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With the progress of the times, the modern cultural exchanges between the East and the West have long been in perfect harmony. We can see the fruits of this cultural exchange from the popular screening of European and American magic movies such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings in Chinese mainland: from the little wizard riding a broom to the Hobbit who is three quarters shorter, these bizarre plots are incredible and unacceptable to our parents at least. However, the younger generation in China can easily accept these "new" fairy tales, which have nothing to do with the traditional culture of China. This is a proof that young people in the internet age or information age absorb and tolerate western culture. However, for the older generation of China people, they are not completely ignorant of western classical culture. For example, the story of Grandma Wolf in Grimm's fairy tales is an old joke known to all in China.

It seems that all the Hollywood blockbusters we are keen on now are made in America. In fact, most of these legends and legends originated in Europe. There are countless demons handed down from ancient Europe. The most famous ones are vampires and werewolves besides Satan. The legend about vampires has long been known to the public, but werewolves are relatively unfamiliar to China people. Generally speaking, wolves are ordinary humans who have been hurt by evil spells. These unfortunate people were transformed into giant wolves with two legs, and they were addicted to raw meat and blood. They howl at the full moon. There are also some humans who take the initiative to become werewolves because of their dark souls and evil desires. The method is to put on wolf skin, drink water in wolf footprints and so on. In addition, ancient Europeans generally believed that humans who were directly bitten by werewolves would become werewolves, which is very similar to the legend that humans who were bitten by vampires would become vampires.

Most descriptions of werewolves come from Hollywood movies. In fact, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that werewolves really existed long ago. As early as the first century AD, there was a saying in Greece that some dead people could keep their bodies from rotting and leave their graves. The Greeks called these "VRYKOLAKAS". These people are usually not buried in the land blessed by religious ceremonies after their death, because they commit suicide or are excommunicated. These suffering souls are harmless to people, but they just want to leave the body. As long as the church revokes the expulsion decision, they will be at peace. Please note that these parasitic zombies are not called vampires at this time because there is no record that they will suck human blood or kill people. At that time, people's attitude towards zombies was disgust rather than later fear.

Since 1 1 century, the Greek concept of a Promethean has changed. Etymologically, the word VRYKOLAKAS comes from Slavic, which means werewolf. So in the Balkans and Carpathian mountains at that time, people used the same word to refer to harmless zombies and dangerous werewolves. For example, on 12 16 10/9, King John Rickling of England was poisoned by a monk and finally died. It is believed that this poison contains wolf poison, that is, the poisoned person will become a werewolf. Soon after, people heard all kinds of howls from his grave, and frightened residents dragged the body to rot. But not long after, someone claimed to see the king who became a werewolf wandering in the forest.

Sigismund, the Hungarian king in15th century, and later the leader of the Germanic dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, urged the church to formally recognize the existence of werewolves at the grand council in 14 14. By the16th century, the legend of werewolves had spread all over Europe, so the Roman Catholic Church decided to launch an official investigation. From 1520 to1mid-7th century, there were about tens of thousands of cases of wolf-changing paranoia in Europe, with the largest number in France, Serbia, Bohemia and Hungary in Eastern Europe. The legend about werewolves came into being in this situation. As for the superstition that werewolves can become wolves despite their human appearance, it can be traced back to the science of ghosts and gods in the Middle Ages.

In the early Middle Ages, Europeans were no strangers to werewolves. At that time, the Roman Inquisition believed that Jews, Protestants, witches and werewolves were pagans. Among these pagan demons, werewolves are considered to be the most dangerous. Because they used to be human beings, they especially hate other normal human beings. Their main prey and food are people around them and their livestock. Because of werewolves and their ferocity, the victims they attack often have serious physical injuries. Under the guidance of the official ruling of the church, people's fear of werewolf monsters has developed to the point of hysteria: thousands of people are tortured to extract confessions, and these "sinners" are usually burned at the stake after confession. /kloc-In the 6th century, in France alone, about 30,000 people were identified as werewolves or vampires and burned alive. At that time, people thought that werewolves were easy to identify, with eyebrows connected, hairy palms, and very withdrawn personality, like hermits and the like. It can be seen that at that time, patients with genetic diseases with abnormal appearance, albinos who were particularly sensitive to sunlight, and some wild children who were lost, abandoned and adopted by animals all became victims of the cruel policy of the church.

