Review of The Wolf Man (1941) by Tyler R — 02 Oct 2012

Here we have another introduction to a universal movie monster. The Wolf Man was made in 1941, ten years after the success of Frankenstein and Dracula and it stars Lon Chaney Jr as Larry Talbot/ The wolf man.

Larry Talbot is just an ordinary guy who is bitten by a wolf while trying to save a helpless girl and he becomes the legendary wolf man. Lon Chaney Jr does such a great job in his role. AS Larry Talbot, he brings out the side of him who's haunted by what he's become and as a werewolf, all he has to do is just run around and growl and stuff, but he's still convincing.

For the transformation scene, Chaney was required to stand still for countless hours while makeup was applied to him while the camera was still filming at times. It was all stop-motion and it still looks great to this day.

What makes the werewolf scenes so great is the suspense and tension that's involved in them. The wolf man, like Dracula, has really big screen presence and you really do get a feel for the people who he stalks and attacks.

The soundtrack for the movie is excellent; it does a really good job of providing suspense and there are even parts of it that sound like the score from 1989's Batman which is ironic because Danny Elman, the composer for Batman, did music for the 2010 remake of The Wolf Man.

The thing that makes this movie stand out from the other monster movies is how much sympathy you have for Talbot. He has no control over becoming a werewolf and he wants to be normal, but he's cursed because he was dumb enough to try and save some dumb damsell in distress from a wolf.

The climax for the film is also pretty emotional, but I won't spoil it. I also feel the need to mention that Bela Lugosi has a role in the movie. He's notablr for playing Dracula, but in this he plays a gypsy who's also a werewolf.

It's always good to see Lugosi acting. I firmly believe that The Wolf Man has still stood the test of time and it's a must see for anyone who loves horror films. This movie, along with Frankenstein and Dracula are classic horror flicks that I have respect for since they have had a heavy influence on anything having to do with monsters and Halloween.

Those three movies are all great and they deserve to be viewed more during October.