Guy Gibson: ghost of Dambusters dog 'found' at airbase

A team of paranormal investigators have claimed they have made contact with the "spirit" of the dog owned by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the heroic pilot who led the Dambusters raids during the Second World War.
Wing Commander Gibson led the Dambusters raid in 1943 from his base at RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, just hours after his black labrador, called Nigger, was run over and killed.

Before taking off for the Ruhr Dams, Wing Commander Gibson left instructions for his faithful companion to be buried outside his office.

But a legend sprung up around Nigger after there were several reported sightings of a black dog seen around the base following his death.

His office has been empty for more than half a century and is now part of the RAF Scampton Historical Museum, near Lincoln, Lincs.

Now paranormal investigators, given special permission to stake out the operational RAF base, have claimed that the spectre of the dog's spirit may have tried to speak to them as they have picked up activity on their electronic detection equipment.

Filmed by the BBC, the team embarked on three all-night stakeouts at the base, now home to the Red Arrows.

It came Paul Drake, the lead investigator, was inspired by a 1987 photograph showing a mystery black dog at the opening of a Damsbusters memorial in the nearby village of Woodhall Spa.

"I saw a picture that had the dog in it, which the photographer said was not there when it was taken, and that has stayed in the back of my mind for a few years," said Mr Drake, 49, a computer engineer and founder of Paranormal Lincs.

"After I saw the picture I got in contact with RAF Scampton to see if we could do an investigation. I never dreamed they would say 'yes' as it is still an operational base and everything has to go through the base commander.

"But they have been absolutely brilliant and have welcomed us with open arms."

The name of Gibson's black labrador was used as a code word whenever one of Germany's Ruhr Dams was breached during the "bouncing bomb" mission in May 1943, and was immortalised in the 1955 film starring Richard Todd.

Read on ...

UFO, zombie, ghost and witch sightings revealed

Published date: 28 April 2011 |
Published by: Thomas Morton

DYFED Powys Police has revealed how many sightings of UFOs, zombies, ghosts, witches and vampires occurred in the county in the past five years.

The figures, made public because of a Freedom of Information Request Act, reveal 14 recorded UFO sightings in the past five years, along with 26 reports of ghosts, 11 witches and two of zombies and vampires respectively.

One zombie report turned out to be in a horror film being shot in Pembrey; the other a person acting suspiciously wearing a zombie mask in Haverfordwest.

Of the witch reports many of the calls were apparently from the same individual identified as having “mental health issues”. Others simply refer to someone looking “like a witch” but one drunk caller “rang regarding a gang of witches that want to sacrifice him.” There were no reports of werewolves.

Dyfed Powys Police said that they did not find any evidence of supernatural or paranormal activity in any of the cases – however this does not mean every case had an explanation.

UFO sightings included such reports as an “Oblong shaped, bright yellow” object “going horizontally across, about 10 to 15ft off the ground” in Llandrindod Wells in 2005; a “triangular shape in sky with different coloured lights in each corner” in Meifod in 2007; to “three orange lights thought to be UFOs” in Llanidloes in 2009, which ends: “Object seized and discovered to be a night lantern.”

Phil Hoyle of the Shrewsbury-based UFO Research and Investigation Unit said that such statistics were only a fraction of sightings, many of which go officially unreported or are hard to classify.

“Wales has got a lot of UFO hot-spots, particularly on the Shropshire/Welsh border and down around the Radnorshire forest, Knighton, Builth Wells and Llandrindod Wells” he said, saying he had reports from ex-military and police themselves, “The police go through a process of elimination to try to classify it, but people often can’t describe what they have seen - lots of people have reported structured devices, 20 to 30 feet across, quite close up - these are not just lights, and can’t be confused with chinese Lanterns.”

Between 2005 and 2010 there were 36 incidents of big cat sightings or animal deaths where big cats were suspected.

According to the British Big Cat Society’s statistics Wales ranks number four in the UK’s top 10 areas for big cat sightings. Scotland is number one, followed by Kent and Yorkshire.

In response to another request about how much the force had spent on mediums, clairvoyants or other psychics during the last five years it said it did not use such services.

The force has had 3,300 freedom of information requests costing it over £500,000 in the last five years, and has begun to publish these on its website.

Other figures show that in 2010 the force received 21 allegations of crime involving the website ebay and 47 allegations involving the social networking site Facebook.
As of 31 March 2010 there were 294 registered sex offenders living in the force area.

The Dyfed-Powys Police helicopter made 481 flights in 2009 and the force spent £299,078 on its press and communications office and officers in 2009/10.

http://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/101792/ufo-zombie-ghost-and-witch-sightings-revealed.aspx

For many Russians, UFO and Bigfoot equally realistic

26.04.2011

A paradox was revealed during a recent poll of the Russians. In spite of the fact that approximately 70 percent of the country's population call themselves believers, only 26 percent believe that life after death is possible. The beliefs of the Russians are generally contradictory: Russians bring Easter cakes to church to "make them holy" but at the same time are afraid of black cats and broken mirrors.

