Product Description

Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer. A man is bitten by a wolf and develops strange tendencies that severely interfere with his budding romance involving a sultry and mysterious co-worker. 1994/color/121 min/R.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31466 in DVD
• Brand: Son
• Released on: 2009-10-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
Sophisticated to a point, this well-executed wolf-man tale works due to its clever setting and enormous star power. We all know Jack Nicholson can go nuts, but the script makes his character aware of his changes, sometimes for the better, early on. The setting, a publishing house in the middle of a takeover, gives the characters dramatic life before the horror elements kicks in. A senior editor about to get the boot, Nicholson's character becomes a new man after being bitten by a wolf. He takes on challenges at work, lives a more robust life, and attracts a new love. But will his newfound energy consume him? Director Mike Nichols keeps the action alive in the first half, but the film peters out at the end with cheap theatrics and the overuse of slow motion. Michelle Pfeiffer has little to do as simply the love interest with a grittier than average personality. Better is James Spader as a smarmy colleague. Nicholson is in fine form, relying on his keen gift to spark interest (a twitch of the head, a look in the eyes), instead of heavy doses of movie makeup. Giuseppe Rotunno's sweeping camerawork sets the mood quite well. Easy to recommend, with the added feature it's hardly gratuitous. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Here's a new idea: a horror film that's frightened of itself. Director Mike Nichols is an old hand at lightly poisoned comedy, but when it comes to violence he shies away. Jack Nicholson plays a man who is bitten by a wolf and then turns into one. It seems such a short journey, since Nicholson, even at his most civilized, never seems more than a grin away from lupine lust. He plays Will Randall, the senior editor at a New York publishing house, who gets sacked by the big boss (Christopher Plummer) in favor of the slimy Stewart (a fine turn by James Spader) and vows revenge. Whether his transformation fills him with commercial greed or with the purer appetites of a wild, pre-industrial age is never quite clear. The movie is smart but confused, sexy but without any sex; the handling of Will's love affair with Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer) reveals a terrible tameness at the heart of the story. For the first half of the picture, the audience is flattered by a series of sly, unforced, and rather cultivated jokes; in the second half, it is insulted by a gradual slide into drab violence. Will runs around in slow motion, exactly like the Six-Million-Dollar Man, and flies through the air as if launched by little off-camera trampolines. Written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker