Johnston's Got Nards

So implies Scott Stuber, one of the producers on Universal’s Wolfman remake, in this interview with Empire. He goes on to elaborate a bit on the narrative, the special effects (no CG!), and Benicio Del Toro’s wolfmanphilia. Mostly, though, he talks up director Joe Johnston, which some are interpreting as a direct reaction to negative press that bubbled up when original director Mark Romanek left the project.

While I’m just as excited as everyone else about the two promo stills that emerged last week, and at the prospect of Rick Baker doing another werewolf movie, the idea of Universal doing damage control this earlier in the film’s gestation does raise some questions.

Right now my only question is: anybody got a spare $8,000?

Starting March 28, four of Stan Winston’s original monster costumes are up for bids on eBay. You can see the rest of the bunch here, here, and here.

Scream Streams: GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING

”What a lovely shade of dead.”

When you’re really attached to a set of characters, you’re willing to follow along on their adventures no matter where they lead. Even if they lead to Wal-Mart; or, in the case of the third and final chapter in the Ginger Snaps series, the 19th Century Canadian wilderness.

Abandoning the continuity of its two kinda-sorta awesome predecessors, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning strands teenage sisters Ginger and Brigitte at an early 1800s French-Canadian trading outpost frequently besieged by werewolves. Apparently not even time-travel can keep their paws off Katherine Isabelle. It may not hold a Canadian candle to the first two films, but it’s better than the third Howling movie. And it’s free this week on FEARnet.

Highlights include:
• Typically strong performances from Katherine Isabelle and Emily Perkins (in period clothing, to boot)
• A spooky Native American soothsayer
• Fantastic cinematography
• Numerous arrow-induced wounds
• Ginger’s spot-on, period-specific dialogue, including such commonplace Colonial phrases as “these people are fucked.”