"Public opinion" fund decided to poll the Russians on the possibility of resurrection after death. The fund found out that despite the fact that 59 percent of the citizens consider themselves Orthodox, and ten percent say that they belong to other denominations, only 26 percent believe in an afterlife.

For 54 percent resurrection is no more than a myth. The majority of those who do not believe in the afterlife are represented by rural residents, men, students and seniors.

Another interesting fact is those who do believe in the afterlife are people with an income of over 30,000 rubles a month, entrepreneurs and executives. Surprisingly, there were more of those who believed in eternal life among the businessmen than among those who call themselves Orthodox Christians: 43 percent versus 31.

According to the numerous surveys and studies, human faith is generally a collection of paradoxes and even absurdities. Russians who call themselves Orthodox Christians consider it their duty to wear a cross, but at the same time do not shy away from horoscopes and psychics' services. A growing number of advertisement promising "to return the beloved one" and "ward off a competitor" indicate a growing demand.

Generally in the recent years Russians have become much more skeptical. Horoscopes, prophetic dreams and professional astrologers are still popular among the population, but to a much lesser extent. Alien life for the majority of the Russians is as much a fairy tale as the life after death. Possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations is denied by 58 percent of Russians.

However, the skepticism of the Russian people does not apply to every day superstitions. Little green creatures and life after death seem to be a myth to many, while troubles promised by a meeting with a black cat, a broken mirror or spilt salt are quite real for the most. The Russians believe that spitting over the left shoulder and knocking on wood is much more effective than a prayer or a call to the spirits.

It is worth mentioning that the representatives of the Church are not surprised by such data. Priests say that identifying themselves as Orthodox, people are not talking about religion, but, rather, the national and family tradition and culture. This means that many Russians do not believe in God, but call themselves Orthodox.

In fact, for many Russians a visit to a church during holidays or baptizing children is the same thing as knocking on wood or avoiding "jinxing," i.e., and old tradition designed to ward off trouble.

However, Russians are not the only ones that have such a strange attitude to religion. For example, 43 percent of Americans attend religious ceremonies every week, but this does not prevent 38 percent of the U.S. adults from believing in the existence of aliens, 33 percent believing in Bigfoot, and 37 percent - in ghosts. Of these, 23 percent are convinced that ghosts are their dead relatives or friends, while 20 percent said they personally met with the spirits of the dead.

Experts, however, argue that there is no paradox here. "Traditional" (in moderation) religion does not interfere with the belief in the paranormal, but quite the contrary: being open to the faith into the unknown, people are not so steadfast in their religious beliefs that reject the mysterious events in principle.

In other words, people who admit the existence of things unexplained from the viewpoint of science can be (or call themselves) Christians (Muslims, Jews), and with the same sincerity believe that aliens have visited Earth a number of times. An individual open to the faith in a higher intelligence, in principle can believe in some seemingly conflicting things. Traditional religions are traditional because people transfer their commitment to a particular confession from generation to generation, observing certain rituals as a family. But it is often nothing more than a tribute to the national culture, rather than a sincere belief and commitment to a wholly-owned church dogma.

Ksenia Obraztsova
Pravda.Ru

http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/26-04-2011/117700-russians_ufo_bigfoot-0/

Lair of the Beasts: Castle Ring Monsters

A Magnet for Mayhem

By Nick Redfern
October 09, 2010

While reports of weird creatures literally abound throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles, there is one specific area of the country that certainly seems to act as an absolute magnet for such high-strangeness: it is called the Castle Ring. Located in the village of Cannock Wood, Staffordshire, and inhabited more than two thousand years ago, the Castle Ring is an Iron Age structure commonly known as a Hill Fort, and stands 801 feet above sea level.

 

On May 1, 2004, Alec Williams was driving passed the car-park that sits at the base of the Castle Ring when he was witness to a dark, hair-covered, man-like entity that lumbered across the road and into the attendant trees. Williams stated that the sighting lasted barely a few seconds, but that he was able to make out the shape of its monstrous form: “It was about seven feet tall, with short, shiny, dark brown hair, large head and had eyes that glowed bright red.”

 

Interestingly, Williams stated that as he slowed his vehicle down, he witnessed something akin to a camera flash coming from the depths of the woods and heard a cry that he described as “someone going ‘Hoooooo.’” The beast did not resurface, and a shell-shocked Williams was forced to continue on his journey, wondering what on Earth had just taken place.

