Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dated horror classic has some violence, smoking.
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The Wolf Man
What's the Story?
In THE WOLF MAN, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) has returned to Wales after being away in America for 18 years to see his father (Claude Rains) and stand as heir to the family castle. While adjusting a telescope, he inadvertently spies on an attractive woman in the village, and immediately saunters off to meet her. The woman, Gwen, works in her family's antique shop, and after turning down his repeated requests for a date, agrees to accompany him to a gypsy carnival taking place outside of the village, as long as her friend Jenny can go as well. While Jenny gets her palm read by a gypsy woman, Larry and Gwen go for a stroll in the woods, but when they hear Jenny screaming, they find that she's being attacked by a wolf. Larry kills the wolf with his silver-handled walking stick, but not before Jenny is killed and Larry suffers a wolf bite. In the aftermath, the gypsy woman arrives and reveals to Larry that the wolf was no wolf, but her son (Bela Lugosi), who was a werewolf, and now that Larry has been bitten, he too is a werewolf, and the only way he can be stopped is by silver. Soon, the gypsy is proven right, as Larry turns into a werewolf at the next full moon, and kills several villagers. The next morning, Larry has no memory of his transformation, but begs his father to strap him in a chair at the next full moon, and gives Gwen a necklace with a silver pentagram so that he will be unable to kill her should he break free. Gwen wants to move away from the village with Larry, but at the next full moon, Larry breaks free of the straps, and it's up to his father and the other villagers to find a way to stop him.
Is It Any Good?
This is a classic horror movie that's showing its age. While movie buffs are sure to enjoy the acting and introduction of now-standard horror movie tropes in The Wolf Man, such as monster transformations, pentagrams, silver, etc., younger and more jaded audiences are likely to be put off by the dated special effects, the mediocre at best attempts at Welsh or English accents, and the scenes of flirtations between Chaney's character and the female lead that come across as aggressive stalking by today's standards.
Still, it's not without some period charm. There's a reliance on strong acting to carry the story and the scares as opposed to today's overreliance on blood, gore, and jump scares. It's also fun to imagine audiences seeing this when so many of the horror standards we now take for granted were new and unheard of. It also has some moments of unintentional humor -- "Larry" as the name of the werewolf, as in "Larry the Werewolf," doesn't exactly send shivers of terror, and sounds more like the name of a kindly werewolf in some contemporary children's story. It also features some of early horror's greatest actors. All this makes The Wolf Man fairly enjoyable, but what dates it is likely to make it less of a "timeless classic" with each passing year.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about classic horror movies like The Wolf Man. How is this similar to and different from today's horror movies?
Can a horror movie still be scary without graphic violence, blood, gore? How does The Wolf Man try to scare its audiences?
What does the movie reveal about the culture of the times in which the movie was released (1941) in terms of smoking, gender roles, etc.?
Movie Details
- In theaters : December 12, 1941
- On DVD or streaming : September 6, 2016
- Cast : Lon Chaney Jr. , Claude Rains , Evelyn Ankers
- Director : George Waggner
- Studio : Universal Studios
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Fantasy
- Run time : 70 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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