# Is the "Wolfen" decapitation scene possible?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 19, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354 "2005-12-19T21:41:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/1 "2005-12-19T21:41:53Z")
In the “Decapitated Head” thread, someone mentioned the scene from the movie “Wolfen” where the wolf takes a guy’s head off with one bite. Is this possible? I am not sure if a wolf could really do that in real life. (I am pretty sure that the wolves depicted in the movie were not any bigger than regular wolves! Please correect me if I am wrong about this!)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/2 "2005-12-19T21:48:04Z")
I’m the guy – it wasn’t a bite, it was a swipe. I don’t recall the sizes of the wolves in the film, but we can take it that they are probably super-wolves. (In Whitley Streiber’s book, on which the film is nominally based, although there’s very little resemblance aside from the title, the titular “Wolfen” _are_ super-wolves, bigger, more clever, and more powerful than “those soft-faced creatures”, as streiber puts it.) I imagine them kinda like grizzlies, and grizxzlies have been cited as doing pretty impressive damage to the human frame with a single swipe.
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### Author:  [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/3 "2005-12-19T22:03:47Z")
While this scene was pretty absurd, it’s better than the scene in _Bats!_ where a guy is decapitated by a flying fox. :smack:
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/4 "2005-12-19T23:49:42Z")
> [@awldune](#):
>
> While this scene was pretty absurd, it’s better than the scene in _Bats!_ where a guy is decapitated by a flying fox. :smack:
I’ve been told to go take one of those before.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/5 "2005-12-20T00:35:53Z")
The movie made some changes for whatever reason. In the book, they only resemble wolves. In the movie, the look exactly like wolves.
Big diff. The book’s critters would not have, I think, a problem with this as best I can recall. The Hollywood suits changed one, kept the other, hence your confusion which is entirely justifiable.
They did not even cover the clan interaction between the Wolfen, just portrayed them as some kind of super-wolf, when in fact, they were far more than that.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/6 "2005-12-20T00:47:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> They did not even cover the clan interaction between the Wolfen, just portrayed them as some kind of super-wolf, when in fact, they were far more than that.
I think you’re misremembering. The movie pretty completely changed the plot – the Wolfen in the movie weren’t super-wolves – they were Amerindians who changed into big wolves when they wished. Very different from Streiber’s super-wolves.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/7 "2005-12-20T01:30:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> I think you’re misremembering. The movie pretty completely changed the plot – the Wolfen in the movie weren’t super-wolves – they were Amerindians who changed into big wolves when they wished. Very different from Streiber’s super-wolves.
Hmm…I absolutely do NOT remember that! While I remember the book pretty well, I guess the movie did not make that much of an impression on me.
Thank you so much for clarifying my misremberance.
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### Author:  [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/8 "2005-12-20T02:05:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by **LiveOnAPlane** :
> Hmm…I absolutely do NOT remember that! While I remember the book pretty well, I guess the movie did not make that much of an impression on me.
I do NOT remember that either. I definitely remember a scene where an Amerind starts acting wolf-like, but he didn’t change into a wolf - he did it to freak out Albert Finney. IIRC, the wolfen were a new species of wolf, evolved to live in cities and prey on humanity’s weak and injured. And I never read the book so I didn’t get the super-wolf idea from that.
OTOH, I haven’t seen it since it came out so I could be misremembering it as well.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/9 "2005-12-20T03:35:03Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#):
>
> Ithe wolfen were a new species of wolf, evolved to live in cities and prey on humanity’s weak and injured. And I never read the book so I didn’t get the super-wolf idea from that.
I think they kept the book kind of wolfen in the movie. They weren’t werewolves. The character Finney played was a lot wussier in the movie, though.
Are you thinking of _The Howling_?
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### Author:  [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/10 "2005-12-20T09:17:58Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#):
>
> In the “Decapitated Head” thread, someone mentioned the scene from the movie “Wolfen” where the wolf takes a guy’s head off with one bite.
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> I’m the guy – it wasn’t a bite, it was a swipe.
You’re the guy?!?!