 

Just over one year later, on June 8, 2005 to be absolutely specific, in an article titled Hunt For Dark Forces at Chase Monument, Chase Post writer Sarah Taylor reported that “paranormal investigators are set to swoop on one of the area’s oldest monuments to find out what dark forces lie beneath it.”  As the newspaper noted, “a team of real-life ghost-busters’ had determined that the area of Gentleshaw that surrounds Castle Ring lay upon a ‘psychic fault.”  Indeed, the whole area surrounding Castle Ring has been a hotbed of unusual activity for years – and not all of it revolves around weird beasts.

 

For example, commenting on the high-strangeness at the Ring, Sue Penton – of Paranormal Awakening, a group affiliated to the Association for Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena – said: “There have been reports of strange music being heard up there. It is such a high place there have been lots of UFO sightings there, too.”

 

This was amply echoed by Graham Allen, who at the time was the head of the Etchinghill, Rugeley-based Staffordshire UFO Group, and who had taken over the reins from the group’s founder, Irene Bott, several years earlier: “Obviously, Castle Ring is the highest point on the Chase which makes it a good place for UFO spotting. There have been numerous incidents of UFOs, which could be because you are more likely to see something from a high point.”

 

Allen elaborated that: “There have been reports of something landing there in the 1960s. From a research point of view there are a high number of reports around ancient sites. One argument could be that ancient sites have been located there because of the incidents of UFOs and natural phenomenon. There could be locations where there could be magnetic influences in the ground which have been attributed to earth lights.”

 

Moreover, relatively close to the Castle Ring is an old, disused windmill, which, it is widely believed and accepted by local historians, was constructed upon the now-crumbled remains of ancient, pagan burial ground. Ghosts of the miller’s children, who local legend says suffocated in a flour-silo, are said to haunt the mill to this day, and the folklore of the area tells of a strange black figure that appeared just before the tragedy.

 

Could this perhaps have been the same dark figure which Alec Williams saw near the Castle Ring in 2004? Equally as strange are the reports from the village of Cannock Wood – from which the Castle Ring lies in a north-west direction – of a ghostly nun that has been seen in the vicinity of an ancient well.

 

In September 2005, the local media reported that the aforementioned Paranormal Awakening investigation group had recently completed a nighttime investigation of the Castle Ring in an attempt to try and chronicle the strange activity that had been reported there for years.

 

A spokesperson for the group said: “The Cannock Chase local authorities were kind enough to give permission for PA to conduct its research. Indeed, we are extremely grateful to them for being so open-minded as to allow us to conduct our research at this historical and most important monument. The group’s results are stunning and have created yet more questions than we have answers. We appear to have obtained a very strange mix of UFO and genuine paranormal activity.”

 

Midway through February 2006, the Chase Post elaborated as follows: “A paranormal investigations group say they have evidence of strange, dancing lights and ghostly figures at the area’s most ancient monument.”

 

On one tape, said the Post, one of the group’s members is heard to exclaim: “Tell me that isn’t a big black shape walking towards me.” The Post added that: “A mystery male voice responds, ‘There is!’”

 

Of course, it should not be forgotten that large, dark shapes and strange lights were both staples parts of Alec Williams’ 2004 sighting near the Castle Ring, too. Whatever is afoot at the Castle Ring, it seems to show no signs of going away anytime soon...

 

Nick Redfern’s latest book is Final Events – a study of UFOs and the occult.

http://www.mania.com/lair-beasts-castle-ring-monsters_article_125677.html

Lair of the Beasts: Castle Ring Monsters

A Magnet for Mayhem

By Nick Redfern
October 09, 2010

While reports of weird creatures literally abound throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles, there is one specific area of the country that certainly seems to act as an absolute magnet for such high-strangeness: it is called the Castle Ring. Located in the village of Cannock Wood, Staffordshire, and inhabited more than two thousand years ago, the Castle Ring is an Iron Age structure commonly known as a Hill Fort, and stands 801 feet above sea level.

 

On May 1, 2004, Alec Williams was driving passed the car-park that sits at the base of the Castle Ring when he was witness to a dark, hair-covered, man-like entity that lumbered across the road and into the attendant trees. Williams stated that the sighting lasted barely a few seconds, but that he was able to make out the shape of its monstrous form: “It was about seven feet tall, with short, shiny, dark brown hair, large head and had eyes that glowed bright red.”

 

Interestingly, Williams stated that as he slowed his vehicle down, he witnessed something akin to a camera flash coming from the depths of the woods and heard a cry that he described as “someone going ‘Hoooooo.’” The beast did not resurface, and a shell-shocked Williams was forced to continue on his journey, wondering what on Earth had just taken place.

 

Just over one year later, on June 8, 2005 to be absolutely specific, in an article titled Hunt For Dark Forces at Chase Monument, Chase Post writer Sarah Taylor reported that “paranormal investigators are set to swoop on one of the area’s oldest monuments to find out what dark forces lie beneath it.”  As the newspaper noted, “a team of real-life ghost-busters’ had determined that the area of Gentleshaw that surrounds Castle Ring lay upon a ‘psychic fault.”  Indeed, the whole area surrounding Castle Ring has been a hotbed of unusual activity for years – and not all of it revolves around weird beasts.

