First of all I must admit that I’m a sucker for a good werewolf movie and as a child this slice of the horror genre always held a fascination for me (maybe I need psychiatric help?). From 1923 to 1960 Universal Pictures was the king of horror movies and they have taken their 69 year old classic ‘The Wolfman’ and remade it for a new audience.

The storyline in 2010 is pretty much the same. Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) is summoned back from America to his ancestral home in the UK by his brother’s fiancée Gwen (Emily Blunt) to help solve the disappearance of his brother Ben. Lawrence reunites with his estranged father Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) at their country estate on the outskirts of a quite hamlet called Blackmoor (Castle Combe to you and me). His Father tells him that his brother’s badly mutilated body has been discovered in a ditch and it is feared that he was the victim of an attack by a crazed beast. Having been told of his Brother’s connection with the local Gypsies, Lawrence visits their camp in the woods to investigate further. Even though we all know not to go walking in the spooky woods when there is a full moon, the camp is attacked by a large slobbering beast who dices and slices just about everyone and bites Lawrence in the neck. From this point on we know our hero is doomed and destined to transform into a werewolf at every full moon with a bloodlust that can only be ended by a silver bullet through the heart.

Enter Inspector Abberline from the Yard (Hugo Weaving) who seems to latch onto Lawrence from their first meeting and he makes no apologies for suspecting him as the murderer due to the time Lawrence spent in a London asylum courtesy of his Father.

Director Joe Johnston has made an old fashioned Hollywood monster B-movie with a hint of Hammer Horror which has a modern edge with some fantastic special effects mixing CGI with clever make-up from the award winning Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London). Benicio Del Toro has the broody look of a Latin Brad Pitt and he plays the tortured soul very well. It’s always good to see Anthony Hopkins play crazy, although he does tend to sleepwalk through the film and seems unsure if the script is asking him to be Irish, Scottish or Welsh but we forgive him. Unlike ‘American Werewolf in London’ there is very little humour in this film but Inspector Abberline (Hugo Weaving) has a couple of good lines. There is a moment in the village tavern where you are reminded of the Slaughtered Lamb pub in AWIL where you expect the locals to say “people from round these parts aint from round these parts!”

The best scene for me though is Larry’s “I will kill ALL of you!” transformation in front of the medical profession in the asylum lecture room. The film also has an added twist to the original and all in all a great deal of fun particularly if you like your meat bloody.