What makes a great Werewolf

[occupant]

I have been disappointed so many times by the promise of a great Werewolf movie that doesn't deliver. So what does it take to make a great licanthrope?

See if you agree with this assessment:

[endo]

So, I liked what this guy said for the most part. The werewolf is my favorite monster too, always has been. The first werewolf movie I ever saw was on Creature Feature growing up and it was The Wolfman from 1941 with Lon Chaney Jr.
Great movie, and it kind of defined what a werewolf was to me. It wasn't some diabolical creature who wanted to kill everyone, it was a normal person who was bitten and couldn't help what he was becoming.
That person didn't want to harm anyone, but when he changed the animal instinct took over and he couldn't help it. I felt as bad for Larry Talbot in The Wolfman as I did for his victims.
I mean, they were dead sure, but he wished he was, just to stop doing this awful thing he had no control over. It was the same in An American Werewolf in London. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

I also agree that the transformation should be painful. I mean, the transformation should hurt, you're changing into a wolf, or part wolf anyway.
I still say the best transformation scene ever was American Werewolf, really conveyed what I felt an actual change would be like. It hurts, bad. And practical effects go a long way to emphasizing that. Which is why most modern werewolf movies suck now, all CGI.

So the change happens every full moon, and then you kill people, neither of which you want to go through. It was always easy for me to feel bad for the wolf guy in these movies, a lot like I feel bad for Frankenstein's monster, they never wanted to hurt anybody.

Anyway, to me a good werewolf movie shows both sides. Not only the murderous monster, but the person it is not wanting the change to happen again and feeling terrible for what's it's done. Even wishing it was dead rather than change again. Today, it's all lost with the quick change CGI effects. Oh well, I still have my old favorites.

[occupant]

^ I have to agree with you endo. CGI can produce spectacular images today, but for my money, give me an honest retelling of the original story of a man suffering under the unwanted curse of lycanthropy.

I feel that An American Werewolf in London achieved what most post Lon Chaney, Jr. movies have failed to produce. The Wolfman should indeed be a pitiable character who, due to no fault of his own, is forced to live a double life in the shadows. He must hide his shame and guilt for the crimes the beast within commits lest he be exposed and condemned as a monster.

The change he undergoes should be both physically and psychologically brutal and not overshadowed by flashy CGI Special FX.