Halloween season
simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of classic Universal horror (1923-1963). Every day
this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip of it by counting down Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal
Horrors!
#22. Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf Man (1943- dir. Roy William Neill)
It’s not exactly Universal’s most elegant monster movie
(Lugosi is an even worse monster than Lon Chaney, Jr., and the failure to
explain the fact that his fumbling is due to blindness makes the performance
seem even worse than it is), but Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf Man still has the major distinction of being horror’s first
monster rally. That’s a big deal considering all the fun that would follow in
flicks such as House of Frankenstein,
House of Dracula, and the divine Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein... not to mention non-Universal rallies such as the Godzilla movies and The Groovie Goolies. Still, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man can
stand on its own with some deliciously Halloweeny settings, director Roy
William Neill’s active camerawork, and the return of Maria Ouspenskaya and
Chaney to their most iconic roles.
