Can 'Wolfman' destroy vampire fever?

(CNN) -- Until Taylor Lautner beefed up and began walking around shirtless in "New Moon," there wasn't a chance in the underworld that werewolves could steal pop culture's rabid affection for vampires.

But now that moviegoers' appetites have been whetted for this particularly hairy breed of supernatural beast, perhaps the new horror movie "The Wolfman," starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, can help the myth finally step out from the, er, non-shadow of vampires after all.

In the past 30 years, there have been a number of films dedicated to the frightening -- and sometimes hilarious -- things that can happen when under the werewolf curse, yet the genre has never soared into popularity.

We're officially past "New Moon" frenzy, and werewolves haven't exactly shown up in TV series, novels and other movies the same way vampirism has since "Twilight" and its cohorts left their mark

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