 

For example, commenting on the high-strangeness at the Ring, Sue Penton – of Paranormal Awakening, a group affiliated to the Association for Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena – said: “There have been reports of strange music being heard up there. It is such a high place there have been lots of UFO sightings there, too.”

 

This was amply echoed by Graham Allen, who at the time was the head of the Etchinghill, Rugeley-based Staffordshire UFO Group, and who had taken over the reins from the group’s founder, Irene Bott, several years earlier: “Obviously, Castle Ring is the highest point on the Chase which makes it a good place for UFO spotting. There have been numerous incidents of UFOs, which could be because you are more likely to see something from a high point.”

 

Allen elaborated that: “There have been reports of something landing there in the 1960s. From a research point of view there are a high number of reports around ancient sites. One argument could be that ancient sites have been located there because of the incidents of UFOs and natural phenomenon. There could be locations where there could be magnetic influences in the ground which have been attributed to earth lights.”

 

Moreover, relatively close to the Castle Ring is an old, disused windmill, which, it is widely believed and accepted by local historians, was constructed upon the now-crumbled remains of ancient, pagan burial ground. Ghosts of the miller’s children, who local legend says suffocated in a flour-silo, are said to haunt the mill to this day, and the folklore of the area tells of a strange black figure that appeared just before the tragedy.

 

Could this perhaps have been the same dark figure which Alec Williams saw near the Castle Ring in 2004? Equally as strange are the reports from the village of Cannock Wood – from which the Castle Ring lies in a north-west direction – of a ghostly nun that has been seen in the vicinity of an ancient well.

 

In September 2005, the local media reported that the aforementioned Paranormal Awakening investigation group had recently completed a nighttime investigation of the Castle Ring in an attempt to try and chronicle the strange activity that had been reported there for years.

 

A spokesperson for the group said: “The Cannock Chase local authorities were kind enough to give permission for PA to conduct its research. Indeed, we are extremely grateful to them for being so open-minded as to allow us to conduct our research at this historical and most important monument. The group’s results are stunning and have created yet more questions than we have answers. We appear to have obtained a very strange mix of UFO and genuine paranormal activity.”

 

Midway through February 2006, the Chase Post elaborated as follows: “A paranormal investigations group say they have evidence of strange, dancing lights and ghostly figures at the area’s most ancient monument.”

 

On one tape, said the Post, one of the group’s members is heard to exclaim: “Tell me that isn’t a big black shape walking towards me.” The Post added that: “A mystery male voice responds, ‘There is!’”

 

Of course, it should not be forgotten that large, dark shapes and strange lights were both staples parts of Alec Williams’ 2004 sighting near the Castle Ring, too. Whatever is afoot at the Castle Ring, it seems to show no signs of going away anytime soon...

 

Nick Redfern’s latest book is Final Events – a study of UFOs and the occult.

http://www.mania.com/lair-beasts-castle-ring-monsters_article_125677.html

New moon rising: return of the werewolf

RIGHT: Benicio del Toro takes the lead in next year's 'The Wolfman'

Forget vampires. A raft of new werewolf films looks set to take horror to hairy new levels. It's time to stock up on the silver bullets, says Stephen Applebaum.

Monday, 19 October 2009

Is the vampire's reign as creature of the night coming to an end? For some time now, bloodsuckers have been hogging the moonlight in everything from the chaste, teen-friendly Twilight to HBO's kinky True Blood, while October alone has given us Park Chan-wook's mad sanguinary love story Thirst, and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

But could the release earlier this year of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, the return to cinemas of John Landis's influential comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London, and the delayed arrival next February of the remake of George Waggner's seminal The Wolfman, starring Benicio del Toro as the titular lycanthrope, be a sign that the scales are tipping in favour of another mythical creature? As will be evident when The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released, werewolves are on their way back – and they're coming in force. It had to happen, eventually.

"If vampires are popular, it follows that werewolves must soon arrive," says Brad Steiger, author of The Werewolf Book. "In cinema, the two are paired like horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other." Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, concurs. "I suppose they're the two most relatable human monsters we can think of," he said recently. "They nicely encapsulate restraint and passion. Vampires are cold-blooded, literally, and werewolves are hot-blooded."

Whether we will go as loopy over lycanthropes as we have vampires remains to be seen. But like them or loathe them, they will be hard to avoid. Indeed, New Moon will offer a whole (six) pack of buff Native American werewolves. The writer/producer/director Alan Ball has promised that the beasties will soon be padding around True Blood's Bon Temps. Jack and Diane, a notorious lesbian werewolf movie originally, but no longer, starring Juno's Ellen Page, looks likely to finally appear in 2011, while MTV is developing a pilot for a series based on the popular 1985 Michael J Fox movie Teen Wolf. Fox network's "dramedy" Bitches – yes, really – about a quartet of female New Yorkers who happen to be werewolves, has, apparently, been put on the back-burner for now.

Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is putting together a "Gothic re-imagining" of Little Red Riding Hood, with Twilight director, Catherine Hardwicke, at the helm. Some early oral versions involve a werewolf rather than a wolf; after all, the girl's fate at the end of the first published version, by Charles Perrault, was more grim than Grimm.

Add to this list a proposed, some might say pointless, remake of An American Werewolf in London, and the news that the film rights to Maggie Stiefvater's best-selling teen novel Shiver, about a young girl and her wolfy teenage boyfriend, have been snapped up by the producers of Lord of the Rings and Blade, and who can doubt that the fur is really going to fly? Why now? According to Steiger, the werewolf might just be the perfect creature for today.

"What could give one more of a sense of power in these troubled times," he muses, "than being able to shapeshift into a wolf and run off into the night, howling at the moon, and being able to demolish one's enemies and anxieties?" Steiger has a point. Who doesn't feel like going wild these days?

Werewolves in various forms have stalked the imagination for millennia, the reasons for their existence changing over the centuries. In some legends, people become werewolves by choice, says Steiger; they "seek the power of transmutation through incantations, potions or spells, glorying in their strength and in their ability to strike fear into the hearts of all who hear their piercing howling on the nights of the full moon. They also become great warriors in the legends of the Norse and other countries."

After the Church condemned them as Satanic in the Middle Ages, however, a lycanthrope was one of the last things anyone wanted to be identified as. Take the case of Peter Stubbe, in 1589, for instance. He was accused of a series of wolf attacks near Cologne – the wolf itself having vanished – and confessed under torture to making a pact with the Devil, who he claimed gave him a belt that transformed him into a wolf. He said he had killed and eaten children, including his own son, and livestock, and committed incest. The least grisly part of poor Stubbe's punishment was his beheading.

Today, our concept of the werewolf comes mainly courtesy of Hollywood. Though there had been earlier werewolf films, notably Universal's Werewolf of London, in 1935, it was the same studio's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr, six years later, which would fix the creature in popular culture, and for a long time serve as the blueprint, effectively, for future werewolf movies.

Intelligently scripted by Curt Siodmak, the film "rewrote centuries of werewolf lore and legend", says Steiger. Even the film's famous poem – "Even the man who is pure at heart/ And says his prayers at night/ May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms/ And the moon is clear and bright" – was written by Siodmak.

"The Wolf Man created a number of faux werewolf traditions that became cinematic werewolf dogma in many horror films to follow," notes Steiger. These included the transmission of lycanthropy via a bite or scratch, the first full moon following an attack as the trigger for the victim's initial transformation into a werewolf, the look of the creature, the "clouding of human compassion by blood lust", and the lethal effect of silver. A silver bullet in the heart, he points out, was not added until Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943.

If werewolves have anything to be thankful for, it is surely that, unlike vampires, at least they aren't undead. The sun's rays are harmless to them, they can see their reflection in mirrors, and crucifixes pose no danger. On the other hand, pentagrams, especially silver ones, must be avoided.

The years since The Wolf Man have seen the creature's popularity wax and wane, as actors including a pre-Little House on the Prairie Michael Landon (I Was a Teenage Werewolf), Oliver Reed (The Curse of the Werewolf) and Jack Nicholson (Wolf) have followed in Chaney Jr's paw prints.

In 1981 the sub-genre gained a new lease of life with the release of An American Werewolf in London. The film was a perfect meld of comedy, horror and satire, and featured groundbreaking, ultimately Oscar-winning special effects by Rick Baker, which seamlessly transformed David Naughton's hapless backpacker, horrifyingly, into a ravening wolf before our eyes.

The momentum was maintained by two other films released the same year: Joe Dante's The Howling and the more serious-minded Wolfen. While the rest of the 80s produced further memorable outings for werewolves, such as A Company of Wolves and Teen Wolf, the 90s proved disappointing, offering the likes of Mike Nichols' so-so Wolf and the dire An American Werewolf in Paris.

The Canadian cult favourite Ginger Snaps gave the werewolf a much needed boost at the beginning of the Noughties, and the creature has barely been away since, re-appearing in Dog Soldiers, the Underworld and Harry Potter films, and Van Helsing, among others.

Next year, The Wolfman will take us back to the creature's cinematic roots. It is a risky business remaking a classic and time will tell whether it works like moonlight on the werewolf sub-genre, or a silver bullet. "I am not a fan of remakes, but I do have great hopes for the film," says Steiger.

With any luck, it will be – ahem – a howling success.

