Geoff’s countdown to Halloween DAY 1: The Wolf Man

It’s Halloween, and Geoff’s getting in the spirit by looking back at the scary movies he grew up on. If you haven’t seen these movies, you should. You really, REALLY should.

DAY 1: The Wolf Man (1941)

OK, I'll admit, the poster needs some work...

The mother of all werewolf films, The Wolf Man was one of the first, and is still the gold standard for the genre. It’s by far my favorite of the classic Universal Studios horror films, and the single motion picture that sparked my love of film and filmmaking.

For those who haven’t seen it: Larry Talbot returns to his childhood home in Wales after the death of his brother. Along the way he visits a gypsy camp, becomes a werewolf and kills a couple of townsfolk.

"What would you do if I sang out of tune?"

The Plot: Let’s run down the basic story, just in case you haven’t seen it. (I’d say no spoilers, but the movie’s been out for 70 years, you really should have seen it by now).

Larry Talbot is the neglected youngest son of Sir John Talbot, who lives in a big fancy castle in Wales. Larry’s been incommunicado with his family for 18 years. As the younger child it was Larry’s brother who was next in line for the family name, his father’s royal title, and the estate. The film opens with Larry returning home after his brother is killed in a hunting accident.


Larry tries to reconnect with his father, and the people he once knew, but he’s become the classic “stranger in a strange land” archetype. His American accent, his demeanor, his dislike for the silly superstitions of the townsfolk separate him from his father and the people he grew up with. He’s become an outsider in his own home, and the townspeople treat him as if he were a stranger.

He eventually meets Gwen, who works in an antique shop in town, and he takes her out on a date (I should point out that Gwen is engaged to Larry’s old friend Frank Andrews, and she’s kind of a two-timing ho-bag).

Of the 8,000 screen shots I took for this review, I don't think Gwen's eyes are open ONCE.

The two, and her friend Jenny, visit some gypsy’s that have set up camp up the road. Jenny gets her fortune read by Bela Lugosi (who famously starred as Dracula in the 1931 classic) and about 8 seconds later she gets killed by a wolf. Larry, brandishing the sweetest wolfs-head cane in movie history, kills the wolf, who (dun dun DUN) turns out to be Bela the whole time.

Silver. Effectively killing werewolves since 1941.

Bitten, Larry is helped back to Talbot Castle, where he’s treated by a doctor. Police tell him that he was confused in the dark and accidently killed Bela as the wolf attacked Jenny.

The rest of the story writes itself: Larry becomes a werewolf himself and kills a gravedigger. The police suspect a wolf and set up traps in the woods. Larry believes he’s going mad and tells his father about the whole werewolf thing, and he doesn’t believe him. Larry tells his dad to take his silver wolfs-head cane with him when he goes wolf-hunting, for protection.

Now the end. For those not wanting it spoiled skip down past the photo.

Larry’s dad ties Larry to a chair while he goes out wolf-hunting (so that Larry will be able to tell he’s not the killer when the hunters catch the wolf). That works about as well as can be expected, and Larry transforms and takes to the forest to kill again. He hunts Gwen and attacks her, but Larry’s dad comes to her rescue, beating the wolf with the silver cane, killing him. The wolf turns back into Larry and his father realizes that he’s just killed his own son. Credits.

"Oh no... that's.... that's not gonna be easy to explain..."

Why I love it: Aside from the obvious, (classic film, iconic story, stands the test of time, yadda yadda) this movie above all the others is what sparked my interested and love with filmmaking. I vividly remember getting a VHS copy of "The Wolf Man" for Christmas and how excited I was. I must have watched this movie a million times during my life, and I'm embarrassed to say that I collected stamps with Lon Chaney’s face on it in the fourth grade. This film continues to be my favorite horror film of ANY decade. Despite its flaws, there’s no denying that "The Wolf Man" remains as powerful and poetic as it was almost 70 years ago.

Why you should love it, too:

Because Larry said so. That's why.

Reason #1: It takes it's time. Horror films today don’t take the time for anything. These days it’s more about getting to the next scare than advancing the plot. And to be honest we can’t wait for most of the character to get killed off in the first place.


Not so, here. For two-thirds of the movie there’s no wolf man at all. It’s all about Larry trying to come to grips with Bela and Jenny’s murder, him trying to reconnect with the townspeople, and then falling apart as he begins to expect the worst.


Reason #2: It’s tragic. The film is a classic Greek tragedy... with fur. As beautiful as it is sad, the wolf man doesn’t WANT to be evil. He’s just a dude who honestly regrets the horrible things he’s done, but knows that he can’t stop himself when it happens again. Can’t name too many other monsters who can say that.


Unlike modern horror films, where the audience spends every anxious second waiting for Freddy or Jason to kill off the next sexy co-ed, in "The Wolf Man" it’s the other way around. He’s a tragic figure. A monster of circumstance and fate. It’s not in Larry’s nature to harm anyone, but he can’t help himself.

Add to that his relationship with his father, and Gwen and there’s really just no winning for poor Larry. At the end of the film he does end up in a better place, and it’s really the only time in the whole film where we think that he can be at peace.

Reason #3: It’s legacy. "The Wolf Man" sparked almost everything that we associate with werewolves: the silver bullets, changing because of the moon, etc. It took a cool folkstory about people turning into animals and blasted it into the American popular culture, where it’s stayed ever since. There have been other werewolf movies before and since, but few can compare to the greatness of the original. It’s a basic, yet compelling, story that stands as powerful and wonderfully sad today as it did in 1941. Every horror movie made owes a little bit of thanks to "The Wolf Man. "It’s truly a great, great movie that deserves it’s place in the horror movie hall (dungeon?) of fame.

That said, do you know how many people the wolf man actually kills during that movie? One. One person. (In total, there are three deaths in the film, but Larry only kills one person as a werewolf).

That's how great this movie is. It's so powerful that it can last for more than half a century, and he only kills one person.

If that’s not enough for you: The whole thing is, like, 70 minutes long. Tops. It’s not like you’re investing your entire day into watching this thing.

TOMORROW: Evil Dead 2. Warning in Advance: This film stars Bruce Campbell.

♫ "You myyyyyyy brown eyed skull.
Do you remember when we used to sing,
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te die.
La te die."  ♫