The Wolf Man

Monsters Series

by Ian Thorne

Briefly discusses the origins of werewolf legends and the portrayal of werewolves in films. Also presents a synopsis of the 1941 film starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and the 1935 film starring Henry Hull.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Horror

47 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 1977

About the author

Pseudonym for author Julian May.

Reviews

[KAggie97 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I checked out in a library. When I was in kindergarten, I saw this book in my school's library. But since kindergartners weren't allowed to check out books, I had to wait until first grade. The first library day we had in Mrs. Brehm's first grade class (she is my all-time favorite teacher), I went straight to this book and checked it out. It was everything my 7-year-old self hoped it would be. I was mesmorized by the summaries of three classic werewolf movies and the photos it contained. I read it several times before I had to return it, and I checked it out many more times that year. In 2nd grade, I wrote to Crestwood House asking if I could buy the book. A couple of weeks later (this was the "snail mail" days, kids), I received a catalogue from them. For $8 (a lot of money for a kid back in '82) I bought the book AND the book on cassette. I read and listened to it more times than I can count. Fast forward to today. I STILL have the book, but, sadly, the cassette has long been gone. I love it as much today as I did as a 7-year-old budding horror fan.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitschy, classic, fun...though if you are expecting a new werewolf story here, this ain't it! This book has three sections - the first section is basically a short story style summary of the 1941 movie, The Wolf Man, complete with images from the film. The second section is the same sort of thing, but with the 1935 film, Werewolf of London. The third section is more or less a summary of other werewolf films starring Lon Chaney and a few other werewolf classics that came after that through to the 1970s. If you haven't seen these werewolf classics then this book is basically one big spoiler, and if you have seen these movies then you might find the whole thing monotonous...but if you get a kick out of vintage werewolf stuff then you might appreciate this book.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the cover you'll find Henry Hull, The Werewolf of London (okay that famous song Werewolves of London is playing now in my head). But what about the ultimate wolf man character, Lon Chaney? Inside there are all the stills of the movie you'll need. Bela Lugosi playing the gypsy, Claude Rains, the cure, background on the werewolf motif and many more motion pictures from the classic era. It's like watching all those films again in a single session. Highly recommended.

[Gabriel Benitez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como todos los libros de esta serie "monsters" se centra en relatar el argumento de la película mostrando fotografías del filme. Aquí relatas los argumentos de The Wolfman, Werewolf in London y Curse of the Werewolf, los dos primeros, filmes de la Universal y el último, de la Hammer

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm looking forward to the remake of this Universal Studios classic ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780653/ ) - featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Sir John Talbot; As you already know, Sir John Talbot dispatches of his werewolf son with the silverheaded wolfcane: all sorts of fucked up Oedipal nonsense in this here werewolf tale ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nb_hUYLXlt... ).

Perhaps it can be read as a nation's guilt for sending its youth off to war, and blaming/hating the youth for changing whilst doing so, post-traumatic stress...the way a nation lashes out violently at its own soldiers upon their return, via poor support and/or whatever.

So, yeah, Sir John Talbot is the Van Helsing of The Wolf Man (and don't forget that Hopkins was Van Helsing in the lovely, lovely Bram Stoker's Dracula).