Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Wolfen is not your average run-of-the-mill werewolf film. This one deals with Native American Shapeshifters - spirits if you will. There are quite a few stories and legends of them floating around in our society and this touches on that. This one is unlike any other werewolf film I have ever seen.Note: I *think* in the Twilight Saga that Jacob Black is based on these Native American legends and tales but Wolfen (book and the film) came out well before Twilight. And Wolfen is a far superior story than the werewolves of Twilight.Wolfen is a bit bloody but it's not mindless killings with lots of blood and gore... this film actually has a story - a good story to tell its viewers. Well worth watching.9/10

When a famous tycoon, his wife, and his bodyguard are brutally murdered in Battery Park, a cynical detective (Albert Finney) is assigned to the case. With help from a police psychologist (Diane Venora), a colorful coroner (Gregory Hines), and a weirdo zoologist (Tom Noonan), his investigation leads him to suspect a Native American connection to the killings. A great thriller with horror overtones that's a different kind of werewolf film than any other (certainly at the time of release). Many argue it isn't really a werewolf film at all. I can see why they'd say that but I think it obviously counts as one. The film is directed by Michael Wadleigh, whose only other directorial effort was the Woodstock documentary. It's a shame he didn't do more because he does show a good deal of talent here. Predator fans will notice this movie uses a similar visual technique for the wolves' point of view, including similar sound effects, years before the first Predator movie. The cast is excellent and the script is pretty good, if a little packed. Nice cinematography from Gerry Fisher and use of actual Bronx locations helps in creating a fine atmosphere. It's a very interesting film that tackles a number of subjects (probably too many). Monster movie fans might balk at the lack of any "wolf men," but the strength of the movie is not in its special effects or gore, but in its story and how it's presented. Keep an open mind and give it a shot and I'm sure you'll find something to like about Wolfen. I've seen it a few times now and each time it gets better.

After years of reading and watching all the werewolf stuff I can get my hands on, I finally got around to reading and then watching Wolfen, and I was blown away by the gorgeous, chilling cinematography. You may take me at my word that I have seldom seen a film that was able to build the tension of what you don't see, and reward you when you finally do see it: I have never seen real wolves used so well, or shot so beautifully. As in the book, the Wolfen are both terrifying and yet somehow noble, and you respect the antagonism between them and the human characters (played very well by Albert Finney and co.), and while the ending is somewhat anticlimactic as opposed to its book counterpart, I was still quite pleased with the film as a whole. The introduction of the Native American element into the movie's version of the story made sense and was enjoyable (though E.J. Olmos's nudity was a little much), and I should also mention that the shots of New York were atmospheric and gorgeous as well, and when combined with the werewolf element, make a truly one-of-a-kind horror film. A must for werewolf fans, though they're not werewolves in the strictest sense, but a creatures as unique as their film: The Wolfen.

I'm a huge werewolf movie fan, and have seen the bulk of them, but it has taken me until 2013 before I finally saw 1981's Wolfen for the first time.Previously, I had seen clips of this movie and knew it was: #1 mostly shot in first-person POV and #2 the "werewolves" were actual wolves. Like I said, I *love* werewolf movies, but I really don't like them to be actual wolves. I want to see standing werewolves, much like in The Howling. Those scare me and what doesn't is when a man turns into a dog. Blah.The one exception to this rule was the fantastic 1994's Wolf with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer. Everything else worked for me in that film, even though the characters turned into dogs.But, be that as it may, this movie was interesting and the continuous shots of the traveling "wolfen" were well-shot.New York City's getting face-lifts and this isn't faring with a wolf-pack group and they're attacking back. In come the police to investigate and make occasional love to women.An all-star cast (for back then) did help move this movie along, but it wasn't anything special and took way too long to see the beasts. I'm not ignorant enough to know back in the early 1980s (i.e. Friday the 13ths Part 1 and 2) it was common, and sadly, socially accepted to have the "killer" POV and I'm glad I wasn't around to take in the bulk of that.It's worth a watch – really, it wasn't terrible, but nothing to buy or rewatch.* * * Final thoughts: …at least these dogs the "Native Americans" turned into were ten times more convincing than that of the Twilight series to follow decades later.