Trace Thurman Horror Queers Podcast Jan 21, 2025 4/5

Gorgeously shot with some handsomely foggy production design, The Wolf Man rightfully earns its place as one of Universal's more memorable monsters.

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Jan 17, 2025 7/10

It wastes not a minute, since the running time is barely over an hour, detailing the curse and concluding it in the only way possible for this monumental horror film that would pave the way for so many derivative productions after it.

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Oct 24, 2023 4/4

The best werewolf movie ever made also gets my vote as the finest film in the entire Universal series (edging out 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein).

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Stephanie Archer Film Inquiry Oct 7, 2023

While The Wolf Man may not have stood the test of time like many of its predecessors, it is a classic film that would lay the groundwork for a continuing cycle of wolves for decades to come.

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Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Mar 20, 2022 4/4

Essential for devising the modern concept of the werewolf, from which nearly every subsequent werewolf film has drawn inspiration, the film uses the guise of a horror yarn to consider the duality of human beings.

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Brian Costello Common Sense Media Nov 9, 2021 3/5

This is a classic horror movie that's showing its age.

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Keith Phipps AV Club Apr 13, 2020 B+

It finds modern sophistication and cultured intellects unprepared to deal with a threat that's already at hand, maybe even under our own skin.

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Daniel Barnes Sacramento News & Review Apr 13, 2020 3/5

Ironically, The Wolf Man is stronger and creepier in the scenes without the wolf man.

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SMH Staff Sydney Morning Herald Apr 13, 2020

The whole thing is nonsensical, but occasionally strangely compelling.

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Age Staff The Age (Australia) Apr 13, 2020

Lon Chaney, junior, has his first big role as The Wolf Man, but it would take a genius to "get away" with this role.

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J.W. Stepp Washington Star Apr 13, 2020

This vehicle features Lom Chaney, jr., as a rather pathetic, and certainly unawesomely made-up. werewolf as the Thing which severs innocents' jugular veins in the mists of English moors.

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THR Staff The Hollywood Reporter Apr 7, 2015

The Wolf Man serves its horror straight. A very substantial cast undertakes to sell believably a tale of superstitious folklore.

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Paul Chambers Movie Chambers Oct 26, 2014 B+

The original and only entry in the Wolf Man series that I truly like. Lon Chaney, Jr. was born to play the troubled Larry Talbot, a guy who gets bitten by a werewolf (Bela Lugosi) and openly laments his future as the hairiest man in Europe. Nicely done.

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Scott Nash Three Movie Buffs Oct 13, 2014 3.5/4

Horror movies today rely on gore and as many jump out of your seat moments as they can throw at you. This one relies on old fashioned atmosphere and acting ability and that's all it really needs.

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Alan Jones Radio Times Oct 6, 2013 4/5

This Universal classic not only established Lon Chaney Jr as a horror star but also instigated most of the cinematic werewolf lore concerning pentagrams, the Moon and the fatality of silver.

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Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Oct 31, 2012 A-

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Rob Humanick Projection Booth Feb 13, 2010 3/4

Most horrifying is the potential inability to sway our own innately darker tendencies.

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Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Feb 10, 2010 3/4

Chaney may appear to have had a bad run-in with a hair dryer, but he's still the definitive villain as tragic hero.

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Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Oct 26, 2009 8/10

A film of sometimes uncertain greatness that is nonetheless the most entertaining and effective Universal monster movie since Bride of Frankenstein.

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Nick Davis Nick's Flick Picks Mar 10, 2009 B+

The Wolf Man's tantamount pleasures are its economy and speed, its silvery manipulations of light and shadow, and the panache with which the lighting, the story, and the rich cast navigate [its] tone.

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