As Netflix describes it, the werewolf show based on Brian McGreevy's book is set in a rusted Pennsylvania steel town where the mangled body of a teenage girl is discovered.
"As they hunt for a monster among them, rumors mount and many of the eccentric residents become suspects, from the newly arrived gypsy family to the wealthy Godfrey clan," says the synopsis, and more supernatural goodies beyond wolfs will be involved.
At WonderCon last week, the cast (which includes Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, Aaron Douglas and Kandyse McClure) took to the stage at WonderCon with Roth, McGreevy and executive producer Lee Shipman to chat about the show... and to horrify and delight audiences with the werewolf transformation scene.
The clip, embedded after the jump (via IGN), made my jaw drop.
"I wanted it to be violent and like a birth," said Roth about what he wanted from the transformation. "I wanted every teenager who saw Twilight, with a shirtless boy walking behind a tree and coming out a werewolf, to be horrified now imagining what happened behind that tree. It needed to be visceral ... It's painful and violent. It's a natural thing, but a horrific one."
And it is. This a good bit more gory than you might expect. I didn’t know if they were going to show full frontal nudity or what when I had to put in my birthday to watch the clip online. There wasn’t, for the record, in case you are rushing out to see some danglers. But the warning does alert you it's not safe for work. But I guess that depends on where you work. I wouldn’t pull it up at a preschool or anything, but it’s not too bad for a normal office environment.
In the scene, Landon Liboiron as Peter Rumancek, goes into a series of contortions and various bone popping when he drops to the ground and his eyes fall out. (Yes, his eyes fall out!). This is followed by another series of gruesome events. Claws grow out from his knuckles, his teeth fall out, and his skin eventually sloths off entirely revealing a wolf.
I hope I didn’t spoil anything for you there, but Peter is a werewolf. I think the best part of the whole thing is when, in his wolf form, he eats his human exterior off of the ground.
All of the teasers look really good, but this particular clip has me chomping at the bit to see the series. And from the looks of this clip, I don’t think I am going to be disappointed.
And as a bonus, Skarsgård joked, "If you thought that was horrific, you should see when he turns back into a human."
Watch and cringe!
-Denise Purvis