Superstition became more and more fierce. By the end of the seventeenth century, rumors about werewolves spread, saying that werewolves would become blood-sucking zombies after death. For a time, rumors about vampires and their victims appeared in Silesia, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Russia. At this point, the "Promethean" who is harmless to people in Greek traditional superstition has become a bloodthirsty demon. At that time, Europeans had not invented the word "vampire", and each country named this magical animal with its own unique vocabulary. The vampire incident has also aroused strong repercussions everywhere, even in Paris in western Europe. Elegant Messenger, a French magazine highly appreciated by the court, published a special issue in the monthly magazine 1694 10. Until the end of17th century, the name "vampire" could not be used as a conventional title, but the superstition of vampires has become a social phenomenon in Eastern European countries. However, this panic is only caused by some rumors, and there is no official written record. It was not until the early 18th century that the published literature came out.

The legend about werewolves in Europe is described as follows: except for the wolf head and body hair, werewolves are much taller than ordinary people. Werewolves are more terrible monsters than vampires, because they are obsessed with human flesh and the fresh flesh of other animals, especially looking for humans to start. There are basically two kinds of werewolves: one is born, that is, born werewolves. This werewolf is fierce and powerful, and has the ability to transform into an adult. They usually use this transformation ability to cheat-after being transformed into human form, most people don't recognize it. In this way, I don't know how many innocent people died under the mask of werewolves. Natural werewolves are naturally cruel and are very difficult enemies, because their attack speed is extremely fast and their sensitive sense of smell makes them more dangerous. The other is acquired, most of them will lose their minds on the moonlit night and become hungry butchers, returning to human beings during the day. Because of the curse, this type of werewolf will never return to human form Unless someone lifts the curse, he will be bathed in blood like a born werewolf all his life. A small number of lucky people are still weak in human nature, but they usually can't stop the massacre. They are not as tough as natural werewolves, but they are still competent butchers-the werewolves of the day after tomorrow can be killed in one blow. As a symbol of evil, the five-pointed star will be printed on the hand of the werewolf's next victim; And once a person is bitten by a werewolf, he will become a werewolf himself. There is a simple way to reduce the chance of a werewolf killing: feed him when he is still in human form.

How to distinguish werewolves? It is said that hair will grow on the palm of your hand, eyebrows will gather in the center of your eyes, canine teeth are extremely developed, ears are pointed at the end, pointing to the back of your head, and fingers are longer than ordinary people. Sometimes werewolves reveal their identity without permission. For example, a female wolf mistakenly stepped on a trap, only to find a naked woman trapped in the trap the next day; Another example is that a hunter killed a wild animal at night, and the villagers were disabled by injuries during the day. If a werewolf kills someone at night, it is easy to find out, because after the excitement and raw meat feast the night before, he may have no appetite during the day, his body is tired and his movements are stiff. If werewolves are willing to cooperate, they can be cured by powerful wizards, otherwise they must be shot by silver bullets (the only way to kill werewolves is to silver the bullets, because werewolves are as afraid of silver as vampires are of garlic). Because werewolves have strong regenerative ability, their bodies must be scalded with boiling water or burned directly to prevent them from becoming vampires.

In case of unfortunate encounter with a werewolf, there are still some ways to deal with it: first, call the name on the spot according to its identity (I'm afraid it's difficult to do this …); The second is to knock three times on the forehead or cross the symbol (the question is whether it will let you draw); If all the above methods don't work, shout at once and shoot it with strong light to scare away the werewolf (help! Help! )。 If you want to trace the true identity of a werewolf, you can leave a scar on it and go to the person with this scar the next day.

