" Even a man who say's his prayer's at night,

and is pure of heart...

May become a Wolf, when the wolfs bane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright..."

Yeah, that little diddy was made up for Universals "The Wolf Man" staring Lon Chaney Jr. as the fateful Lawrence Talbot who get bit by a wolf( Bela-Dracula-Lugosi) while trying to save a girl in the Myst shrouded woods.

A werewolf (also lycanthrope or wolf man) in folklore and mythology is a person who shape shifts into a wolf, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. The medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury associated the transformation with the appearance of the full moon, but this concept was rarely associated with the werewolf until the idea was picked up by modern fiction writers. Most modern fiction agrees that a werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet, although this was not a feature of folk legends. Werewolves are sometimes held to become vampires after death.

This is the definition according to Wiki....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf

I was watching this today, and got to thinking...What does this have to say about us all? In the literal sense of the word, it's saying that no matter what, all men are dogs...Hell, we knew that already. But, if you look deeper into the phrase, it's saying that no matter how good we try to think we are, all men are capable of despicable deeds. That we, like the beast of legend and myth, can do to others that which we thought of ourselves wholly incapable of doing. All we need is a push.

Say, for instance, a full moon.

so many films, books, myths, legends, stories and so on have been written about a man becoming a beast. France has a legend, The beast of Le Gavan, a Wolf so huge, that it terrorized the country side for years. Finally Brought down by a Silver bullet used by a Knight.

There have been tales of men believing themselves to be wolves...the affliction is called "Lycanthropy" This is documented as a very true and mental illness.

Unfortunately, this caused superstitious locals to put a major dent in the wolf population, and also maligned the wolves reputation, as a vicious killer.

Why am I writing about this? Well, cause it's almost Halloween for one...also, because when it comes to movie monsters, I have a soft spot for ol' Fur-face.

Wolfies Top Five Werewolf associated movie picks

#1- Wolfen -Albert Finny, Diana Vinnora, and the late Gregory Hines...Excellent movie not exactly Werewolves, but very creepy, and gets you where it needs to...A+

#2- An American Werewolf in London - David Naughton, Jenny Augutter....Probably one of the best man to beast transformation scenes ever in picture history, without CGI....The movie is a hoot!

#3- The Wolf Man- Lon Chaney Jr. , Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Claude Raines, Maria Ouspenskaya, Bela Lugosi- the Original Universal classic...see this one with popcorn!

#4- Gingersnaps- Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle...Two sisters, an outpost in the Canadian wilderness, and a pack of werewolves...OH MY!

#5- The Company of Wolves- Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Sarah Patterson...Several Twisted re-telling of the Little Red Riding Hood story get a gory wolf and werewolf spin in this 1985 horror jaunt. Its creepy, and very very well done...

A favorite mention goes out to an original movie that was on the Sci-fi network, Called 'Dog Soldiers" About an English special forces team on a Scottish isle, with a pack of Werewolves...This one was pretty good..if you can find it on DVD, get it.

Enjoy...