Product Description

A MILD-MANNERED BOOK EDITOR METAMORPHOSES AFTER HE IS BITTEN ON THE HAND BY WOLF. WITH INVIGORATED PHYSICAL STRENGTH, HEIGHTENED SENSES AND OTHER MYSTERIOUS CHANGES. HE GETS REVENGE ON A SCHEMING CO-WORKER WHO TRIES TO STEAL HIS JOB AND HIS WIFE. HE FINDS A NEW VERY BEAUTIFUL LOVE INTEREST.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6040 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 1997-11-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, Georgian
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
Sophisticated to a point, this well-executed wolf-man tale works due to its clever setting and enormous star power. We all know Jack Nicholson can go nuts, but the script makes his character aware of his changes, sometimes for the better, early on. The setting, a publishing house in the middle of a takeover, gives the characters dramatic life before the horror elements kicks in. A senior editor about to get the boot, Nicholson's character becomes a new man after being bitten by a wolf. He takes on challenges at work, lives a more robust life, and attracts a new love. But will his newfound energy consume him? Director Mike Nichols keeps the action alive in the first half, but the film peters out at the end with cheap theatrics and the overuse of slow motion. Michelle Pfeiffer has little to do as simply the love interest with a grittier than average personality. Better is James Spader as a smarmy colleague. Nicholson is in fine form, relying on his keen gift to spark interest (a twitch of the head, a look in the eyes), instead of heavy doses of movie makeup. Giuseppe Rotunno's sweeping camerawork sets the mood quite well. Easy to recommend, with the added feature it's hardly gratuitous. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Here's a new idea: a horror film that's frightened of itself. Director Mike Nichols is an old hand at lightly poisoned comedy, but when it comes to violence he shies away. Jack Nicholson plays a man who is bitten by a wolf and then turns into one. It seems such a short journey, since Nicholson, even at his most civilized, never seems more than a grin away from lupine lust. He plays Will Randall, the senior editor at a New York publishing house, who gets sacked by the big boss (Christopher Plummer) in favor of the slimy Stewart (a fine turn by James Spader) and vows revenge. Whether his transformation fills him with commercial greed or with the purer appetites of a wild, pre-industrial age is never quite clear. The movie is smart but confused, sexy but without any sex; the handling of Will's love affair with Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer) reveals a terrible tameness at the heart of the story. For the first half of the picture, the audience is flattered by a series of sly, unforced, and rather cultivated jokes; in the second half, it is insulted by a gradual slide into drab violence. Will runs around in slow motion, exactly like the Six-Million-Dollar Man, and flies through the air as if launched by little off-camera trampolines. Written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

"The worm has turned and is now packing an Uzi, Mary."
For those who had never seen Jack Nicholson play it meek in a movie, this may be as meek as dude gets (and then it only lasts for about half an hour). In WOLF, Nicholson plays middle-aged softie Will Randall, a mild-mannered hubbie locked in a marriage of indifference. Will is also the editor-in-chief of a respected New York publishing agency - that is, until he gets demoted, at which point he assumes this indignant but resigned look. As it turns out, this would only be the first in a series of betrayals, and Will Randall looks to be just another in a long line of easily dismissed victims. Except...

WOLF starts out in a snowy, moonlit scene in which Will Randall, motoring from Vermont to Manhattan, is bitten by a wolf he had accidentally run over. And soon the shocking changes begin to manifest. Will feels strangely rejuvenated, even as he develops extremely heightened senses. Suddenly he's able to eavesdrop from across the atrium, sniff out morning liquor on a co-worker's breath, and hurdle tall walls in slow motion. His newly gained confidence allows him to take charge of his life and even revenge himself on those what done him wrong. And then, one day, a disconcerted Will Randall wakes up, soaked in blood.

Once in a blue full moon, a schlock genre spits out a gem. I happen to think that WOLF is one of the better, smarter entries in werewolf cinema, and I'd even put it up there with An American Werewolf in London, The Howling (Special Edition) and The Company of Wolves. I dig WOLF for the various elements which come correct. For a contemporary film, it wallows in this marvelous gothic atmosphere. There are wicked, unexpected flourishes of humor, and even a smattering of social satire, if one presumes that Will Randall's gradual descent from reserved refinement to uninhibited wolfishness is a metaphor for the predatory, in-the-trenches facet of the New York publishing world.

