Universal brushes down its hairy horror icon and lets the wolf man loose in the digital era in this enjoyable remake. For the most part, director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III) ensures that his $100-million makeover remains faithful to the spirit of the 1941 original, while updating its skin-stretching, bone-clacking special effects. Benicio Del Toro plays it straight as Lawrence Talbot, a celebrated actor who returns home after the remains of his brother are found on the blood-drenched moors and becomes the victim of a family curse. Less convincing are Anthony Hopkins, who feasts on hunks of ham as Talbot Sr, and Emily Blunt as the anaemic damsel in distress. Despite some erratic pacing and an occasional lack of emotion, though, the curse of the film's notoriously troubled production (change of director, reshoots, delayed release date) is held at bay. The result's a pleasing return to the studio's much-loved gothic tradition.

Lawrence Talbot, an American man on a visit to Victorian London to make amends with his estranged father, gets bitten by a werewolf and, after a moonlight transformation, leaves him with a savage hunger for flesh.