Werewolf cliches?

[Ookami-kun]

When you read and watch stuff about werewolves - usually in short stories and episodes - does it ever occur to you that "oh well, I know what happens", and that you were right after all?

Let's post some overused cliches used over werewolf stuff, shall we? Take note that I am not asking for the common "trait", but more like "the overused events and occurrences" within a werewolf episode/story/chapter.

[RedEye]

Let's start with the most common:

AHHH! What's happening to me?

Then there's the classic; "It looks like some sort of huge animal has done this."

Then, there's the classic shift-of-the-eyes as the "victim" wonders "was it me?"

This should make for a decent start....

[Terastas]

When somebody sees a werewolf up close and personal, then asks the shady hero: "What was that?!" or "What's going on?!" Granted, I've never seen a werewolf, but I think I would recognize one if I did.

The werewolf leaps on the hood of the car and smashes the windshield, all in a blur.

He's chasing a beautiful screaming woman in a dress in high heels, or a screaming teen wearing a skimpy top and fancy sandals.

X5 if she trips and hurts her ankle.

At the end, the werewolf is in the morgue and his eyes pop open.

The innocent female protagonist that's never handled a gun in her life makes the one shot that can kill the werewolf that the police and professionals were never able to make.

"What a feeling! When you're dancing on the ceiling!"

The protagonist aims a gun with silver bullets at the werewolf, and the werewolf responds by planting his feet and snarling at him.

The werewolf kills the black guy.

Anything involving a pentagram.

Anything involving a severed head.

[RedEye]

When somebody sees a werewolf up close and personal, then asks the shady hero: "What was that?!" or "What's going on?!" Granted, I've never seen a werewolf, but I think I would recognize one if I did.


He's chasing a beautiful screaming woman in a dress in high heels, or a screaming teen wearing a skimpy top and fancy sandals.

At the end, the werewolf is in the morgue and his eyes pop open.

The werewolf kills the black guy.

I've saved these out for a reason; several, actually.

A Werewolf in a dress and high heels? a skimpy top and fancy sandals?
I really can't see that; not even in Hollywierd. They have better fashion sense than that.

And- in the Morgue and his eyes pop open? He usually isn't wearing anything, and those morgue tables are so-o-o cold. My eyes would pop open, too.

Of course he kills the Black Guy: especially if the Black Guy is wearing a Red Shirt. Werewolves are equal opportunity monsters.

[Scott Gardener]

The one person at the end of the movie who gets bitten, so we can end on a "here we go again..."

Curing the lead character at the end...

Getting mauled, waking up in a hospital, and ultimately getting discharged without any of the physicians noticing something weird in the labwork...

Full moons that fall on convenient times as far as the plot is concerned...

Family heirlooms conveniently made of silver, no other silver objects anywhere in a hundred miles, and someone nearby who knows how to melt down said irreplaceable heirlooms to make silver bullets...

[Ookami-kun]

For some odd reasons, most modern werewolves have some "goth" in them.

[Rhuen]

Scott beat me to the (someone they know just happens to know how to make bullets out of silver).

Over-used.

It takes the werewolf a whole five minutes to change shape but no one makes a run for it or shoots it during that time.

"oh my god what is happening to you"-stated by friends, family, nearby people who are all about to die.

The full moon happens every week apparently

(the full moon being involved)

The werewolf can rip through walls, shred people, yet the "hero" of the story somehow was close enough to get bitten or scratched but not torn to little pieces thanks to some unlikely event.

[Terastas]

The werewolf can rip through walls, shred people, yet the "hero" of the story somehow was close enough to get bitten or scratched but not torn to little pieces thanks to some unlikely event.

Or the werewolf can punch through brick walls and flip cars, but however he chooses to pound the living crap out of the protagonist, he just coughs, groans and gets right back up.

When the protagonist only has one silver bullet so he "has to make this shot count."

Anything involving sex, especially if it's supposed to somehow involve a human and a shifted werewolf.

After everyone they know has been slaughtered, the damsel and the shady hero smile and/or share a tender moment together.
(Remember in Darkwolf how half of the girl's friends and everyone on the guy's entire force was killed, but they said goodbye with a smile and a joke? Shouldn't they have had too many funerals to attend to be cheery?)

The first time you see the werewolf shift, it takes a minute. After that, six seconds tops.

[RedEye]

The Werewolf follows his/her prey like iron filings following a magnet; but the hero manages to shut a flimsy door and by the time the were' has broken through-can't find the target anymore.

The Werewolf makes noises- that are not the least bit canine. Some even ROAR lilke a big cat. Rarely do they growl, bark or make any doggy-type noises.

In the rare occasions where a Werewolf retains intelligence; they can't seem to operate even the simplest mechanical devices; but wow, can they sneak around-provided the door isn't closed.

Also: the Wolf Crosses some female so there are now a breeding pair available. What do they do? Smash stuff and get shot up. Do they run away to make more Werewolves? No- they both go out and get killed.