Superstition prevailed in ancient Europe. In addition to wolves, cats (especially black cats), rams, owls, crows and other animals have been designated by the church and the public as incarnations or slaves of the devil. Why only the story of the werewolf has been handed down, but neither the cat man nor the bird man (? ! ) the story spread? Let's explain this problem: first of all, from a biological point of view, there are no big cats in Europe, which means that people are not harmed by big beasts such as lions, tigers and even leopards. The big beasts that originated in Europe are bears, wolves and other animals, among which only wandering wolves pose a threat to animal husbandry and personal safety in ancient Europe. Unlike bears, which attack humans only after being attacked, wolves are carnivores and often attack humans and their livestock on their own initiative. When wolves attack sheep or reindeer herds, they often kill prey that they can't eat, which often causes great losses to herders. As for the position of animal husbandry in the agricultural economy of ancient Europe, we can judge it by an old German proverb describing the anthrax plague of livestock: "It came like a fog, which not only destroyed the flocks of landlords and rich people, but also sneaked into dilapidated farmhouses and killed the cows on which poor widows depended ..." Thus, in northern Europe and western Europe, animal husbandry is far more important than agriculture. As a pest that destroyed farmers' livelihood, it was eliminated by Europeans. One of the psychological characteristics of mankind is to demonize the enemy. Grandma Wolf, who can stand up and speak from above, is an example of wolves leaving a shadow in people's hearts. Comparing the ancient myths and legends in China, we can find that Europeans also imposed many confusing methods adopted by the Oriental fox on wolves, believing that werewolves can confuse children into the jungle and kill them there. Of course, if the big cats successfully settled in the European continent at the end of the ice age, it would be more than just wandering wolves-there might be legends like "Tiger Man" handed down.

Followed by the moon. The moon has a great influence on the environment and life on the earth. It was observed by the ancients long ago that the tidal phenomenon was related to the moon's gain and loss, and the change of the moon phase also affected many different animals, especially Nocturnal Animals. Some animals breed at certain stages of the moon, and some animals change their hunting habits with different stages of the moon. In ancient times, both orientals and westerners generally believed that the moon represented magic, so those creatures that moved during the full moon were often associated with magic or witchcraft in human imagination. In particular, wolves have the habit of howling at the moon, which makes Europeans believe that wolves are mysterious animals-the change of these animals' behavior may be one of the origins of werewolf legends, especially the rumor that werewolves will transform at the full moon.

Wolf boy again. Since ancient times, there have been endless incidents of animals adopting human abandoned babies. In ancient Roman legend, there is a famous story of "mother wolf nursing baby". Today, the symbol of Rome is a female wolf guarding and feeding two baby boys. Unfortunately, this wonderful legend didn't work in the dark Middle Ages. Because wolf children are raised by wolves, they behave and howl like wolves. When these poor human outcasts fall into the same hands again, they are immediately recognized as demons and natural werewolves. In ancient Europe, they became the most powerful evidence of the existence of werewolves.

In fact, there are legends of werewolves not only in Europe, but also in ancient Indian legends in America. Some wizards have the ability to "transform". They can change themselves into wolves, bears, eagles and other animals with the changes of the environment, or the needs of the situation, or to avoid the tracking of enemies and wild animals. The transformed wizard not only has the abilities of these animals, but also can protect people's consciousness. Different from Europe, wizards who become wolves are regarded as powerful heroes by tribal people. Of course, if he had unfortunately arrived in Europe, he would have been in great trouble, because he was accused of being a barbarian, a heretic and a demon at the same time. Different legends and similar characters did not produce a product of harmonious coexistence, because later civilized Europeans conquered America by the most barbaric means, and Indian civilization was largely stifled. With the prosperity of the west for hundreds of years, the bloody legend of the European version of werewolf has finally spread all over the world.

Most of the werewolf images we heard and saw today were made in Hollywood, USA. Although werewolves originated in Europe, they are widely publicized in American cartoons, movies and TV works. The well-known abnormal superman who likes to wear underwear outside was born in the first issue of Action COMICS in 1938, and the protagonist in this paper was born in the first issue of Hulk magazine in 1974+00. But comics are not as influential as movies after all. 198 1 The American Werewolf in London is a light comedy and a great success. It is worth mentioning that john landis, the director of this film, later filmed Innocent Blood, which is a story about "French vampires in America". The film industry is a big commercial system, which needs all kinds of films. Since then, werewolves have become the darling of Hollywood, and a series of werewolf movies have emerged one after another. Although the new Hollywood film Wolf Force is a low-cost B-rated film, it successfully relies on the old-fashioned werewolf killing plot, creating a tense atmosphere with urgent rhythm and exciting scenes, and keeping the audience nervous at all times. There is no doubt that the protagonist of the film is a brave Jinlu: Wolf Brigade, and filmmakers love to stir-fry cold rice, even the leftovers of ancient Rome. Werewolves, notorious, all play negative roles in film and television works. Even werewolves appeared in the famous sci-fi TV series X Files, only this time an Indian werewolf made waves in front of FBI agents Mulder and Scully. The sheriff in the film said, "Maybe she (the victim) saw something that she was not ready to understand psychologically." To tell the truth, I was not psychologically prepared to see werewolves in sci-fi TV series, but after monsters, vampires and so on appeared one after another, I got used to it. ...