It's weird seeing Jack Nicholson in an underdog role, but it's very neat seeing his docile, dumped-on character - whose traits of "taste and individuality" suddenly become liabilities in his job - gaining a huge pair and constructing such a ruthless yet elegant get-back. Nicholson submits a layered interpretation, delivering a fascinating study of a cultured man's growing horror as he succumbs to his baser instincts. The fascinating bits all have to do with that part of him which revels in this turn to savagery. While Nicholson does get moments to chew up scenery, for a good part we're treated to a restrained performance, although, having said that, there's a whiff of that devilish Jack just underneath most of the scenes. Casting dude as a lycanthrope is a no-brainer; there's always been something feral about Jack. And, when he chooses, who else can apply a more baleful, wolfish glare?

Nicholson is supported by sharp performances by Michelle Pfeiffer (still very much in her babedom, in 1994) as surly heiress and wounded soul Laura Alden, in whom Will Randall finds a kindred spirit, and Christopher Plummer who, as Randall's boss and Laura's father, flaunts just enough equal doses of sophistication, despicability and worldly understanding that he invites this ambivalent, just-on-principles form of dislike. And James Spader rocks. James Spader for a while had cornered the market on those oily backstabbling yuppie parts. This is never more exemplified than in his role of Stewart Swinton, Randall's friend and underling, whose calculated smarm and brand of "heat and gossip" contrive to betray Randall in all ways.

Having recently reseen WOLF, I'm again startled that the violence is so low-key. The werewolf scenes are understated, the werewolf make-up not as dynamic or viscerally rendered as, say, that in THE HOWLING or AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. WOLF instead relies more on suspense and the sense of horror being evoked thru effective use of lighting and score, thru adroit character study and spot-on acting. The disappointing thing is that WOLF, in its climactic scenes, resorts to a typical werewolf fighty fight. And I'm still not quite sure whether I like the ending or not, although the closing shots certainly smack of the darkly poetic. In the final tally, WOLF is overwhelmingly a terrific horror movie, dark and subtle and literate, romantic and wicked funny. So, er, go ahead... take a bite of this (sorry, I groaned too).

Jack the wolf
Jack Nicholson plays a werewolf, and he's the most natural werewolf since Boris Karloff. James Spader plays a weasel and he is equally adept in that role. Rounding off this impressive ensemble cast (for a werewolf movie) are Christopher Plummer as a man with altogether too much wealth and power, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his lovely daughter.

Fans of werewolf movies may be surprised at the timbre of this particular tale. The whole story is very surreal and has an everpresent dream-like feel to it. The special effects of werewolves & transformation are actually pretty scarce. The film instead mainly focuses on the psychological metamorphosis of man turning into beast.

Perhaps most jolting to viewers of WW movies is the body count. Or, should I say, the lack thereof. If you're looking for a WW movie that has scene after scene of poor chaps being mauled, this one may not be for you.

This is a well done film if you're looking for a more cerebral type of WW film than the normal fare. As I mentioned, the cast is also a higher calibre than normal. If ever there was a WW story that had a haunting elegance to it, this just might be it.

HOWLING GOOD MOVIE
Who ever would have thought director Mike Nichols and stars Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer would participate in a werewolf movie? WOLF is a howling good movie, though, filled with typical werewolf scares and a penetrating script and sharp performances. Nicholson is perfect as a mealy-mouthed senior editor who is booted by boss Christopher Plummer in favor of his protege, the smarmy James Spader (excellent in his typical style). At the beginning of the film, in an eerily staged sequence, Jack is bitten by a wolf that he has just hit with his Volvo. He notices some changes, particularly in his new aggressive behavior, not to mention an enhanced sense of smell and hearing. Wife Kate Nelligan is having an affair with Spader and this sparks some interesting consequences. A couple of plot twists occur, one we should have seen coming and the other a little more ambiguous, but sensible anyhow.
WOLF is a classy horror film, and notoriously overlooked, but it's a good one!