The premise of Craig Ian Mann's new book Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film is that compared to studies of, say, vampire or zombie pictures, there has been relatively little analysis of werewolf films and the ones that do exist tend to oversimplify them as "beast within" metaphors. He then pores over more than a century of werewolf pictures from 1913's inaugural lycanthropy flick The Werewolf through 2015's Howl to explain how filmmakers have used werewolves to do everything from expressing anti-Native American (The Werewolf) and anti-Japanese (Werewolf of London) bigotry to using them as symbols for Germany's transformation into a fascist state (The Wolf Man), how partisanship is tearing America apart (Werewolves on Wheels), the dangers of sex (Curse of the Werewolf), the conflict between rationalism and superstition (An American Werewolf in London), the evils of Regan/Bush-era conservatism (Silver Bullet; My Mother Is a Werewolf), etc. Oddly, Mann uses a great deal of quotes from other writers who support his interpretations, implying that previous discussions of werewolf films have not been quite as reductive as he suggests. After all, merely saying that any werewolf film is about "the beast within" would be like saying that every mad scientist film is about "science gone mad." It is such a limited and obvious conclusion that it doesn't deserve to be acknowledged.
While I think Mann overreaches with his central premise, he still wrote a thought-provoking analysis of the werewolf picture, exposing the creature's versatility in films of great and little quality and from all social, political, and cultural points of view. He even discusses some non-werewolf transformation films, such as Cat People, The Wasp Woman, and yes, The Beast Within.
