Blu-ray of the Day: Wolfman Week – The Wolfman

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Art Malik.
Director: Joe Johnston.
Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker, David Self.
Score: Danny Elfman.
Cinematography: Shelly Johnson.

Quote of the week comes from director Joe Johnston, recalling what everyone said when the star of his latest film was announced: “Benicio Del Toro as The Wolfman? Oh great, he won’t need any make-up.” But as the extras on the Blu-ray reveal, Del Toro had to spend up to five hours a day having Oscar-winning creature effects designer Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) work his black magic on him.  A 15-minute visual effects insight, Transformation Secrets, shows how the filmmakers tried to model their creation on the 1941 Wolfman, only “with bigger claws and bigger teeth”; there’s a short on the movie’s stunts (Wolfman Unleashed); and the pick of the five deleted/extended scenes is a longer chase sequence through London that’s more inventive than the final edit. You can also see two alternate endings and choose an “unrated” cut of the movie, with an extra 17 minutes of footage, over the theatrical version. But the best reasons for buying the Blu-ray, in addition to the HD audio and video, are two picture-in-picture tracks: Legacy, Legend and Lore combines lycanthrope trivia with clips from the 1941 original (which also can be streamed) while the other goes behind the screams.

Movie: 😀 😀 😀 😐
Image: 😀 😀 😀 😀
Extras: 😀 😀 😀 😀