Western and horror are kind of a weird pairing of genres in that there have been several different attempts at merging the two, and very rarely done particularly well.
2014/2015’s film “Blood Moon” is not one of those that is done particularly well. (more…)
Fright Rags is best known for its wide variety of constantly-cycling horror shirt designs, constantly bringing in new designs while occasionally allowing their customers to “resurrect” designs from the out-of-print graveyard. They made the news (Werewolf News, at least) back in 2012 with their “Breaking Jacob” design, in which three classic film werewolves brutally eviscerate pretty-boy Jacob Black, of Twilight fame.
They have recently unveiled a new delightful werewolf pop culture crossover shirt design, appropriately titled “An American Teen Wolf in London,” featuring an appropriately fuzzy Michael J. Fox van-surfing atop a classic red British double-decker bus:
The shirt is available for pre-order right now on Fright Rags for $18 plus shipping.
The catch?
Unlike the rest of Fright Rags’ usual shirts, per their website, this is an extremely limited pre-order window, and there will be no other opportunities after today to get this shirt:
This is available for PRE-ORDER for 24 HOURS ONLY!
Once the clock strikes midnight on Sunday July 12*, it will be gone FOREVER. It will never be reprinted, and there will be no extras available for sale later. YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO PURCHASE IT AGAIN. Don’t miss your chance!
*If you’re in the Eastern Standard time zone, this is late Saturday night.
So, if you have any interest at all in getting this tee (available in both standard and fitted shirts), you need to jump on this opportunity ASAP. This is your only warning.
While I’ve never read any of the comics associated with the title Bubba the Redneck Werewolf, though there are apparently many of them, there is a certain mental image one gets just from hearing the title alone. In fact, your mental image is probably just about identical to my own—Larry the Cable Guy with more hair, right? It’s a straightforward title with a quickly-conjured mental image.
So, when I heard last year that there would be a movie made, I had a decent idea in mind of what that movie would be like. Now a trailer has finally surfaced for said movie, and I can confirm that it appears to be exactly how I figured it would be.
Still, regardless of how high up my eyebrows rose on seeing this, I’ll hold off judgement on the actual film until I’ve seen the whole thing myself. I have notoriously bad taste in comedy werewolf films (I’ve watched Strippers Vs. Werewolves at least four times now) so it’s entirely possible that I’m going to actually find myself laughing through it.
But in the meantime, all I can say on the trailer is “uh, wow.”
If you have heard anything about werewolves in the past 12 months, you’ve heard about WolfCop, the runaway crowdsourced comedy horror featuring functioning alcoholic Lou Garou in the title role. It’s the premiere 80s werewolf flick written and released in the 2010s, and it’s resulted in DVD/Bluray releases, soundtrack on CD and vinyl and cassette, a comic series, and even a run of action figures.
The news broke a little over a year ago that CineCoup was planning to produce a WolfCop sequel, and as of now, you can start pitching in to help fundraise the next installment of the series, WolfCop 2!
As of my writing this, the WolfCop 2 Indiegogo campaign still has 33 days left to go, and has already raised over 10% of their projected goal of $30,000 CAD. All contributors will receive the ability to give casting suggestions for the sequel, starting with the lowest reward tier of $3.
Other lower-tier rewards include unreleased music tracks from the film, digital download of the Bluray special features, and three different shirts (including a WolfCop 2: Electric Loogaroo* shirt).
If you’re not a college student like me and have way more disposable income to throw at crowdfunding sites (and boy do I envy you!) you also have the option of getting your name written somewhere in Woodhaven, non-speaking cameo roles (also available with SFX and/or with a VIP lunch on set), an authentic WolfCop uniform (likely shredded and bloodied and sweated all over), a killed-on-camera role, and a killed-on-camera-by-WolfCop role. There was also a tier for WolfCop’s mid-transformation arm prosthetics, but that’s already been snatched up.
Sound like your kind of film? Of course it does. Hit the link below to help breed the WolfCop WolfPack!
(*Note: I wrote this title before reading the rewards list and didn’t know about the shirt. A good joke never dies, apparently.)
