The Trailer Park: Exploding Werewolves! in New Moon

PETA is going to be pissed.

So, I just got a chance to watch and respond to the New Moon trailer. Unlike some of my comrade bloggers in horror, I am not completely disgusted by Twilight, perhaps because I won't allow myself to dignify this film with such a strong response. I can take it or leave depending on the day (Wednesdays are good), the tides and if I've eaten.

But as a woman I have major problems with the character of Bella who (more than ever in the trailer) seems to need a man in one form or another to "protect" her when the shit hits the fan. Whatever happened to the Jamie Lee Curtis's and other final girls of the world who didn't need any help to put down a knife-weilding psychopath? Though I admit that Twilight and the upcoming New Moon are definite soft-core derivatives of the horror genre, I had hoped that aside from ditching the gore they wouldn't flush feminist gains the down the crapper too.


Taylor Launter (Jacob), with his brooding looks and rippling pectorals looks like the lead in any one of David DeCoteau's gay niche horror films (Beastly Boyz comes to mind) and I've already addressed the racial profiling involved with an entire cast of Native American werewolves.

That said, I move on to the "shocking" transformation that has wet the panties of Twilight fans world wide. Jacob finally reveals his true nature to Bella (as if she didn't get it in the first film...really she didn't get it? Damn that girl's slow) just as she's in danger of being raped by that creepy rastafarian vampire (that imagery has it's own racist connotations that I won't get into). Jacob very literally explodes into wolf form, leaping fifteen feet into the air over a terrified Bella cowering in the dirt.


Shredded clothing is one of the many occupational hazards of being a werewolf.

I personally love the part where his head appears to explode in a shower of confetti, followed by the awkward wolf top, man bottom stage before he goes completely White Fang. But how many times have we been reminded that CGI transformations just don' t work? (Van Helsing, An American Werewolf in Paris). There is no substitute for practical effects (Dog Soldiers, Ginger Snaps) or in the case of Val Lewton's Cat People, a little suggestion. As an old fashioned horror buff who grew up watching films like The Howling and American Werewolf in London, the transformation from New Moon isn't so much disappointing as it is ridiculous.

CGI werewolves past and present.

Comments

  1. Monsterscholar,

    I agree, I'm not a fan of CGI-transformation...gotta throw a bit of physical effects in there.

    I did not like Twilight a whole lot, and I'm not sure I'll watch the sequel, but seeings how I'm a big Lycanthropic fan, I may end up seeing it...and most likely being dissapointed.

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  2. I can't wait for this movie. I personally think the wolves look amazing and and somewhat realistic. But they will never ever be as good as the American Werewolf in London. That's my favorite film, and favorite werewolf of all time. Best transformation scene ever!

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  3. ditto! Do I hate modern CGI. What's funny, I had the same idea & used almost the same pics!

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