Honourable howlers Five great werewolf movies
By Ben Walsh

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

John Landis's mischievous, droll and rather heart-breaking werewolf film begins with two young, chirpy American backpackers traipsing along the Yorkshire moors. They stop off at a pub, The Slaughtered Lamb, and somewhat unwisely ignore the dire warnings of the locals ("Stay on the roads. Keep clear of the moors"). Clearly they're going to be mauled by a lycanthrope. David (David Naughton) survives but he's prone to violent mood swings come full-moon time. His friend, Jack (the bone-dry Griffin Dunne), is trapped in purgatory as a rotting corpse. 'An American Werewolf in London' is memorable for its groundbreaking special effects – the werewolf transformation scene in particular – the petrifying late-night Tube sequence, Jenny Agutter's comely nurse, the soundtrack (Van Morrison's "Moondance" and "Blue Moon" by Bobby Vinton) and the frightful sight of a gaggle of rotting corpses congregated in a seedy cinema watching a porn film. It also benefits from a cameo from Brian Glover and the immortal line, "You made me miss. I've never missed that board before."

Dog Soldiers (2002)

Another witty werewolf film, this time featuring a platoon of British squaddies – including Kevin McKidd's earnest hero and Sean Pertwee's very ripe (he's disembowelled early in the piece, but is patched together with Superglue) sergeant – who are besieged, 'Night of the Living Dead'-style in an abandoned shack in the woods by dirty great werewolves. Neil Marshall's gory, impudent, potty-mouthed delight is that rare thing – a decent, low-budget British horror flick – and is full of tasty dialogue, such as "We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch."

The Company of Wolves (1984)

Neil Jordan's unsettling, brooding coming-of-age tale is based on two short stories by Angela Carter, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jordan for this cerebral film. 'The Company of Wolves' turns down the blood and guts, but cranks up the eeriness. Based around the 'Little Red Riding Hood' fable, this stylish, trancelike and intensely visual feature film concerns the dreams and nightmares of an adolescent girl, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson), who is told a series of stories by her creepy old grandma (Angela Lansbury), at one point warning her young charge that "There is a beast inside every man; he meets his match in the beast inside of every woman". Jordan's deeply odd werewolf flick is highly sensual, riddled with references to Eden (snakes and apples pop up regularly) and centres on sexual maturity, innocence lost and the horrors of puberty. It's very ripe, with a suitable gamey performance from Stephen Rea as a bloodthirsty (of course) werewolf.

Wolf (1994)

Jack Nicholson, remarkably, is rather sweet in Mike Nichols' "grown up" werewolf film. He plays Will Randall, a burnt-out, slightly wimpy book editor whose supposed friend and ally (a deliciously slimy James Spader) is sleeping with his wife (Kate Nelligan) and undermining his efforts to impress his wealthy boss (Christopher Plummer). However, once Randall is bitten by a wolf, the underdog, as it were, bites back. With his heightened senses, feral instincts and increased stamina he becomes a much more aggressive proposition. He also, rather fortunately, attracts the attentions of Michelle Pfeiffer's millionaire's daughter. Not really a horror film, this is a cerebral, amusing and leisurely paced romance, with an exquisite performance from Nicholson.

The Howling (1981)

It was very tempting to plump for Hammer House of Horror's garish 'The Curse of the Werewolf' (1961), starring a very young Oliver Reed. However, Joe Dante's excellent and much-imitated horror, 'The Howling', is a superior beast. 'The Howling' centres on a TV anchor (Dee Wallace-Stone) who is on the trail of a serial killer, Eddie (Robert Picardo). When she finally catches up with Eddie, she witnesses him morph into a lycan. Full of suspense, black humour, bloodshed and tension.

'An American Werewolf in London' opens 30 October; 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' opens 20 November ; 'The Wolfman' opens 12 February ; 'Real Vampires, Night Stalkers and Creatures from the Darkside', by Brad Steiger, is published by Visible Ink Press

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/new-moon-rising-return-of-the-werewolf-1805067.html

(Submitted by LordOfThyNight)

New moon rising: return of the werewolf

RIGHT: Benicio del Toro takes the lead in next year's 'The Wolfman'

Forget vampires. A raft of new werewolf films looks set to take horror to hairy new levels. It's time to stock up on the silver bullets, says Stephen Applebaum.

Monday, 19 October 2009

Is the vampire's reign as creature of the night coming to an end? For some time now, bloodsuckers have been hogging the moonlight in everything from the chaste, teen-friendly Twilight to HBO's kinky True Blood, while October alone has given us Park Chan-wook's mad sanguinary love story Thirst, and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

But could the release earlier this year of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, the return to cinemas of John Landis's influential comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London, and the delayed arrival next February of the remake of George Waggner's seminal The Wolfman, starring Benicio del Toro as the titular lycanthrope, be a sign that the scales are tipping in favour of another mythical creature? As will be evident when The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released, werewolves are on their way back – and they're coming in force. It had to happen, eventually.