:eek:
Wow, and you survived?! No wonder they made a movie about it. Did they send you around to do the publicity tour, and, if so, did they send your head, your body, or both?
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/11 "2005-12-20T09:40:25Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#):
>
> the wolf takes a guy’s head off with one bite. Is this possible? I am not sure if a wolf could really do that in real life.
There is absolutely no way a wolf could do that in real life. Your head is connected to your shoulders by bones,muscles tendons and skin amongst other things.
Ever seen a dog, even a really big dog, trying to chew through a peice of leather or a bone? That’s what a a wolf would look like trying to sever a human head. They could no doubt do it, but it would need at least half an hour’s work. Definitely not something a wolf could do in one bite, or even attempt to try with a still-living living person.
If a wolf could manage to latch onto your throat you’d be in all kinds of trouble. The worst injuries would be severed arteries or a crushed windpipe along with some serious muscle damage. Not that those things can’t be fatal in their own right, but severing the head is so far outside the realms of possibility that it’s comical.
I stoped watching the movie in disgust fairly early on, but IIRC the wolfen were at least 50% larger than any wolf. But even at that size decapitation isn’t on the cards. The strength simply isn’t there in any mammal to allow that sort of damage. Sharks can occasionally sever limbs (and presumably heads) because they have teeth and jaws that work as saws. Mammalian teeth siimply aren’t designed that way.
In the book the animals did take someone’s hand off at the wrist in one bite, which is somewhat more plausible than decapitation but still highly unlikely.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/12 "2005-12-20T12:49:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Wow, and you survived?! No wonder they made a movie about it. Did they send you around to do the publicity tour, and, if so, did they send your head, your body, or both?
Life’s been difficult since then. I don’t like to talk about it. I’m not considered qualified to fly that jet anymore, what with my head not being firmly attached (It comes off at high-G turns)
None of the usual bad-movie sites gives a detailed review of this flick, and the other sites are typically brief and uninformative. The general consensdus is that Edward James Olmos did _not_ change into a wolf, althopugh the impression I got at the time was that he was in fact the wolf, he just didn’t change ully into one on-screen.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/13 "2005-12-20T15:51:01Z")
IIRC, the “wolves” in the movie are all pretty small. Not terrribly biog for wolves (well, American wolves; European wolves are smaller).
As far as the movie plot goes, I think it’s established that the Amerinds are actually shapeshifters, hence they were angry about the housing project that would have destroyed their grounds. I don’t care what kind of super wolves you’re talking about, they aren’t going to be satisfied by killing developers and smashing up a small-scale model.
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### Author:  [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/14 "2005-12-20T16:54:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by **carnivorousplant** :
> I think they kept the book kind of wolfen in the movie. They weren’t werewolves. The character Finney played was a lot wussier in the movie, though.
>
> Are you thinking of _The Howling_?
No, I’m not. I’m in agreement with you and \*\*Liveonaplane \*\* - the wolfen in the movie were like the wolfen in the book - superwolves, not werewolves. _The Howling_ was definitely werewolves. It’s \*\*CalMeacham \*\* and **smiling bandit** who remember them as being werewolves, although **Live** , **Cal** , and me all admit we could be mis-remembering.
Has anyone \*seen \* this movie in the last twenty years?
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/15 "2005-12-20T21:15:51Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#):
>
> In the “Decapitated Head” thread, someone mentioned the scene from the movie “Wolfen” where the wolf takes a guy’s head off with one bite. …
You know, now that I think of it, I definitely remember one scene where a WEREwolf takes a guy’s head off in one bite, but it was “An American Werewolf in London.”
Maybe this is adding to the confusion? (Probably not)
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### Author:  [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-wolfen-decapitation-scene-possible/336354/16 "2005-12-20T21:28:48Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#):
>
> Has anyone \*seen \* this movie in the last twenty years?
I watched it maybe a year ago. I don’t remember whether the Amerinds were in fact Wolfen or whether they were just friendly with the Wolfen, but there was definitely a connection of sorts. I think the movie left things open to interpretation to a certain extent.