When the Nazis occupy Paris and threaten the fabric of Western civilization, who are you going to send against them? A British werewolf, of course. That’s the premise of The Wolf’s Hour, a 1989 novel by Robert R. McCammon that’s about to be turned into a film by Universal.
The Wolf’s Hour was optioned by Bradley and Kevin Marcus a while ago, but now has Fast and Furious writer Chris Morgan on board to produce. Given Morgan’s past – he also produced Fast and Furious 6 – this seems to indicate that Universal is actually going to back this one up with a strong budget.
The story follows British spy/lycanthrope Michael Gallatin as he parachutes into occupied Paris to stop a Nazi plan that threatens the D-Day invasion. Gallatin has a chip on his shoulder too: a Nazi spy murdered his lover in her bed three years prior, and the same spy is heading up the nefarious plot to stop D-Day. So there will be Nazis and vengeance and an English spy turning into a wolf. I cannot wait.
The Wolf’s Hour will mark another Universal foray into horror, a genre in which the studio has a long and storied history. The idea itself is a strange but exciting one, and could produce a camp classic, a work of true horror, or another lackluster genre film. This mostly depends on the adaptation work, not to mention the director, and how much money and talent Universal is willing to put into it. While I’m not always certain about these kinds of ideas (remember Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?) I’ll cross my fingers and hope that The Wolf’s Hour will simply be awesome. In any case, it will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
What do you think of a new werewolf movie from Universal? Who should play the lead of a Nazi-fighting werewolf? Let us know in the comments.