"If vampires are popular, it follows that werewolves must soon arrive," says Brad Steiger, author of The Werewolf Book. "In cinema, the two are paired like horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other." Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, concurs. "I suppose they're the two most relatable human monsters we can think of," he said recently. "They nicely encapsulate restraint and passion. Vampires are cold-blooded, literally, and werewolves are hot-blooded."

Whether we will go as loopy over lycanthropes as we have vampires remains to be seen. But like them or loathe them, they will be hard to avoid. Indeed, New Moon will offer a whole (six) pack of buff Native American werewolves. The writer/producer/director Alan Ball has promised that the beasties will soon be padding around True Blood's Bon Temps. Jack and Diane, a notorious lesbian werewolf movie originally, but no longer, starring Juno's Ellen Page, looks likely to finally appear in 2011, while MTV is developing a pilot for a series based on the popular 1985 Michael J Fox movie Teen Wolf. Fox network's "dramedy" Bitches – yes, really – about a quartet of female New Yorkers who happen to be werewolves, has, apparently, been put on the back-burner for now.

Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is putting together a "Gothic re-imagining" of Little Red Riding Hood, with Twilight director, Catherine Hardwicke, at the helm. Some early oral versions involve a werewolf rather than a wolf; after all, the girl's fate at the end of the first published version, by Charles Perrault, was more grim than Grimm.

Add to this list a proposed, some might say pointless, remake of An American Werewolf in London, and the news that the film rights to Maggie Stiefvater's best-selling teen novel Shiver, about a young girl and her wolfy teenage boyfriend, have been snapped up by the producers of Lord of the Rings and Blade, and who can doubt that the fur is really going to fly? Why now? According to Steiger, the werewolf might just be the perfect creature for today.

"What could give one more of a sense of power in these troubled times," he muses, "than being able to shapeshift into a wolf and run off into the night, howling at the moon, and being able to demolish one's enemies and anxieties?" Steiger has a point. Who doesn't feel like going wild these days?

Werewolves in various forms have stalked the imagination for millennia, the reasons for their existence changing over the centuries. In some legends, people become werewolves by choice, says Steiger; they "seek the power of transmutation through incantations, potions or spells, glorying in their strength and in their ability to strike fear into the hearts of all who hear their piercing howling on the nights of the full moon. They also become great warriors in the legends of the Norse and other countries."

After the Church condemned them as Satanic in the Middle Ages, however, a lycanthrope was one of the last things anyone wanted to be identified as. Take the case of Peter Stubbe, in 1589, for instance. He was accused of a series of wolf attacks near Cologne – the wolf itself having vanished – and confessed under torture to making a pact with the Devil, who he claimed gave him a belt that transformed him into a wolf. He said he had killed and eaten children, including his own son, and livestock, and committed incest. The least grisly part of poor Stubbe's punishment was his beheading.

Today, our concept of the werewolf comes mainly courtesy of Hollywood. Though there had been earlier werewolf films, notably Universal's Werewolf of London, in 1935, it was the same studio's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr, six years later, which would fix the creature in popular culture, and for a long time serve as the blueprint, effectively, for future werewolf movies.

Intelligently scripted by Curt Siodmak, the film "rewrote centuries of werewolf lore and legend", says Steiger. Even the film's famous poem – "Even the man who is pure at heart/ And says his prayers at night/ May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms/ And the moon is clear and bright" – was written by Siodmak.

"The Wolf Man created a number of faux werewolf traditions that became cinematic werewolf dogma in many horror films to follow," notes Steiger. These included the transmission of lycanthropy via a bite or scratch, the first full moon following an attack as the trigger for the victim's initial transformation into a werewolf, the look of the creature, the "clouding of human compassion by blood lust", and the lethal effect of silver. A silver bullet in the heart, he points out, was not added until Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943.

If werewolves have anything to be thankful for, it is surely that, unlike vampires, at least they aren't undead. The sun's rays are harmless to them, they can see their reflection in mirrors, and crucifixes pose no danger. On the other hand, pentagrams, especially silver ones, must be avoided.

The years since The Wolf Man have seen the creature's popularity wax and wane, as actors including a pre-Little House on the Prairie Michael Landon (I Was a Teenage Werewolf), Oliver Reed (The Curse of the Werewolf) and Jack Nicholson (Wolf) have followed in Chaney Jr's paw prints.

In 1981 the sub-genre gained a new lease of life with the release of An American Werewolf in London. The film was a perfect meld of comedy, horror and satire, and featured groundbreaking, ultimately Oscar-winning special effects by Rick Baker, which seamlessly transformed David Naughton's hapless backpacker, horrifyingly, into a ravening wolf before our eyes.

