DVD: The Wolfman (15)

The wolf is the thing in Joe Johnston's take on George Waggner's 1941 film, but there's enough ham here for at least three little pigs, too.

Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, a Shakespearian actor summoned back to his family's estate on the moors after his brother has been mauled in the woods. The villagers (replete with a curious melange of regional accents to suggest that, yes, they're working class) whisper of a curse, and when Lawrence heads out to track down the beast, he gets a wolfish love bite for his troubles. You can probably guess the rest. Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins do their best and there are some arrestingly gory moments; but why shouldn't we expect this kind of horror to be at least a little inventive and stylistically challenging?