy a VHS box set containing Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) and Wolf (1994). We watched the latter, in which Jack Nicholson turns feral and urinates on James Spader’s shoes. I borrowed the tape and didn’t give it back for a decade. In the fol- lowing years, I watched as many werewolf films as I could. So my first thanks go to Ryan Watson – who sussed the fine art of convincing his parents to buy horror films for him at an impressively young age. The seed of this book was planted in my undergraduate dissertation, written at Sheffield Hallam University in 2010, which was inspired in equal part by a lifelong love of werewolf fiction and Shelley O’Brien’s module on the American horror film. I’m grateful to Shelley for think- ing that writing about werewolf films was a good idea in the first place and her supervision of both that dissertation and the thesis that formed the basis of this book. A huge thank you is due to the director of my doc- toral studies, Sheldon Hall, who has continually challenged me to make my work better; constantly encouraged me in furthering my professional development; provided many obscure films; answered my tiresome and often inane questions at all hours of the day and night (I’m not actually sure when it is that he sleeps); read first (and sometimes second . and third . ) drafts of almost everything I have ever written; and offered a spellchecking service that money couldn’t buy. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to Gillian Leslie and Richard Strachan at Edinburgh University Press for all their help, guidance and, perhaps most importantly, patience. Writing this monograph would have been considerably more difficult without the help and support of several individuals who have provided material that would otherwise have been difficult to obtain: thanks to Angela Quinton of Werewolf-News.com for maintaining an incredibly useful website; to the late Peter Hutchings – a giant in horror studies – for providing his contribution to the collection She-Wolf (2015), and to 66535_MANN.indd535_MANN.indd vviiiiii 114/09/204/09/20 111:511:51 AAMM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix the editor, Hannah Priest, for several other chapters; to Lowell Dean for granting early access to WolfCop (2014); to Simon Brown for providing his conference paper on Silver Bullet (1985) and his endless kindness; to Kieran Foster for digitising The Werewolves of Moravia; to Stacey Abbott, Chi-Yun Shin and Iain Robert Smith for their vital examiners’ comments on my thesis; a second thanks to Stacey for graciously agreeing to pen a foreword to this book; and a huge thank you to Dave Huntley for pro- ducing some jaw-dropping cover art. Thanks are also due to others who have offered so many forms of help and encouragement along the way: Sergio Angelini, Liam Ball, Kev Bickerdike, James Blackford, Jon Bridle, Louise Buckler, Jake Burton, Leah Byatt, Andy Cliff, Chris Cooke, Jon Dickinson, Liz Dixon, Larry Fessenden, Liam Hathaway, Chris and Lisa Hopkins, Dawn Keetley, Murray Leeder, Kurt McCoy, Mike Mann, Joe Ondrak, Jon Robertson, Caitlin Shaw, Suzanne Speidel, Eric J.

Load more