The momentum was maintained by two other films released the same year: Joe Dante's The Howling and the more serious-minded Wolfen. While the rest of the 80s produced further memorable outings for werewolves, such as A Company of Wolves and Teen Wolf, the 90s proved disappointing, offering the likes of Mike Nichols' so-so Wolf and the dire An American Werewolf in Paris.

The Canadian cult favourite Ginger Snaps gave the werewolf a much needed boost at the beginning of the Noughties, and the creature has barely been away since, re-appearing in Dog Soldiers, the Underworld and Harry Potter films, and Van Helsing, among others.

Next year, The Wolfman will take us back to the creature's cinematic roots. It is a risky business remaking a classic and time will tell whether it works like moonlight on the werewolf sub-genre, or a silver bullet. "I am not a fan of remakes, but I do have great hopes for the film," says Steiger.

With any luck, it will be – ahem – a howling success.

Honourable howlers Five great werewolf movies
By Ben Walsh

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

John Landis's mischievous, droll and rather heart-breaking werewolf film begins with two young, chirpy American backpackers traipsing along the Yorkshire moors. They stop off at a pub, The Slaughtered Lamb, and somewhat unwisely ignore the dire warnings of the locals ("Stay on the roads. Keep clear of the moors"). Clearly they're going to be mauled by a lycanthrope. David (David Naughton) survives but he's prone to violent mood swings come full-moon time. His friend, Jack (the bone-dry Griffin Dunne), is trapped in purgatory as a rotting corpse. 'An American Werewolf in London' is memorable for its groundbreaking special effects – the werewolf transformation scene in particular – the petrifying late-night Tube sequence, Jenny Agutter's comely nurse, the soundtrack (Van Morrison's "Moondance" and "Blue Moon" by Bobby Vinton) and the frightful sight of a gaggle of rotting corpses congregated in a seedy cinema watching a porn film. It also benefits from a cameo from Brian Glover and the immortal line, "You made me miss. I've never missed that board before."

Dog Soldiers (2002)

Another witty werewolf film, this time featuring a platoon of British squaddies – including Kevin McKidd's earnest hero and Sean Pertwee's very ripe (he's disembowelled early in the piece, but is patched together with Superglue) sergeant – who are besieged, 'Night of the Living Dead'-style in an abandoned shack in the woods by dirty great werewolves. Neil Marshall's gory, impudent, potty-mouthed delight is that rare thing – a decent, low-budget British horror flick – and is full of tasty dialogue, such as "We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch."

The Company of Wolves (1984)

Neil Jordan's unsettling, brooding coming-of-age tale is based on two short stories by Angela Carter, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jordan for this cerebral film. 'The Company of Wolves' turns down the blood and guts, but cranks up the eeriness. Based around the 'Little Red Riding Hood' fable, this stylish, trancelike and intensely visual feature film concerns the dreams and nightmares of an adolescent girl, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson), who is told a series of stories by her creepy old grandma (Angela Lansbury), at one point warning her young charge that "There is a beast inside every man; he meets his match in the beast inside of every woman". Jordan's deeply odd werewolf flick is highly sensual, riddled with references to Eden (snakes and apples pop up regularly) and centres on sexual maturity, innocence lost and the horrors of puberty. It's very ripe, with a suitable gamey performance from Stephen Rea as a bloodthirsty (of course) werewolf.

Wolf (1994)

Jack Nicholson, remarkably, is rather sweet in Mike Nichols' "grown up" werewolf film. He plays Will Randall, a burnt-out, slightly wimpy book editor whose supposed friend and ally (a deliciously slimy James Spader) is sleeping with his wife (Kate Nelligan) and undermining his efforts to impress his wealthy boss (Christopher Plummer). However, once Randall is bitten by a wolf, the underdog, as it were, bites back. With his heightened senses, feral instincts and increased stamina he becomes a much more aggressive proposition. He also, rather fortunately, attracts the attentions of Michelle Pfeiffer's millionaire's daughter. Not really a horror film, this is a cerebral, amusing and leisurely paced romance, with an exquisite performance from Nicholson.

The Howling (1981)

It was very tempting to plump for Hammer House of Horror's garish 'The Curse of the Werewolf' (1961), starring a very young Oliver Reed. However, Joe Dante's excellent and much-imitated horror, 'The Howling', is a superior beast. 'The Howling' centres on a TV anchor (Dee Wallace-Stone) who is on the trail of a serial killer, Eddie (Robert Picardo). When she finally catches up with Eddie, she witnesses him morph into a lycan. Full of suspense, black humour, bloodshed and tension.

'An American Werewolf in London' opens 30 October; 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' opens 20 November ; 'The Wolfman' opens 12 February ; 'Real Vampires, Night Stalkers and Creatures from the Darkside', by Brad Steiger, is published by Visible Ink Press

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/new-moon-rising-return-of-the-werewolf-1805067.html

(Submitted by LordOfThyNight)