— by Ben Cosgrove It's hard to get more old-school than a horror flick. French director Georges Méliès first unleashed the beast in his 1896 (yes, eighteen-ninety six) silent short, "Le Manoir de Diable" ("The Devil's Castle"), and ever since then, bloodthirsty, mutating monsters have been box office catnip. Happily for all of us, the basic horror formula (monster + human = entertaining bloodbath) has proven as enduring as it is versatile, able to withstand a seemingly unlimited amount of reinvention. Vampires, of course, and their sexy, undead ilk are clearly the most popular antagonists of the genre. But as the impending release of Wes Craven's "Cursed" ably illustrates, the humble, hairy, shape-shifting werewolf — a human who turns violently peckish under the influence of the full moon — has proven an awfully resilient runner-up. How about a howl out to some landmarks in the long history of werewolf flicks? "Underworld" (2003) Finally! Death Dealers (vampires) and Lycans (werewolves) get it on in a stylish little "Who's your insanely violent daddy?" cinematic smackdown. "Ginger Snaps" (2000) A bold, quasi-feminist twist on the werewolf curse, "Ginger Snaps" turns a mad logical juxtaposition—the "curse" of the werewolf and the "curse" of menstruation—into a brilliant, gory, and at times even poignant exploration of female teen angst. (The first in a trilogy, with a mediocre sequel, "Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed," and a strong prequel, "Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.") "Wolf" (1994) Starring Jack Nicholson as a macho book-editor-turned-hungry-wolf, Michelle Pfeiffer as his boss's danger-loving daughter, and James Spader as a smarmy, brown-nosing punk, this Mike Nichols vehicle might be too cleverly self-conscious for its own good — but it still has enough Jack moments to make it worthwhile. "Silver Bullet" (1985) Any movie that stars both Gary Busey and Corey Haim is going to have its moments (weird moments, goofy moments, awkward moments), and "Silver Bullet" is filled with them. As Marty, the wheelchair-bound, rosy-cheeked lad destined to bring the beast to justice, Haim is oddly endearing, while Busey shines as the slightly unhinged but generally good-hearted older protector, Uncle Red. "Teen Wolf" (1985) Most notable for its pitch-perfect portrayal of torturously bland 1980s suburbia, "Teen Wolf" is, in essence, an updating of the much stronger "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957). A young Michael "Little House on the Prairie" Landon starred in the latter, doing his best James Dean imitation in a B-movie parable about what can go wrong when adults, teenagers, hypnosis and big hair collide. "The Company of Wolves" (1984) If Sigmund Freud had taken a stab at directing a werewolf movie, it might look a little like Neil Jordan's take on the genre: dreamlike, hypnotic, and filled with more subliminal sexuality than your average light beer commercial, this is one of those movies that you recall days and even weeks after seeing it, like a half-remembered nightmare that you can't seem to shake. "An American Werewolf in London" (1981) John Landis, the director who brought us irreverent classics like "Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Animal House," takes all of the campy elements of the werewolf curse and transforms them into cinematic gold. The movie's 97 hugely entertaining minutes fly by, without a dull moment in the bunch. "The Howling" (1981) Joe Dante directed and indie film stud John Sayles wrote this genuinely hair-raising little number. One of the downright scariest werewolf movies of all time, as well as one of the smartest. "The Wolf Man" (1941) The grandpapa of all werewolf movies, this Lon Chaney Jr. film wasn't the first Hollywood treatment of the wolf man phenomenon, but it set the standard by which every subsequent entry in the genre would be judged. If you're interested in checking out any of these flicks, head over to The MTV DVD Shop. Click here to read an interview with the horror kingpin himself, Wes Craven in "Return of the Mack." Check out everything we've got on "Cursed." Visit Movies on MTV.com for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more.
	Photos: Dimension Films