The Wolf Man is a 1941 American gothic horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner.

Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, and Maria Ouspenskaya star in supporting roles.

Police investigating the scene find Jenny's throat torn out and Bela battered to death, with Larry's walking stick clearly the murder weapon in the latter case.

Suspicion on Larry deepens when he cannot substantiate his story of fighting a wolf, since his chest wound miraculously healed overnight.

Maleva uses a spell to temporarily change him back to human form, allowing him to free himself before a hunting party finds him.

In an essay for the 1984 book Planks of Reason, academic Bruce F. Kawin wrote that, "The Wolf Man expresses and exorcises the Id-force of uncontrolled aggression in its own system (the werewolf), in Larry Talbot (his werewolf phases), and in the community (the destabilizing forces of rape, murder, gypsy liminality, and aristocratic privilege—Talbot often behaves as if he had droit du seigneur when courting the engaged Gwen).

"[3] In 1995, author Edmund G. Bansak compared Talbot's "blindly aggressive drive" in his romantic pursuit of the Welsh Gwen to that of Oliver Reed, a character played by Kent Smith in the 1942 film Cat People who courts the Serbian-born Irene Dubrovna (Simone Simon): "neither of these stereotypical All-American males will take no for an answer.

"[6] In 1993, film historian David J. Skal characterized The Wolf Man and its sequels as reflecting the anxieties of American audiences amidst World War II, calling the series "an unconscious parable of the war effort" that centers around Talbot's "crusade for eternal peace and his frustrated attempts to control irrational, violent European forces.

"[7] In his 2004 book Nightmares in Red, White and Blue, Joseph Maddrey wrote that the resolution of The Wolf Man "is not reassuring in the way that earlier Universal horror films, with their distinctly Manichean view of the world, were.

Larry Talbot is not torn between forces of good and evil; he is a victim of a cruel or indifferent fate in a less comprehensible world.

His feet are seen to grow hairy and become huge paws (courtesy of uncomfortable "boots" made of hard rubber, covered in yak hair).

Chaney even said special effects men drove tiny finishing nails into the skin on the sides of his hands so they would remain motionless during close-ups.

A plaster mold was made to hold his head still, as his image was photographed and his outline drawn on panes of glass in front of the camera.

The site's critical consensus reads: "A handsomely told tale with an affecting performance from Lon Chaney, Jr., The Wolf Man remains one of the classics of the Universal horror stable.

"[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[12] In the early 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released The Wolf Man on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection".

[28] The Wolf Man was included in the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set in August 2018.

[31] In October the same year, the film was included as part of a limited edition Best Buy-exclusive Blu-ray set titled Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection, which features artwork by Alex Ross.

[32] Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released The Wolf Man on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 5, 2021.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) had Talbot's grave opened on a full moon night, causing him to rise again (making him, in the subsequent films, technically one of the undead).

[citation needed] In House of Frankenstein (1944), Talbot is once again resurrected and is promised a cure via a brain transplant but is shot dead with a silver bullet instead.

This time the Wolf Man is a hero of sorts, saving Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) from having his brain transplanted by Dracula (Bela Lugosi) into the head of the Monster (Glenn Strange).

The film was met with mixed reviews and a low box office reception but won an Academy Award for Best Makeup in 2011.

[43] The following year on November 8 however, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects, leaving the future of the Dark Universe in doubt.

[45] By July, Leigh Whannell entered early negotiations to direct the project, with Jason Blum announced as an additional producer.

[47] On December 13, 2023, it was confirmed that Whannell was back as a director, taking Cianfrance's place, and that Christopher Abbott was cast as the main character, replacing Gosling who will remain as the executive producer.

[48] The poem mentioned more than once in the film was not, contrary to popular belief, an ancient legend, but was in fact an invention of screenwriter Siodmak.