A Film Canon

Despite the occasional respite, The Wolf Man simply provides a primer on werewolfdom, as the same comments, speculations and interpretations are circulated from one mouthpiece to another, as monotonous as the gypsy chant with which the monster is laid to rest - albeit a primer that has proved to be foundational, both in terms of the werewolf film, and lycanthropic folklore generally. As with earlier Universal horror films, this self-defeating discursion serves to invoke psychoanalysis as a possibility, or atmosphere, while neglecting its specific conclusions, such that the clear resonances with Freud's casebook are reduced to a series of banal attempts to metaphorise the werewolf; or, more accurately, to metaphorise the schizophrenia which which it is laboriously identified: "It's a technical expression for something very simple - the good and evil in every man's soul." That said, Oedipal conflict is inevitably evoked by the inspired casting of Lon Chaney Jr., whose uncanny resemblance to his father ("There's something very tragic about that man") is deflected into the muted presence of his older (but identical) brother, who died in mysterious, unexplained circumstances. Similarly, although Jack P. Pierce's werewolf costume is impressive, the moments of transition are fairly anticlimactic, while the fog- laden forest and graveyards quickly become repetitive, if less stagy than their precursors.