Werewolves are creatures that come from folklore. They were chacters long before the movie industry got to them. Folk lore werewolves are alot different. Like in most hollywood movies werewolfs are like hairy humans. Half man, half beast. Folklore werewolves take on the whole wolf form. They are left standing with only the eyes of any trace of humanity. (Although there are some movies where the werewolf is actually a full wolf.)
Most movie werewolfs are killed by silver bullets or anything silver. folklore wolves can be killed just like any other animal. Movie werewolves turn into a wolf only when he/she has been bitten by another werewolf. In folklore, the werewolf becomes who he/she is because usually of a pact with the devil.
It is said that wounding a werewolf (besides freeing him from the spell that was casted on the wolf) is a sure way of exposing its human identity. A were animal, wounded in the animal form, will keep the same wound in the same part of its body when it is in human shape. In Northern France it was believed that werewolves were given a special skin by the devil, and every time they came across a roadside cross, they were beaten.
Alot of folklore tales mention that the werewolf can only turn into a wolf at certain times (like when the moon is full). People in Denmark believed that some people could even turn into a three-legged dog at particular times of the night. The Poland folklore says that werewolves can only turn into wolves in the middle of the Summer and at christmas time. In Sicily it was said that if someone was seen by a werewolf they would loose his/her power of speech.
The werewolf is not always going to be one hundered percent wolf form, although you'd have to look pretty closely to see the difference. In some stories the werewolf is bigger than an ordinary wolf would be, in other stories only the eyes are the only characteristic left human, even in other tales the werewolf has no tail.
It is possible that werewolfery (or lycanthropy-the mental disorder or a disease that makes people think that they are wolves) was to some point caused by drugs. Another rare desease called hypertrichosis makes victims of the disease unusually hairy all over their bodies. Another reason why werewolves existed was to use other peoples fears to their own advantage (eg: the stories spread because of the crime).