Although Hollywood screenwriters are half mediocre, they know the needs of fashion very well. For example, in the new film "The Beast that Shocked the World", the monster in the traditional guarding resort was interpreted as a genetic mutation of the crocodile, so the old monster film turned into a cutting-edge science fiction film. Not only science fiction films, but also classic plots can be adapted at will. Like what happens when Romeo meets Juliet? In the fantasy film "Underground World" which will be released in September 2003, Romeo is a werewolf and Juliet is a vampire warrior! Even the famous Michael Jackson made and starred in a "Werewolf" movie: The movie is called Wolverine, which tells the story of a shoemaker's son who made a contract with the devil in the 7th century/kloc-in retaliation for being abused by the nobles, and turned him into a werewolf.

But the most touching werewolf movie so far is "The Werewolf" filmed in 194 1 year. British youth Larry was bitten by a werewolf for saving lives. Soon he became a werewolf and began to attack his friends, even the girl he admired. When he was awake, he tried in vain to stop himself from killing people. He told his relatives and friends and even turned himself in to the police station, but no one believed that he was a werewolf and he became a recognized madman. So whenever the full moon shines high, people are afraid of the terrible pervert killer, and werewolves mercilessly start a new round of uncontrolled slaughter. Larry was caught between good and evil and suffered a lot. Because the werewolf has strong vitality, he can't even commit suicide. Finally, at a garden party, Larry became a werewolf again, and this time its target was Larry's sweetheart. Just as the werewolf tackled the girl, Larry's father killed his son with a silver cane. At the end of the film, Mariva, a gypsy diviner, squeezes out of the crowd, makes a final prayer for the dying werewolf, and announces that his pain is over. According to the records at that time, the audience in the cinema sighed and wept for Larry's misfortune.

In the field of games, although werewolves still perform from time to time, it is a pity that most of them come and go as vampires' minions. In some stand-alone or online RPG games, werewolves can often be seen as part of evil hybrids. Games featuring werewolves are probably only famous in the series Hunting Werewolves and Myth 3: The Age of Werewolves. On the other hand, its old friend vampires are really beautiful, and the game featuring vampires is like crossing a river. Perhaps in the eyes of European and American game manufacturers, vampires are more mysterious and unpredictable than werewolves. Being a villain often requires "versatility." For example, vampires can solve a life cleanly, and when they encounter a strong enemy, they can also use magic to turn into bats and slip away, or even disappear into the fog. In contrast, werewolves seem to be able to do some "hard work". When it comes to magic, they are not good at it at all, so they are always not favored by game makers. If a manufacturer really wants to take risks to play a game featuring a werewolf, the scene must first be in the dark or in a dark and humid underground cave. As a werewolf warrior, with sharp teeth and claws and a killing heart, you must also create bloody and exciting game scenes. Will there be players who enjoy it? Look at the zombies in the Resident Evil series who have been scampering on the computer screen for years. I think the werewolf brothers who have been on the bench for years still have a chance.

In Polish culture, there are also many legends about werewolves: it is said that Christmas and midsummer night are the most frequent days for werewolves.

According to Poles, if a wizard puts a ring made of human skin at the door of a wedding, the groom, bride, groomsman and bridesmaid who wear the ring will become werewolves.

But three years later, the wizard will give these werewolves a hairy human skin, and after putting it on, they will be able to restore their true colors immediately. It is said that once, a groom who turned into a werewolf put on human skin and suddenly found that it was too small to cover his tail. Since then, the groom has been dragging this tail.

In the ancient Bohemian dictionary, werewolves were called "Will Clark". In Arminia, there are also some legends about werewolves. The following is one of them:

Once, a man was traveling in the forest when he suddenly saw a wolf running with a child on his back. The man hurried to save the child. But the wolf ran too fast to catch up, so he had to continue walking slowly in the original direction. But later that day, he found a child's little hand in the grass by the road. When he looked through the grass, he saw a cave behind him. After going in, he found that there was a fire inside, and there was a wolf skin hanging on the wall. So he picked up the wolf skin and threw it into the fire. As soon as the wolf skin caught fire, she heard a scream from behind her. An old woman rushed up to pick out the wolf skin from the fire. But it was too late, and when the wolf skin was burned clean, the old woman turned into a light smoke and disappeared without a trace.

