Product Description

A real estate tycoon, his coke-binging wife and a slum wino have something grisly in common: they're the latest victims in a series of random murders. A veteran NYPD detective soon suspects the killings may be supernatural and deliberate: ages-old beings of cunning intelligence and incredible power, defending their turf from the encroachments of humankind.

DVD Features:
Filmographies:Cast/director film highlights
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11452 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2002-08-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com
Wolfen is definitely the oddest and most socially conscious of the three big werewolf movies released in 1981 (the others were The Howling and An American Werewolf in London). Rumpled detective Albert Finney is investigating some brutal NYC murders, which leads him to discover that the collapsing buildings of the South Bronx are home to a pack of very vindictive wolflike creatures. American Indian mythology and environmental issues are more to the point here than silver-bullet lycanthropy. As a police procedural, the movie's a bust, its rhythms wrong and Finney's tortured Brooklyn accent unconvincing. But as a horror-mood piece, it can get under your skin. Some trippy photography, plus a bunch of interesting actors at the beginnings of their film careers (Diane Venora, Gregory Hines, and a lean and hungry Edward James Olmos), outweigh the druggy pace and period hairstyles. Director Michael Wadleigh (Woodstock) never made another feature. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

big bad wolfen
i have to say i had high hopes for this flick. was i totally let down. while i liked the wolves killing people, i did not like how they added a indian type of theme to it. not my cup of tea. if you like werewolf movies and thinking that what you are going to get out of this one, don't buy it.

Bored me into tears
I undertand that Wolfen isn't your average werewolf horror movie. It has a deeper theme and a message. But it doesn't mean everybody has to like this movie. I completely understood it and I don't like it. In fact, I hate this movie.

The acting was very solid but the lack of so many things put me to sleep. It took me almost 4 hours to watch this. It wasn't scary and it was just too slow. I was completely bored.

This is for those looking for something more thought driven. Usually, I enjoy horror movies with a good story but Wolfen just didn't do it for me. I think others should check it out. It just might be for you.

4.75 Stars. There is life that preys on us as we prey on the earth. A Horror film with a message.
Wolfen is not a werewolf movie, don't go into this film expecting or wanting that, go into this film with an open mind.

At the beginning of the film a real estate tycoon is killed, his wife, and there driver by something unknown. A New York City Detective Dewey Wilson is put on the case who is played by Albert Finney. Dewey has had personal problems, he eats donuts after running and he delivers quick one liners like a detective in an old film noir. Gregory Hines assists Finney's character as a coroner who is funny and witty, he is the kind of guy we don't want to die in a horror film.

The higher ups want answers to the wealthy important man's death and do everything they can to blame it on terrorism. Wow, hard to believe this was made in 1981 and not today. The real estate tycoon was breaking ground on a new project and was planning on demolishing an entire area of slums, but these slums are a primal hunting ground for something. The film asks us, who are the real savages? Again ringing more true today and how we are destroying the earth and sucking everything we can out of it, but in Wolfen there are consequences, could it be gods we are to answer too?

The atmosphere is also notable you can feel it, from cold breathe showing, the feeling of autumn, the shots of New York, the wind ominously blowing in the night, thunder as something lurks outside our window, all good stuff.

Again, go into this with an open mind and not expecting a Werewolf movie, and you'll experience a lot more, a horror film with a heart and a message and horror fans you may get some blood and heads rolling about.