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Why is it that so often in werewolf films the characters show feline characteristics instead of canine wolf characteristics? For example the claws. Wolves and other canines have claws but they're not razor sharp weapons like we see so often in movies. Canine claws are thick and dull due to the fact that they're not retractable like feline claws so they're constantly being worn down with every step they take. Canine claws are used more like spikes on track or football cleats that help them with traction when there running and also for digging. Adding these these types of claws to a human hand with an apposable thumb might even make them good climbing tools on certain surfaces (small dogs and foxes can climb trees quite well). Cutting through flesh isn't very difficult and canine claws can do that but the razor sharp claws like in the Wolfman remake don't really make sense.

Also wolves are not stealthy and stalking predators. They don't hide in the shadows and pounce out of nowhere on prey. Wolves chase down prey in the open and then rely on their endurance to tire out an animal before making the kill.

Both quite true. Horror films want to scare people, and sharp claws are scarier than dull claws. Having things lurk in shadows is also cheap, because you don't have to work as hard at making them look good.

If we can get werewolves into more genre diversity or get more horror filmmakers to embrace our vision of werewolves--or at least get funding to the ones we've already brought... in... then we can conceivably start seeing more werewolves and less weregorillas-with-cat-claws-but-no-tails.

Your right. Hollywood's goal is to put people in the seats, so it is understandable that they portray the creature as what they deem to be scary and not necessarily authentic. And who knows, If a werewolf did actually exist maybe it would have different behavior patterns and physical attributes than an actual wolf. I wasn't really complaining just really wondering if anybody else ever noticed those feline characteristics.

I sure as hell don't think werewolves are fit for anything horror-related these days, specially the canned Hollywood crap. There's enough of that stuff flooding the genre, plus I'd be far more scared of a big-a** bear, out of its habitat, within striking range of my face.

As for feline characteristics... I don't need to say much else. It's a common enough problem, and the roots go back to possible issues such as pressure from public perception or publishers, technical limitations (whatever they may be, good grief) or even creative sterility on the writers and designers' part.

So says the guy who prefers boring mockumentaries about the daily life of a werewolf.

I agree, they shouldn't be feline.

Whenever I talk to people about werewolves, they always imagine them with huge sharp claws. I think the only reason people imagine them like this is to make them look more dangerous and scary (even though that kinda fails). I've even met people who said that they imagine werewolves running up against buildings and walls, which makes me think of a combination between The Hulk and those 'lycans' from Underworld.

The way we see werewolves, is more like a nature elemental if you will (feel free to correct me on this if you don't agree), and to me, in a sense its a way for people to portray our inner primal animal as human beings. A return to the roots.

i agree film producer want to have a werewolf that is scary and they pick talons because they are scarier than claws.

morkulv underworld failed to make realistic werewolfs but lycans arent even werewolfs

Morkulv wrote:I agree, they shouldn't be feline.

Whenever I talk to people about werewolves, they always imagine them with huge sharp claws. I think the only reason people imagine them like this is to make them look more dangerous and scary (even though that kinda fails). I've even met people who said that they imagine werewolves running up against buildings and walls, which makes me think of a combination between The Hulk and those 'lycans' from Underworld.

The way we see werewolves, is more like a nature elemental if you will (feel free to correct me on this if you don't agree), and to me, in a sense its a way for people to portray our inner primal animal as human beings. A return to the roots.

The funny thing is that the idea of werewolves being able to run up against buildings and walls isn't that far off, as Equist have pointed out about a wolf's claws giving them a boost in climbing. Hell, if it gets to Spiderman levels of climbing, then maybe chalk it up to having retardedly strong hands.

The whole idea of being a werewolf as a deeper look into humanity's "inner primal side" has kinda lost its appeal to me. I don't know if it's any different, but I like to think that being a werewolf puts oneself into seeing a broader picture of human existentialism, the fight between man and nature, the reason for organics to exist, how man-beasts fit into the inner workings of man-made philosophies.

I'm sure one or more of those concepts I just mentioned have been delved into. Probably poorly.

kitetsu wrote:

Morkulv wrote:I agree, they shouldn't be feline.

Whenever I talk to people about werewolves, they always imagine them with huge sharp claws. I think the only reason people imagine them like this is to make them look more dangerous and scary (even though that kinda fails). I've even met people who said that they imagine werewolves running up against buildings and walls, which makes me think of a combination between The Hulk and those 'lycans' from Underworld.

The way we see werewolves, is more like a nature elemental if you will (feel free to correct me on this if you don't agree), and to me, in a sense its a way for people to portray our inner primal animal as human beings. A return to the roots.

The funny thing is that the idea of werewolves being able to run up against buildings and walls isn't that far off, as Equist have pointed out about a wolf's claws giving them a boost in climbing. Hell, if it gets to Spiderman levels of climbing, then maybe chalk it up to having retardedly strong hands.

The whole idea of being a werewolf as a deeper look into humanity's "inner primal side" has kinda lost its appeal to me. I don't know if it's any different, but I like to think that being a werewolf puts oneself into seeing a broader picture of human existentialism, the fight between man and nature, the reason for organics to exist, how man-beasts fit into the inner workings of man-made philosophies.

I'm sure one or more of those concepts I just mentioned have been delved into. Probably poorly.

