Halloween Special – Wolfman (35mm film) Review & Photos

Wolfman is an ISO 100 black and white film that feels aesthetically reminiscent of 16mm cinematic film. This film is frequently used in the photoshoots melancholy graveyards, mysterious mansions, and Halloween costume pictures. The artwork on the film’s box and cannister is fantastic. The film has a broad exposure range and responds well to pulling -1 stop or pushing +2 stops. The film, however, is very expensive for a 24-exposure roll.

This film is produced by The Film Photography Project (FPP, for short). Based in New Jersey, they are a group of analogue photography aficionados and professionals who are deeply entrenched in the film scene. Among many other film-related ventures, they have also released a rather fun-themed set of films inspired by the classic Universal Monsters movies. In addition to Wolfman, there are also Frankenstein, Dracula, and Mummy films. Wolfman features the same look as their Cine 16 BW 100 Negative film and has a similar triacetate base.

Key Features Of Wolfman 35mm

Pros

• Amazing artwork
• Glorious retro 16mm film aesthetics
• Highlights have an interesting aura-like glow
• Pushes and pulls very well (thankfully!)

Cons

• Expensive, especially for 24 exposure!
• Maybe a little grainer than other ISO100 films
• Thin film, prone to curling after developing
• Detail in shadows may be lacking

Shooting abandoned places as a special halloween Series

At the beginning of the month, I got my claws on a roll of fang-tastic Wolfman. I chose this film for the amazing box art (I adore werewolves!) as well as for a Halloween photo series. This film’s aesthetic struck me as a wonderful fit for my autumn abandoned locations photo series.

I finished the full roll in one howlingly frantic weekend! And it was quite the weekend! I travelled up and down England, covering 600 miles in two days. These were a mix of leisurely photoshoots, quick-thinking problem-solving, and creative evasive strategies.

This Halloween series includes;

• An abandoned American diner
• A grand old school
• A very spooky tin chapel, with bonus rusting cars infront
• An old canteen, with atrium overgrown with plants
• A huge and creepy Gothic Revival church

Trick or Treat: My first (accidental) foray into pushing film

Two weeks before Halloween, I sent my film to the lab. I began writing this blog post around the time my film arrived at the photo lab. I was in the process of uploading the Wolfman box art one evening. After doing a double take, I noticed the film was ISO100. I had already shot all of the roll metering under the impression this film was ISO400.

My head became flooded with visions of completely underexposed black photographs, and the Halloween blog post I had eagerly planned was lost in the midst of a dumb notation error. I quickly grasped a glimmer of hope; perhaps I could still rescue the roll. With a hurried email to the photo lab, development was halted just before the roll was to be dipped into the tank. I requested a +2 stop push for this film and breathed a sigh of relief.

What is pushing film?

Pushing film is a technique in film photography that involves underexposing the film and then compensating for this during development. For example, shooting an ISO100 film while metering/your camera is set up to shoot ISO200 (+1 stop) or ISO400 (+2 stop). This makes the film more sensitive to light, allowing photographers to shoot in low-light conditions. Pushing a film also alters the look of the film, namely increasing contrast or grain.

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Ironically, I had planned to experiment with film pushing in the near future. I suppose this is my year’s trick or treat surprise! I had already narrowly avoided a trick, and now had my fingers crossed for a nice treat heading my way/

My impressions of Wolfman film

To my eyes, the film is sharper than Kentmere and more akin to HP5+. Given that Wolfman is twice as expensive as HP5+, I would certainly expect some nice resolving ability. With my +2 stop push, the graininess is comparable to HP5+ (which is an ISO400 film). Shooting at box speed might result in less grain, but I think the grain adds to the eerie vibe here.

I did note that a lot of detail is lost in the shadows, but given how far this film was pushed, I completely expect this to be the case. I was metering for the shadows and mid-tones as usual. Given this, I would have expected greater detail in the shadows. However it’s difficult to determine if the lack of shadow detail on this roll is due to the film, metering errors on my part, the +2 stop pushing, or a mixture of these. However, some reviews I read on other blogs do mention that shadow detail is sometimes lacking in Wolfman.

On the flip side, the highlights kept their detail wonderfully! One thing I love about this film, is the glow/aura the highlights seem to take on. For example, the church I photographed had some gothic-style lanterns hanging from the ceiling. These picked up some of this aura and have a subtle glow in the photos, making them stand out from the dark background.

Overall I paws-itively adore the look of the film! The images do indeed have a retro, 16mm horror movie feel to them. The increased contrast from the pushing has resulted in a low key style to the images. The dark shadows and increased grain also all work well with the spooky aesthetic of these abandoned locations.

I personally prefer to shoot 36 exposure film, as I am a thrifty northern England photogra-fur! The fact that Wolfman comes in 24 exposure, makes this film even more expensive if you factor in the cost per frame.

Example photos I have taken on Wolfman 35mm

Finally, here are the shots from my spooky Halloween analogue film roll. All of these were shot with my trusty Zenit E with a Mir-1b lens. Happy howl-oween!!

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