Guardatevi dalla luna

Since the dawn of time, the myth of the wolf-man has filled, with constant luck, the horrifying imagery of our culture. From popular tradition to the written page up to the world of celluloid, this special formula of pathos frightens us and together it irresistibly attracts us, because it is subtly linked to our ancestral and animal origins. Stefano Leonforte, in this scrupulous essay, explains how the Lycanthrope figure became a true icon of cinema in the twentieth century, whose fascination continues today unchanged in the productions of the twenty-first century.

Retracing one hundred years of cinema starting from the cinematographic debut of the first Lycanthrope in 1913 and going up to recent films such as “The Wolfman” and “Red Riding Hood” – without neglecting the films inspired by horror masters like Stephen King, nor the box office phenomena like the “Underworld” and “Twilight” series – lycanthropy is analyzed and probed together with its baggage of obsessions, morbidities, allusions and allegories.