In India, many people believe that wolves are coming. In all areas where Buddhism is popular, including Ceylon in China and Tibet, there are countless legends about people becoming animals. It is said that Pakistan once had a son of a Brahmin. He is like a snake during the day, and only becomes a man at night.

There is also a story circulating in India today: the prince's wife is a female orangutan, but his brother married a beautiful princess. One day, at a banquet hosted by the Queen, a gorgeous beauty appeared. It turned out that she was the female orangutan. After the prince found out, he sneaked into the harem and burned the skin of the female orangutan to keep his wife beautiful forever.

Pierce described an incident that happened in Abyssinia in his works:

In Abyssinia, goldsmiths and silversmiths are respected by people. In contrast, blacksmiths are often considered to be very humble people. Their relatives even think that they sometimes become hyenas. It is difficult to explain why Abyssinians had this mentality at that time. The blacksmith himself felt the same way. They will wear gold rings on their ears to distinguish them from others. At that time, a man named Coffin claimed that he had seen a hyena with earrings, but how did these earrings get to the hyena's ear? Covent can't give a clear answer to this.

In most parts of China, even sparrows are almost extinct, not to mention wild wolves. In addition, our ancestors did not invent the werewolf as a monster species, so we have no other feelings except family reunion every full moon night. In fact, the wolf is a very respectable animal. Although cruel, this is just its animal instinct. The wolf's loyalty to the group, care for its cubs and attachment to its partner are unmatched by other canines. As for the legendary dark creatures, werewolves are just an illusion. However, driven by ignorance and cruelty, it is really chilling to think about how many people died tragically because of this illusory shadow. The werewolf we see on the screen in the digital age is still the embodiment of blood and cruelty. Think about the Roman holy wolf who raised orphans more than 2700 years ago. His eyes should be gentle when feeding human babies. If werewolves really exist, they should also sigh for their dark history of thousands of years. ...

Werewolf of London

Werewolf of London

1935

United States of America

72 minutes

Plot/fantasy/horror/science fiction

Stuart walker

Henry Hull ... Dr. wilfred Granden.

Warner Oland ... Dr. Yogami

Valerie Hobson ... Mrs Lisa Lee Granden.

Lester Matthews ... Captain Paul Ames.

Lawrence grant ... Sir Thomas forsyth, Commissioner of Scotland Yard.

Spring Byington ... Aunt Edie Coombes.

Clark Williams ... Hugh Renwick

Kerrigan Hawkins, Granden's lab assistant.

Charlotte glanville ... Ms. Alice forsyth.

Ethel Griffies ... whack the lady.

Zeffie Tilbury ... Mrs. Moncaster.

Jenny bartlett ... Daisy.

This is another fierce monster that Hollywood monster incubator Universal Pictures brought into the cinema in 1930s. Unlike Frankenstein's sadness and Dracula's aristocratic temperament, a werewolf who turns into a wolf on a full moon night is a truly irrational, crazy and cruel beast. The story tells that a middle-aged man, Dr. Granton, was attacked by an unknown creature while studying a special plant in Tibet and left a scar on his arm. After returning to London, Granton continued his research in the laboratory, and his relationship with his wife gradually alienated. At this time, a mysterious man who claimed to be a botanist walked into Granton's life and told Granton that the plants he found in Tibet were closely related to werewolves. Soon after, on a full moon night, incredible changes began to take place in Granton. Granton, an irrational werewolf, began to brutally attack passers-by on the streets of London at night. Facing the cruel reality, Granton began to investigate the truth of the matter and finally discovered the terrible face of the mysterious man.

Forty-five years later, Rick Baker, a Hollywood makeup artist, won the Oscar for the first time with a werewolf movie "AmericanWerewolfinLondon". In the original version of the werewolf in London (65438-0935), there were no horror film actors like Pohris Karoff and Bella Logis. But the tense rhythm and the audience's fear of the protagonist's unknown fate make this film occupy a place in the early horror classic business card.

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