For this year's October Challenge I've been reviewing more films that I've already 'seen' than any previous year, and by 'seen' I mean I watched them so long ago I kinda, sorta, forgot about them - or I didn't really pay that much attention in the first viewing.
The Wolf Man falls somewhere in that range. I've seen it at some point in my life, liked it, know what it's about, don't really remember all that goes on in the story - but I really want to see it again because it's my October Challenge and I can do what I want.
What I recall from the first viewing is that I found it both very fascinating and confusing. I think I was also a bit green in my classic horror appreciation to give it the proper attention it needed. Giving it the proper attention is what I intend to do tonight!
And that's precisely what I did!
Oh man, I f***ing love werewolf movies.
I understand now why I was confused the first time I saw this film. Because it's confusing. Or rather, should I say, it's quite dated and some key elements of the movie harbors very cringy and 'wait..., what?' moments. I love this film and I also love to scold it. In short, it's chock-full of just plain wrong (e.g., Lon Chaney's character is super creepy - and I'm not talking when he's the wolf man. And the Roma...).
Lon Chaney is a super awesome werewolf though! Super awesome!
Oh The Wolf Man. You are entertaining. Good werewolf films are hard to come by, and I have quite a few heavy, slow, eye rolls for this classic, but it still stands as a sentinel in modern werewolf horror.
My siblings and I have, perhaps, a healthy/unhealthy appreciation/fear of werewolves. I have NO IDEA where it comes from but here it is and it looks like it's going to stay. Thus, I'm hard-pressed to pass up any werewolf film, and yet if someone starts up a conversation about dog people roaming around, this is me:
Werewolves. Werewolves and undiscovered giant creatures in the sea scare the living crap out of me. Although this film didn't 'scare' me, I still found it fascinating and quite honestly, Chaney as a wolf, is a sight to behold.
I've read up quite a bit on the world-wide and very ancient werewolf legends (e.g., healthy/unhealthy appreciation/fear of werewolves) and what I've walked away with - as does this film - is that our minds and the societies that shape them can be one of the greatest and most dangerous monsters we'll ever face. Cheers.
This is a classic for a reason, and it's also wrought with a variety of social constructs. It's also worth a watch just to see this Wolf Man.
Pairs with a late movie night, snacks, have a heavy silver-lined stick handy, and enjoy watching some cringe binge history in action.
I watched this film on Shudder or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to locate where else you can find this sometimes fabulous sometimes absolutely not creature feature.
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