And: why is it that the "its in the Family" plotline never seems to have produced an intelligent Were'? "We go back for generations" but they can't tie their shoes in Wolf. "I was born this way..." but somehow cannot manage their self-control after having lived their entire life with this condition/ability. You'd think they'd have learned to manage themselves by the time they reach adulthood.

Finally: Why does the Werewolf kiss his girl (when he's Human) and she doesn't get all fuzzy and toothy? Like, it's spread by saliva, but the girlfriend doesn't Cross. Does the "curse" or the infection process work only when Wolfed-out? Or...does the girlfriend have a bit more self control?

[RedEye]

For some odd reasons, most modern werewolves have some "goth" in them.

It's camouflage to make people think they're Vampires, not Werewolves.
The reason for the long standing hostility between Werewolves and Vampires is simple: the Vampires hog the makeup people.

[Scott Gardener]

Rhuen got even by beating me to the one in which the werewolf takes forever to shift form, but everyone else conveniently stands around, waiting for the guy to shift, rather than using said time gap either to run away in terror, grab a weapon, or perhaps order a pizza. If it's Domino's, it should get there by the time the guy has shifted, or it's free.

How about werewolves with strange powers that make no sense what-so-ever? We've all harped on the strange tendancy of recent movies to have werewolves walking on walls. But, there's been more (pun intended) off-the-wall powers that have come up. My favorite would have to be Darth Stirba's lightning bolts from her hands in Howling II; through the Dark Side of the Force, she made her enemies' eyes explode. Oh, she's the werewolf hive queen, by the way. Appearantly we're all her minions, like the Borg. Which brings up the next cliche:

Over-use of biting, in order to assimilate everyone into the Collective.

That, and inventing kitchy terms to avoid saying "werewolf" or "bite." Bigger cliche among vampires, but we get our fair share, too. Generally what happens is that one story popularizes a name, and pretty soon, everyone else is using it. For awhile, everyone called werewolves "Garou," after White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse game. Lately, "Lycan" has been the term bandied about, starting with Underworld. Thankfully, it's starting to fizzle.

Next cliche: werewolves vs. vampires. It was fun back in 1994, when LARPing White Wolf, but it got old when people started abandoning the idea that werewolves and vampires could possibly have any relationship other than an adversarial one. It also spawned a lot of additional cliches, like werewolves being former vampire servants and minions who rebelled, or werewolves roaming in sewers while vampires get to live in elegant castles. Just once, I want to see a vampire out begging the streets, while a werewolf gets into a brand new Lexus LS460L, the one with the executive recliner in the back, and directs the chauffer to take him to the Pack's Den.

[Terastas]

Just once, I want to see a vampire out begging the streets, while a werewolf gets into a brand new Lexus LS460L, the one with the executive recliner in the back, and directs the chauffer to take him to the Pack's Den.

I think that's the case because a lot of the more (in)famous vampires have all been in positions of nobility (Count Dracula, Lady Bathory, etc.), whereas werewolves tend to stick to the wilderness.

What gets me is not that werewolves and vampires are frequently depicted in conflict, but that whenever one of each come face to face, the vampire always kicks the werewolf's a**. In the older movies, it was always the vampires skulking around biting people while the werewolves were smashing through brick walls and throwing compact cars around. It really should be the other way around.

Another thing that really gets to me is that whenever a werewolf gets shot or stabbed with silver, the werewolf's wound makes a sizzling sound and emits steam.

One last thing: When they finally kill the werewolf and he "deflates" back into human form. I know nobody wants to see a scene out of Weekend at Berny's only with a big 7 ft. werewolf corpse, but just once I'd like to see the main characters have to deal with the werewolf after the fact.

[PariahPoet]

One thing that buggs the crap out of me in all creature movies is that a whole slough of people get killed by *insert creature here*, and then said creature is destroyed leaving no evidence that it ever existed and one surviving pair of humans(who amazingly are always the most physically attractive of the group). The surviving humans then go about their lives as if nothing had happened other than than their newly formed relationship.

I guess all the less attractive people are hermits with no friends or family to wonder "Hmm...I wonder where Gertrude went?" Wouldn't the police be just a little curious as to why there are twenty bodies strewn about a demolished old castle and two happy people walking away hand-in hand with no injuries other than perhaps an astheticly pleasing scratch to the brow or cheek?

[KittyRose]

Here are some I just thought of:

The victums or survivors of a werewolf attack describe the said "creature" to be some sort of huge, rabid dog that could have rabies.

Once the idea of lycanthropy is introduced, the characters dismiss it and laugh about it.

There maybe a gypsy or someone with ties to the supernatural who warns people about the werewolf or if they are cursed or not.

Domestic dogs tend to bark, growl, or whine whenever they are near the werewolf, usually when he is in his human form.

The werewolf being made fun of with references to domestic canines, or dogs.

I'm not sure if any of these were mentioned but I've seen most of these occuring in movies and tv shows with werewolves in them.

