Written by: August Aguilar, September 2, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. Tweet to: @AugustAA92 & @elburritoblog
Before we ever had superheroes crossing over movie franchises and fighting side by side, there was one group that started it all: Universal Monsters. Dracula. Frankenstein. The Invisible Man. The Wolfman. In the 1940’s, classic horror monsters struck fear and awe to audiences as they came to life and began to share the screen together. This edition of Monster Vault is taking a closer look at the half man and half beast and how it came to life.
History of the Wolfman
The Wolfman is one of Hollywood’s oldest and iconic monsters in cinema that influenced a massive wave of other horror and monsters in pop culture. Of course none of this would be possible without the myth of the werewolf.
The werewolf or “lycanthrope” myth originates from the European folklore, but traces and evidence of the belief dates back from as early as the Greek, Medieval, and other time periods. After much fear and speculation that came from the New World colonialism, the werewolf lore soon turned into Gothic and horror literature that eventually led to the fantasy genre of modern pop culture we all know today.
Universal Studios managed to create their own shared universe of monsters with The Wolfman debuting in 1941 starring Lon Chaney Jr. This was the first time audiences were able to see a man go through a full transformation into a creature, as well as being a sympathetic character.
With the Wolfman along with Hollywood’s other monsters proving to be successful, the beast came back to cinemas in 1943 with Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman. Chaney Jr. returned to reprise the role and starred in three more films with House of Frankenstein in 1944, House of Dracula in 1945, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948.
The iconic Wolfman character didn’t return to screens until the 2010 remake starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving.
Characteristics
There’s nothing scarier than a half-man-half-wolf running at full speed with its teeth and claws out to get you. The Wolfman, as well as other variations of the werewolf, are most well known for their ability to transform on the night of a full moon. Once the Wolfman transforms, the soul of the man is taken over by the beast and becomes almost unstoppable.
The Wolfman along with most werewolf characters carry an aggressive healing factor. The effort of the victims using ordinary weapons and bullets will have no luck in killing beast. However, the one and most infamous way is by silver; thus creating the silver bullet. Still, with the Wolfman also having super-human speed and strength, it’s hard to fight such a powerful creature.
Impact 
Like many other monsters, the Wolfman and werewolf genre has made a huge impact on pop culture over the years. Besides The Wolfman, there have been countless renditions of the beast in cinema and only a few have captured some sort of originality or following.
Films like An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, the Twilight series, and the Underworld franchise, all have very different forms of werewolves but share similar traits of the Wolfman.
Publication titles like Weird Tales Magazines, Tales From The Crypt, and Fables, have all featured a form of the Wolfman in their own respective versions. And let’s not forget about the many different forms of merchandise, music, and video games like Castlevania and The Elder Scrolls that helps keep the monster alive and fresh.
Future
Looking forward to the future, Universal has recently started a reboot of its monster movies, again sharing the same universe. A new, but yet untitled Wolfman movie is slated for a release date of April 13, 2018. Although no official director or cast has been confirmed, the rumors have reported that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to star in the reboot.
Do you have a favorite Wolfman movie or werewolf? Are you excited about the upcoming Monster universe? Let us know in your comments below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG9RAREoR-k&feature=youtu.be
