I’m a bit deficient in the old Universal horror movies, so I selected a few to visit and revisit—including this one, the favorite horror film of one of my non-horror-watching, no-you’re-a-nerd acquaintances.*
The Premise: Botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) has a manor but not much of a manner, to the dismay of his lovely wife. On an expedition to Tibet to collect a night-blooming flower, he’s attacked by a wolf-creature; after he returns to England, Wilfred begins to experience certain…urges. You know the drill. The flower can stave off his transformations, but only if Wilfred can get it to bloom and keep the flowers out of the hands of a rival (Warner “Charlie Chan, for some reason” Oland).
I haven’t been so conflicted about a Found-Again entry since the Beauty and the Beast TV show turned me into a 14-year-old girl again. Rated purely on a scale of “How’s the werewolf story?,” Werewolf of London is okay, a solid 5–7 out of 10. It is, however, highly entertaining for the following reasons:
- A marvelous cast of minor characters, including a haughty lab assistant who looks exactly like Arte Johnson in Love At First Bite, a snooty butler with a combover, and an assemblage of gin-swilling old ladies. There is also the wife’s old boyfriend, who at one point dons a leather trenchcoat and looks as much like Black Adder’s WWI Lord Flashheart as it is possible to do unironically.
- We can see that Wilfred is already well on his way to villainy thanks to a tour of some really evil plants at the beginning of the movie. One appears to be a shoggoth, in fact, or some sort of shoggoth/sea anemone hybrid.
- This is, hands down, the most stereotypically British horror movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve certainly put in my hours watching Hammer films. There’s something so endearing about a ravening monster who stops to put on his scarf and hat before he goes out to eat pedestrians.
- Our protagonist is at one point warned that “the werewolf seeks to kill the thing it loves best.” Based on our actual body count, it would appear that what Wilfred really loves is blondes with good screaming voices.
The Verdict: As long as you don’t pin your hopes of entertainment on the actual werewolf, Werewolf of London is an awful lot of fun. If only someone had explained about the shoggoth.
Might go well with: Carpaccio, edible flowers, Bombay Sapphire.
Next time: Cartoon characters with frickin’ laser beams.
*To whom I may or may not have been married at one time.
