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Sunday 28 November 2010

Romasanta The Werewolf Hunt

The 2004 film "Romasanta The Werewolf Hunt" has a very different perspective on the subject of werewolves. The main character Manuel Romasanta (played by Julian Sands) is the werewolf in disguise but against traditional werewolf tales, this werewolf is not so much a man who becomes a wolf at the full moon. He's a wolf who becomes a man! The idea of wolves becoming human isn't much known than it is for humans becoming wolves.

The film begins in a shadowy region of northern Spain during the mid ninenteenth century. Bodies are found torn and bloodied. The story unfolds when certain key characters are introduced. Throughout the film are scenes of dark mountains and forests filled with wolves. The atmosphere of the place is so eerie. You can feel the vulnerability of the people who lived in the villages there. "I have some good news, we are leaving" said the sister of heroine Barbara (Elsa Pataky) to her daughter. However, she didn't want her sister Barabra to go with them so the younger sister returned to the gloomy village on her own. While there on edge out of fear that wolves are lurking, for she'd encountered one in the barn on a previous night, her sister and niece were with the werewolf.

The rest of the film is sad in parts, while full of intrigue. You cannot sympathise or empathise with Romasanta because he's dangerous and he kills for food while in the shape of a wolf. As a man, he surgically cut open his victims to take their fat, which he made into a fine soap. This is what he did for a living. There is something more cold and calculating about him. He pretended to be his victims and wrote letters to their loved ones about never going home to see them again. He kept items such as jewellery that belonged to them. He was a womaniser and he loved his victims before he killed them. As for feeling human, he lacked any compassion at all but he fell in love with Barbara. He said he felt human emotions for the "first time" at that point. He's portrayed as being like a werewolf Dracula as he easily enchants women but his intentions are deadly.

The film is based loosely on true historical events. Manuel Blanco Romasanta and more can be found about this here:
The Wolfman of Allariz

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