FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
1943
Not Rated
You can watch the trailer here
Not Rated
You can watch the trailer here
I had never heard of this movie before I popped my copy of The Wolf Man into the DVD player yesterday. Apparently the DVD was a double feature, and the second film was Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. To be honest, I think I know why I'd never heard of it until now.
The film, which was directed by Roy William Neill, picks up four years after the events of The Wolf Man with a newly resurrected Lawrence Talbot (reprised by Lon Chaney Jr.) who apparently cannot die (this is despite the fact that he was bludgeoned by a silver cane in the previous film, which should have killed him). He breaks out of a hospital and sets on a quest to find a cure for his lycanthropic ailment and runs into the gypsy woman Maleva (reprised by Maria Ouspenskaya) who tells him of a doctor named Frankenstein who may be able to help. The two embark to meet Frankenstein but run into resistance upon reaching his town. They learn of his death, and Talbot runs off, turning into a werewolf again. He unearths the Frankenstein monster (Bela Lugosi) and turns to another doctor to take both of their lives.
Although they started with a relatively interesting premise, the screenplay just doesn't play out as well as the film's predecessor. It lacks any real amount of suspense, and the dialogue is simplistic at best. Chaney Jr. essentially recycles the same three or four lines ("I want to die;" "I turn into a wolf;" etc.) throughout the film, and it gets pretty old pretty fast. Oh, and the ultimate resolution is anti-climactic, and I just felt like it didn't resolve any of the problems posed by the film.
The acting is okay, but there's nothing to rave about. Chaney Jr. and Ouspenskaya are playing the same roles as before, and Lugosi is probably attempting a carbon-copy of Boris Karloff's take on the monster. There just really isn't much to say about the acting for this movie.
If anything, it's a fun to see two horror titans take battle against one another, but you have to wait much too long for much too little. I can definitely see why this film isn't listed among the annals of horror classics.
The film, which was directed by Roy William Neill, picks up four years after the events of The Wolf Man with a newly resurrected Lawrence Talbot (reprised by Lon Chaney Jr.) who apparently cannot die (this is despite the fact that he was bludgeoned by a silver cane in the previous film, which should have killed him). He breaks out of a hospital and sets on a quest to find a cure for his lycanthropic ailment and runs into the gypsy woman Maleva (reprised by Maria Ouspenskaya) who tells him of a doctor named Frankenstein who may be able to help. The two embark to meet Frankenstein but run into resistance upon reaching his town. They learn of his death, and Talbot runs off, turning into a werewolf again. He unearths the Frankenstein monster (Bela Lugosi) and turns to another doctor to take both of their lives.
Although they started with a relatively interesting premise, the screenplay just doesn't play out as well as the film's predecessor. It lacks any real amount of suspense, and the dialogue is simplistic at best. Chaney Jr. essentially recycles the same three or four lines ("I want to die;" "I turn into a wolf;" etc.) throughout the film, and it gets pretty old pretty fast. Oh, and the ultimate resolution is anti-climactic, and I just felt like it didn't resolve any of the problems posed by the film.
The acting is okay, but there's nothing to rave about. Chaney Jr. and Ouspenskaya are playing the same roles as before, and Lugosi is probably attempting a carbon-copy of Boris Karloff's take on the monster. There just really isn't much to say about the acting for this movie.
If anything, it's a fun to see two horror titans take battle against one another, but you have to wait much too long for much too little. I can definitely see why this film isn't listed among the annals of horror classics.
Movie Review Summary:
Grade: C
Thumb... Slightly Down
Grade: C
Thumb... Slightly Down
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