[Kwipper]

Hmmm. Cliches... oohh I got one.


Howling

Yes. I know wolves howl for communication n' stuff, but it seems that the werewolves in movie usually howl a little too often.

[Midnight]

The reason for the long standing hostility between Werewolves and Vampires is simple: the Vampires hog the makeup people.

[KittyRose]

The reason for the long standing hostility between Werewolves and Vampires is simple: the Vampires hog the makeup people.

Well, that is so true

Oh, I'm a Vampire.
I'm so sexy with my long hair and clear complexion.
I can be a supermodel if I wasn't allergic to the daylight.
All the girls love me, they don't care if I drink blood.

[Scott Gardener]

Worse yet, howls that aren't wolf howls!

Wolf howls are more "awyoooooooooooaaaaah."

The "Auh... auh... awrooooooooooohhhh" is a coyote howl. Coyotes add the extra syllables at the beginning. (Maybe it's the canine equivalent of "like" or "you know"--filler words added by people with poor grammar skills)

A lot of werewolf howls are stock recordings that sound dubbed-in, too.

OK, werewolf vision; how come werewolves in shifted form see everything through a Photoshop filter effect, all the while constantly hearing a heartbeat? It's a miracle they can see anything through the post-production effects. Kind of like wandering around in a fur suit at A-Kon. I want to see a werewolf with solarized, posterized vision smack into a stop sign and knock himself out. There can be some terrified lady nearby, asking her boyfriend, "what was that?"

Which brings up the next cliche, "probably just the wind."

PariahPoet: I think you just came up with a great comedy idea--werewolf hunters who kill a werewolf, wait for the body to shift back, but then find that it doesn't shift. They then have to lug around an enormous furry body that won't fit in their trunk. Imagine their getting pulled over by a park ranger, looking for bear poachers...

[Rhuen]

and I got beat to the messed up vision thing (which also features in alot of monsters and robots) supposed to be better but can't see a damned thing.

cliche costume effects

thin point cloth like ears that never move

oversized dagger teeth and the mouth never closes or forms anything other than a snarl

female werewolves rarely ever go fully beast like and just become hairy

most women in these movies have the same exact scream (literally its a sound bite).

If the werewolf is supposed to be some legendary super monster it never shows this as it still acts like basic brain dead berserker.

Partial shifting during sex but their partner never notices (even if they fully shift at some point after) which I guess the girl didn't notice him shifting when she got up and left to go home for some reason.

[Dreamer]

Next cliche: werewolves vs. vampires. It was fun back in 1994, when LARPing White Wolf, but it got old when people started abandoning the idea that werewolves and vampires could possibly have any relationship other than an adversarial one. It also spawned a lot of additional cliches, like werewolves being former vampire servants and minions who rebelled, or werewolves roaming in sewers while vampires get to live in elegant castles. Just once, I want to see a vampire out begging the streets, while a werewolf gets into a brand new Lexus LS460L, the one with the executive recliner in the back, and directs the chauffer to take him to the Pack's Den.

Actually, that sounds like an intriguing concept. A very classy, rich and acristocratic werewolf and a savage, wild and monstrous vampire.

And in my planned universe, werewolves don't really have any beef with any of the non-evil vampires, although they d otime to time get in arguments over which race is better.

[Terastas]

Hey, goth vampires make more sense than vampires with a perfect tan.

I think you just came up with a great comedy idea--werewolf hunters who kill a werewolf, wait for the body to shift back, but then find that it doesn't shift. They then have to lug around an enormous furry body that won't fit in their trunk. Imagine their getting pulled over by a park ranger, looking for bear poachers...

I have something like that happen in a story I started working on. Two guys (not yet werewolves, but so devoted to the pack they might as well be) have to kill a werewolf in self-defense. At first they wait around thinking he'll deflate so they can just leave him there for the police to handle, but when he doesn't, they have to carry him over a mile back to their car before they can even begin to figure out what to do with him.

There's sort of a scene change in between the killing and the dragging, but I open it back up with one of them screaming "Dear God, even in death he torments us!"

[JoshuaMadoc]

I think i remember many people being put off by spider-wolves and gravity-defying jumping wolves. But i don't know if it's cliche'd enough.

Then there's complete morons in their circle of proud howlers, uttering words like loup-garoux when they're not even from France. Unless, of course, they're french-american or have "gaulic blood".

Think everyone else mentioned the rest of the cliches i've known.

[Terastas]

That whole "we should be ruling the humans" thing is stereotypical of a lot of 'monster' movies.

In fact, there's a great big list of stereotypes that could be applied to all horror movies. Mostly involving the main characters.

[JoshuaMadoc]

Like how many main characters in werewolf media are usually less physically attractive before they changed?

[Ookami-kun]

lol at the moon being frequent. A phase should only appear shortly in a night.

Also, werewolves are stereotypically portrayed with large mouths that can't seem to be closed thanks to those big teeth.