Sure, but the thing is nobody has ever seen a wolf running up against walls and buildings. Hell, nobody has even seen a dog running up against them. I think a werewolf should have obviously more strength, but not THAT much. It still has to look like a 'realistic' combination of human and wolf features. This is also the reason why I couldn't stand the werewolves in Van Hellsing, because they were just fluffy versions of the Hulk, basically. Jumping around, roaring at everything. Its not an engaging kind of werewolf at all like I imagine we would like it to be.

Best possible explanation is that, while Hollywood does want their werewolves to look realistic (or at the very least, appropriate), they tend to work things out in reverse. Instead of designing the werewolf first and then writing a script about those werewolves, they write the script first, then design a werewolf that looks like it should be capable of what it is described doing.

Climbing, for example, is definitely not a canine thing. So every time some jackass screenwriter decides to have the werewolves doing Spiderman tricks, the poor sod doing the creature concepts has to make sure the werewolf looks like something that might plausibly be able to do that.

Equist wrote:Your right. Hollywood's goal is to put people in the seats, so it is understandable that they portray the creature as what they deem to be scary and not necessarily authentic. And who knows, If a werewolf did actually exist maybe it would have different behavior patterns and physical attributes than an actual wolf. I wasn't really complaining just really wondering if anybody else ever noticed those feline characteristics.

Yeah, I have noticed, and very much agree. But I find myself unable to complain too harshly, in attempting to answer the aesthetic and some of the behavioral problems, I've found myself drawing some of this same type of criticism in my work on the topic, so I'm in two minds personally, on the one hand I know something is wrong, and on the other, I (we?) can't necessarily do a particularly better job, even in our imaginations without the limitations of such things as prosthetic make-up effects, or CGI.

It gets used as an excuse though, I mean, Underworld is about the only film series that depict werewolves that I've spent any time studying and comparing things against, and you're right, in the first film they were actually deliberating "we have two looks, one is wolfish, the other is cat like", and they went with (yep, you guessed it) the "cat like" one, because it's different and unique and it looks cooler than the slightly botched wolfish one. Separate point to note, all the really detailed, well animated "big boss" werewolves that were done in CGI were quite frankly gorgeous (Even Quint in Awakening, that looked like he was chewing a mouthful of wasps all the time), I wouldn't have had any complaints if the CG William in Underworld Evolution was used for everything, because it actually looked like a wolf, much more than the prosthetic head, by far.

That's one of my main pet peeves with the series, don't scan a wolf head and use that in CGI to get a good looking werewolf, and then pair it with a not particularly wolfish prosthetic, it blows the continuity to hell! They'd have been better off digitizing the costume and animate it for all the shots that the performer can't do, like jumping between ledges. </mini-rant>

The Meeper.

i agree but lycans have more human than wolf shaped heads so that could be couse for cat like aperance

Equist wrote:Wolves and other canines have claws but they're not razor sharp weapons like we see so often in movies. Canine claws are thick and dull due to the fact that they're not retractable like feline claws so they're constantly being worn down with every step they take. Canine claws are used more like spikes on track or football cleats that help them with traction when there running and also for digging.

I'd like to point out the keyword, "step." Depending on one's opinion on how a werewolf should look regarding stance when shifted, a bipedal wolf does not walk on its hands (or forepaws, if that is your fancy) and therefore wouldn't wear down its claws. Maybe the werewolves in Underworld and Van Helsing have special werewolf nail salons where werewolves go to have their nails sharpened. Hm, I can't help but picture a wolf coming out of a salon for the first time with safety corks stuck on the end of each finger.

I think a lot of it stems from the formative "text" for werewolves being the old Wolf Man movie. Even though werewolves existed since before recorded history, there was no real single source for what the average person thinks a werewolf should be. So, even today, we think about Jack Pierce's makeup. Yes, we can use CGI in movies now, but even werewolves that look like real wolves often have a stage in the middle of shifting that looks similar to Pierce's makeup.

I only really have one problem with the whole "wearing down claws" bit-- Don't we usually see the claws bursting out of the guy/girl's nailbeds during transformation? If they're considered fresh and emerge sharp, if they ran around for a few hours then I could see them becoming dull, but otherwise, the sharpness of claws doesn't bother me. It just makes sense from my perspective. Also, there is the issue of bipedal running, because I could see claws on the werewolf's feet becoming duller more quickly due to general walking/running around, but unless they're running on all fours, the claws on their hands should remain sharper longer.

That's just my two cents.

ok, werewolfs transformation creates new set of claws/talons witch dull but when werewolf transform next time they are new again.

on feline thing: wolfs are canines but humans are primates(Hominidae) so you could get feline look.

for non magical WWs:

primates= green
canines= red
= yellow
if you mix green and red you get yellow. Im youst saying that more realism you want less wolfish WW would look, but magical would look like canines

Wait... Primate + wolf = ... feline?

i didnt say it will couse feline apperance but mixure could couse it. i used word could

I think a 50-50 mix of primate (Hominidae) and wolf (lupus, not dogs) would end up looking more bear-like then feline.

Thats just my guess though. Too bad there's no program that lets you mix the appearance of different species together.

if WW would look bear like then fine,but if you want wolfish WWs you need to use magic because virus/bacteria based WWs wont look like wolfs but like something else

I don't mind werewolves looking bearish at all, though most people on this forum would be against it.

If we want to go for a 'realistic' approach for a werewolf design, then we better ditch the 'perfect wolf' stuff ala Goldenwolfen out of the window right now.

i dont mind to, but like you said it some wont like this.