I recently got more involved in my local music scene and discovered that there was a large number of avant garde noise artists in my city. I recently went to a midnight outdoor concert featuring a good friend of mine, who is one of the more notorious noise artists. During his performance, he wore only a large, disfigured mask with goggles and neon dreadlocks, a pair of shorts, and a large trenchcoat, and smeared his exposed body with stage blood. His performance consisted of a bizarre black-and-white video projected on a sheet behind him, growling and screeching into a heavily-distorted microphone, scratching and layering various records on a player (and throwing them behind him when he was done), and raking a violin bow across an electric guitar. Approximately seven people aside from myself and him were in attendance.
If my friend makes you sit back with wide eyes and furrowed brow, wondering what the hell happened for this to become a reality, then I have accurately described to you the sensation of playing the game Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf.
KDFW is a collaborative effort between several individuals from Gothenburg, Sweden, and describing it feels a little like describing a fever dream or acid trip (as the title implies) but I will try.
To complete the game, you have to play through several stages to the Fucking Werewolf Asso song “Keep My Adresse to Yourself, Cause We Need Secrets.” During the first stage, you play a man in winter gear (sans pants, for some reason) leaping onto blocks of ice up a constantly-scrolling screen in an effort to collect “energy cubes.” If you collect enough cubes before the stage ends, you then move to the second stage, in which you have to button mash to melt your clothes off and turn into a bright purple werewolf. You then chase a mob of people through a city while trying to avoid the crates they throw back at you. If you manage not to get hit by the crates, the people then start falling down as they flee, and you turn your entire body into a buzzsaw to slice them in half. After that, you have to collect the bones of your victims; run in bizarre, circling patterns to avoid being shot or blown up (while also killing the people trying to shoot you/blow you up); assemble the collected bones into some sort of gun; and then take down a large eldritch unicorn monstrosity to beat the game.
Have I lost you yet? Because it took me like an hour to figure all of the stages out enough to actually beat the game. (Maybe it would’ve taken less time if I’d stopped to read the manual.)
If bright colors, purple werewolves, and pixel platformers set to 8-bit punk rock sounds like your thing, you can download the game for free directly from the developer here. Forewarning: the Mac port doesn’t work.
If you’d prefer to witness the insanity secondhand, there are a number of “Let’s Play”s on YouTube. For your viewing pleasure, here is the most straightforward of them:
The United States midwest is full of werewolves. Wisconsin has their Bray Road Beast, Michigan has its Dogman and Violin Monster. Michigan even likes the Violin Monster that they have an autumn ale named after him! Of course, that leaves the summer months devoid of most varieties of appropriately-themed alcohol for the discerning werewolf connoisseur.
Fret not. Michigan’s got your back, again.
Introducing the Michigan Dogman Moonshine, from Northern Latitudes Distillery. Really what it is is more like whiskey (though not “properly barrel-aged,” per MyNorth), but Moonshine is a way cooler name for any werewolf alcohol, anyway.
MyNorth described this Moonshine thus:
“Since Northern Latitudes opened this past July in Lake Leelanau there hasn’t been time to kick out a batch of properly barrel-aged whiskey from the brand new pot still, so what the distillery offers is Dog Man (read moonshine). This subtly smoky and sweet white whiskey has raw fiery charm that can be thrown back straight or harnessed into a mean margarita. Mix two ounces of Dog Man with one ounce of Cointreau, one half-ounce of simple syrup and the juice of one lime. Shake, strain into a chilled glass and let the trouble begin.”
There have not yet been any anouncements as to when, precisely, or where you might get your hands on it, but if you’re in the area, it’s worth a trip to see when it’ll be available.
(By the way: miss me?)
German power metal and werewolf enthusiast band Powerwolf made the announcement today that for the past six months, the band has secretly been writing new material for their followup to 2013’s Preachers of the Night. They plan to hit the studio in early January and work through March, with an expected release in summer of 2015.
Regarding the sound of the new album, Powerwolf has the following to say:
So, what can you expect? Without revealing too much at this early stage, you can expect an album that’s 100% uncompromising POWERWOLF-stuff.
