For as long as I could remember, I've considered the werewolf to be one of the greatest monsters in film. It's not that I thought creatures like vampires, ghosts, zombies and the invisible man weren't interesting and fun, but for some reason, I always gravitated toward werewolves. As I've gotten older, I may have stumbled on the reasons as to why I feel they are the greatest.
The main reason people find werewolves so frightening and scary in media is that they fear changing against their will into a large carnivorous beast and running wild. They fear behaving like a beast and doing things such as running through the forest on all fours, attacking animals/people and devouring them and howling at the moon. They fear gaining animal traits such as a full body of fur, claws, fangs, and a tail.
While these are the elements that help make them great horror monsters, they are also what made them fascinating to me as a kid. When I was younger, I would always look at the full moon and begin to think how cool it would be to be a werewolf running through the forest at night. I would love the idea of becoming a hulking, powerful beast that indulges in its instincts by hunting with its claws and fangs, running through the forest while waging its tail and howling at the full moon.
The root of the fear that people have for these creatures is animal instinct. They fear that loss sentience and reasoning that makes us uniquely human and, to most at least, separates us from animals. The werewolf represents our base nature and animal instincts; things that, over time, humans have learned to look down upon and fear. The werewolf represents this "unnatural" hybrid of human and wolf.
However, what would terrify most actually fascinates me. I think if I had the chance, I would probably love being a werewolf. I would love having the ability to indulge in those baser animal instincts that human society considers taboo. For me, it would be like rediscovering a lost part of yourself or a part that was always there, but you buried it to meet the expectations of "normal" human behavior.
I've always thought that one of the greatest lies humans ever convinced themselves was true was that humans weren't animals. We may have higher brain functions, the ability to reason and sentience but we are still flesh and blood creature with instincts, senses, sex drives and "fight or flight" reflexes.
Most humans, and by reflection, see these qualities as a negative. People don't like to be compared to animals. To most humans, animals are seen as dumb and dirty creatures who, due to their inability to reason, are lesser than humans. Humans feel like they and their world are entirely separate from the natural world and the animal kingdom due to centuries of building civilizations. I almost think that the only reason humans started building civilizations was to prove, through visual example, that they were not animals ("Can an animal build skyscrapers and pyramids? Didn't think so.")
To me, however, the things that people fear about animal nature are the things I secretly wished I could reclaim. I sometimes wish I had the powerful claws, fangs and muscles of a wolf rather than my actual helpless looking human frame. I wish I had the amazing nose and senses that a wolf has to track and hunt in the forest. I wish I could roam the forest as a powerful and naked carnivore of the night that confidently howls at the moon (I may have just admitted a little too much there).
A werewolf's transformation has also acted as a source of horror for most. The sight of a dignified and rational human form slowly and painfully devolving into a growling beast would send a chill down most peoples' spines. The sight of a person you love/care about growing fur, claws, a tail, fangs and paws would mortify them. The same thing happening to them would be terrifying. The concept of "body horror" in the form of the werewolf transformation, however, is what initially drew me to these creatures in the first place and are the parts I love seeing in werewolf films the most.
Werewolves have always captivated me since seeing them in films, comics and cartoons as a child. The power and mystique of werewolves really lend themselves nicely to a visual medium like film. Great effects team, make up artists and cinematographers have worked hard to bring these creatures to life. I remember watching the film "An American Werewolf in London" and being blown away by the practical effects used in the transformation sequence.
Werewolves are one of the most fascinating creatures in media because they bring up so many questions surrounding our human nature and what parts of that nature we refuse to indulge in. I've always seen werewolves as creatures that let a hidden part of themselves come out once every full moon and I love imagining what a liberating sensation that would be. The very concept of werewolves has horrified or inspired (or sometimes both) many throughout the ages. You want proof of that, you just read an article about the psychology behind werewolves from a weirdo like me.
