Bloody-Disgusting is passing along the rumor that Emily Blunt has signed on to star opposite Benicio DelToro in a remake of the 1930s Universal horror classic, The Wolfman. I guess I should be really upset about this. As I’ve said before, I’ve got a huge weakness for the monster movies of the 1930s, which, for me, hold up as well as they do primarily as star vehicles. I’m the biggest fangirl for Boris Karloff, but Lon Chaney Jr, who played the original Wolfman, is my second favorite. Karloff and Bela Lugosi could be inhumanly creepy, but Chaney had a regular-guy thing which is maybe more interesting in retrospect–– his transformation into the monster is less campy and more legitimately scary, and as a whole, the film feels much more modern than many from the era. I think Benicio will probably bring something very different to the table, which may not be a good thing.

On the other hand…

The do-over is to be directed by Mark Romanek, director of One Hour Photo and, perhaps more fittingly, music videos like Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.” Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I just watched “Closer” and an a clip from the original Wolfman in quick succession (the latter is embedded above; the former can be seen here), and they actually work pretty well as a double feature. Both derive much of their creepiness from a sort of hazy, erotic nightmare-type atmosphere. Trent Reznor sings about wanting to fuck you like an animal while surrounded by carcasses and a crucified monkey; Lon Cheney seduces a girl by dragging her into an opaquely fogged woods and confessing to spying on her with a telescope. Tomato, tomatoe––either way, the animals are freaked out.