Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Pjtaylor-96-138044 The pacing is a little rocky considering 'The Wolf Man (1941)' lasts a meagre seventy minutes and the titular hybrid beast doesn't make an appearance until over halfway through. His first entrance actually marks the point at which the movie begins to slowly lose its footing, ever so slightly, as the solid lore-building and foreshadowing that came before crumbles away for fairly hokey special effects, less impressive than the actual wolf used earlier in the piece, and a somewhat repetitive structure that doesn't seem to fully explore all the avenues that were perhaps set up before. While the werewolf is a staple of pop-culture with apparent deep roots in folklore, it's interesting to note that much of the now standard mythology was actually invented for this picture - as well as the earlier 'Werewolf Of London (1935)', the first official title to utilise the eponymous creature. It was originally intended to be ambiguous as to whether or not the creature was even physically real, with the implication being that it was solely a metaphor for the dual nature of man and that whomever was afflicted with the so-called curse simply envisioned themselves as a beast to justify the beastly acts they had committed. The studio deemed it to be more interesting if the transformation was explicit, though, and so we now have a picture that introduces perhaps the most iconic version of one of cinema's most enduring, tragically monstrous figures, one that still holds up relatively well - despite a few missteps in its second act - and ends on a surprisingly effective (if somewhat rushed) thematic note. 6/10

marshrydrob The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Junior; is one of my favorite movies. Universal, did a good job gathering talent for all of their horror films; and this film has one of the best gathering of talented actors I have ever seen.The moors, the shape shifting to an uncontrollable supernatural evil, the baying of a wolf; this is what I grew to learn; classic horror is all about.I have even seen the remake of the Wolf Man, and I feel that it never will compare to the original; the remake seemed to a little longer than it needed to be.With the introduction of Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, Universal; gave us all the idea of film crossovers; and this is what makes classic horror so memorable to this day.Good stories, good acting, and shared continuity; this and other classic horror films will appeal to anyone today.

Scott LeBrun Lon Chaney Jr. delivers a legendary performance here, one that launched him as a new star of horror films. According to Chaney himself, his role as Larry Talbot and his role as Lenny in "Of Mice and Men" (1939) were his personal favorites. He makes Larry an endearing, sympathetic character, one who does soon realize his fateful predicament, and who fears that he will hurt the ones whom he loves the most.Larry has been away from the Talbot family estate in Wales for 18 years or so, until brought back upon the news that his brother has passed away. He's determined to make a go of things, developing a solid relationship with his father Sir John (Claude Rains), and aggressively pursuing local beauty Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), daughter of an antiques merchant. One night, he is attacked and bitten by gypsy fortune teller Bela (Bela Lugosi), who is in reality a werewolf. And now the curse of werewolf-ism has been passed on to Larry.The atmosphere is simply unbeatable in this very popular franchise beginner for Universal Studios. The mythology created by screenwriter Curt Siodmak is entertaining; he built from Old World legends and put many of his own spins on them. (The thing regarding silver, for example; that's his invention.) His dialogue is quite literate at times, with two memorable incantations used repeatedly.They may not exactly be cinemas' most believable father-and-son combo, but Chaney and Rains are both excellent. Ankers is very appealing, and the supporting cast consists of some impressive talent: Warren William as Dr. Lloyd, Ralph Bellamy as the constable, Patric Knowles as Gwens' fiancée and the game keeper for the Talbot estate, notable acting teacher Maria Ouspenskaya as the wise old gypsy woman who knows the score, J.M. Kerrigan as Gwens' father, Fay Helm as the victimized Jenny, and comedy relief provider Forrester Harvey as Twiddle.Produced & directed by George Waggner, with very fine music by Charles Previn, Hans J. Salter, & Frank Skinner, and splendid lighting by Joseph A. Valentine. Jack Pierce does a typically impressive job with the makeup, creating a very iconic look for Chaney.76 years later, "The Wolf Man" might not be terribly frightening to today's generation, but it's ensured its staying power nevertheless.Nine out of 10.

GL84 Returning to his ancestral homeland, a young man becomes increasingly convinced he's become the vicious wolf man running rampant across the countryside and tries to find a way of stopping the deadly curse from forcing him to hurt those around him.For the most part, this here is quite the deserving classic that has a lot to really like here. One of the better elements here is in how well this one lays out his coming to terms with his condition, as there are some great storytelling tactics to buy into what's going on. The constant nagging about the town's legend of the werewolf and it's tie-ins to the gypsies starts this off well, then once it brings up the attack on the couple in the woods that causes him to get the curse and all the really fun investigations going over the incident gives this some of the best parts of the film where they start going in on his experience which has no evidence to back it up. These scenes here are all built together with the towns' hysteria and his growing paranoia feeds into this one's storyline about his growing resentment at becoming this creature that it really sells the idea, and it all comes together so well that there's very little about this that doesn't come off as wholly appealing. To tie that all into the storyline is fun enough while managing to really overwhelm on the action scenes which are quite fun overall, from the first attack on the girl in the woods where he gets bitten, his first attack where he goes after the workers along the moors which is quite chilling with the suspenseful amount of fog rolling through the area and his later attacks prowling through the night which makes for some nice action in the later half where we get a lot of great looks at the werewolf makeup in action. As well, the fantastic finale really works quite well in generating the kind of exciting action required to leave on a high-note where the stalking of the girl through the swamp is quite a creepy setup leading so well into the scenes of the villagers chasing after him in the darkness with their pitchforks and torches while the big battle here gives this one the kind of rousing high-energy confrontation needed once it got there and ends this on a somewhat somber note. Given that this one really sets the standard for the genre's clichés and patterns into the setup, these are the film's main positives while there's a minor flaw here. This is that the amount of time spent here on the werewolf makeup show it off in a rather disheartening light by showing off just mounds of fur and hair glued all over which doesn't look best and really stands out here. Otherwise, there's not much really wrong here.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.