Movie Review: The Wolf Man vs Frankenstein

Since I reviewed The Wolf Man for my last movie review, I decided it would be fitting to revisit the 1943 sequel titled Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.  In this movie, we get a crossover between two of the main Universal Monsters. It was through crossover movies like this that the universal monsters franchise became the first cinematic universe. Lon Chaney jr. once again stars as Lawrence Talbot, aka the wolf man, who was thought to have been killed at the end of the first movie. however, six years after the wolf man movie took place, when two thieves break into his tomb in the Llanwelly village cemetery at night to steal his jewelry, they remove the coffin lid and wolf bane containing him and he is exposed to the full moon. Then suddenly, while the thieves attempt to steal the jewelry from the body, Lawrence grabs onto one of the men and kills him while the other crook escapes, fleeing the cemetery in terror. Later on, Lawrence is found laying unconscious with his skull fractured by a police officer on the streets of Cardiff. He’s taken to the hospital there where he’s treated for his injury. He recovers rather quickly and the doctor asks for his name. He tells the doctor his name and answers his questions. Later that night, the full moon shines down upon Lawrence through the hospital window and the curse is brought upon him. He escapes his room through the window and runs wild through the streets. A policeman sees him, deciding to follow him out of curiosity. the wolf man then pounces upon the officer, biting him in the jugular and causing him to bleed out (off camera because they couldn’t show that back then). the next morning, when Lawrence is found on the bed with his window opened, he tries to convince the doctor that he turns into a wolf at night and that he killed the policeman. the doctor dismisses these concerns as another policeman walks in and accuses Lawrence of being a fake, claiming that the real Lawrence Talbot died years ago. Lawrence insists that he is in fact who he claims to be, and comes to the realization that he can’t die. He is taken to another section of the hospital after an outburst and is put in a straight jacket while the officer and doctor go to Llanwelly village to find out if this is really Lawrence Talbot they are dealing with. during their visit where they discover that the tomb is empty, Larry bites through his straight jacket and escapes. Intent on finding a cure for his curse, he locates the gypsy woman from the last movie, Maleva, and asks her to help him. She says she can’t help him, but she would guard him like her own son until he could overcome the curse. They then journey across Europe in search of a certain doctor who is said to be able to help those whom other doctors couldn’t. In the village Vaseria, where they expect to meet the doctor named Frankenstein, they discover he is dead. Larry doesn’t give up however, and runs off in the night to try and discover the notes of doctor Frankenstein in order to help himself become normal, or to simply die to end his misery. This leads to a lot of conflict with the local villagers, as well as the doctor who was supposed to treat Larry, now seeking to destroy him or at least help him overcome his strange condition and the descendant of doctor Frankenstein. The film ends with a vicious battle between the wolf man and Frankenstein before they are washed away by a dam that was exploded by a villager.

Overall, I liked this movie. It had the same vibe the wolf man did as it had crazy good sets, eerie atmosphere, and interesting plot lines. Despite this, rotten tomatoes gives the film a 25%. I was disappointed to learn this because this has been a favorite of mine recently. While it isn’t as good as The Wolf Man quality of the monster films of this era (which dropped in quality after its release), it’s still a fun and spooky movie that is perfect for when halloween comes around.