There’s songs to go wild to, there’s epic and atmospheric stuff – and a lot of wolfish metal madness in between – and quite a bunch of songs that will be must-plays on any future POWERWOLF liveshow for damn sure. We can’t wait to get this album shaped! We’ll keep you posted!
For further updates, be sure to follow Powerwolf on Facebook or keep an eye on the news section of the band’s website.
It is no secret that I am a huge huge proponent of the lady werewolf. It is also no secret that I am picky about the female werewolves that I like. (I’ll give you a hint: not the kind that crawl around on all fours and play subservient to the male werewolves. Get that outta here.) Those of you who follow my Twitter account are likely Very Aware of this, as roughly once a month I have a fit where I just have to scream about how great BAMF lady werewolves are.
So naturally, biker gang lady werewolves are very high on my list of cool werewolf things.
The webseries Asphalt She-Wolves has been on my radar for several months now, and I’ve been keeping personal tabs on their progress and milestones. And, I’m glad to report, they just hit a major one: the first episode of Asphalt She-Wolves was just posted. Check it out below: (more…)
As revealed in last month’s interview, the new GrimWolf EP Order of the Lycan dropped on digital format via the band’s new BandCamp page on October 31.
For the collecting type (and I know you’re out there, because I’m one too) the orders for the physical CD, exclusive t-shirt, patch, and button are still being offered on the band’s site. GrimWolf have also begun taking orders for a short run of cassettes for Order, and are requesting a minimum pre-order 0f 20 cassettes total before they put in the order. (If the minimum order is not met, all orders will be refunded.)
With cassette-only record companies like Graveyard Calling out there, I know you horror-music-cassette-collectors are out there. GET ON THIS.
Independent Manchester publishing company Hic Dragones has decided to do away with November in favor of something werewolves everywhere are sure to delight at. From the company’s Facebook page:
We’ve done away with November here at Hic Dragones – as far as we’re concerned it’s now Lycanthrovember! Throughout the month, all copies of Canadian author Kim Bannerman’s werewolf novel ‘The Tattooed Wolf’ will include our werewolf anthology ‘Wolf-Girls’ absolutely FREE! Arrooooooo! (Source)
The Tattooed Wolf can be purchased through the Hic Dragones website here. You can also read more about the Wolf-Girls anthology (which includes a story from my friend at Werewolf News) here.
After a successful year zero followed by an unfortunate cancellation due to insufficient pre-registrations and over a year’s worth of radio silence, the Portland-area werewolf convention HOWL Con has resurfaced once more, with little more than the following tweet to go on:
This is particularly exciting news for me, as February 7th is in fact my birthday, and I can’t picture a more entertaining way to spend my birthday than at a werewolf convention. (Even at one across the entire continental United States from me.)
Werewolves and Europe tend to go hand in hand. Europe is where most of the research done on werewolves and lycanthropy takes place, and Europe is, for the most part, where the most well-known werewolf lore takes place. Certainly the most infamous werewolves in history were from Europe—France’s Beast of Gévaudan and Germany’s Peter Stumpp being the most well-known of all of them. While in most parts of Europe the belief in werewolves has died down a great deal since the 1700s, there are still some pockets in Europe where the legends live on.
Today’s story comes from Lycanthropology 101 reader and historian Filip Ganov who, on a research trip for his book on the Balkan Wars, spent some time in the small village of Novo Selo near Macedonia. While there, he met a farmer named Trayche who told Ganov that he’d found a box while plowing a new section of field. It had been chained shut, presumably to keep what was inside from breaking out: a werewolf skull, as pictured below.
Ganov took his pictures to a government wildlife official to inquire on them further. The official explained that, most likely, it was simply a regular wolf that suffered from Paget’s disease of bone, “which [caused] the skull to increase in size and appear more human-like.”
He went on to mention that it “wasn’t long ago [that] people or animals with malformations were thought to be demon possessed. So, it is not unusual that a wolf with bone disease would be labeled as a werewolf.”
Thank you Filip Ganov for sharing your photos and commentary with us! To see these photos as well as a few more photos of the location in which this “werewolf” skull was found, check out Ganov’s Google+ album right here!
Lycanthropology 101 