Foggy Nights and Daddy Issues in ‘The Wolf Man’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

Fog fetish.

After concluding 2024 with a look at toxic friendships in Into the Dark: “New Year, New You” (listen) and kicking off 2025 by concluding the Grindhouse double feature that we started last summer with a look at Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof (listen) we’re heading back to the world of Universal Monsters in George Waggner‘s 1941 classic The Wolf Man.

In The Wolf Man, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns to Wales to reconcile with his father (Claude Rains) after his brother’s death. While there, he puts the moves on Gwen (Evelyn Ankers), the shopkeeper of a nearby antique shop. The night after he purchases a silver walking cane from Gwen, Larry is attacked and bitten by a vicious wolf, which he then kills. Larry eventually learns that the wolf he killed was, in fact, a man (Bela Lugosi), and that Larry has now inherited a curse that will turn him into a werewolf.

Episode 317: The Wolf Man (1941)
Grab your walking stick (or is it a cane?), make sure your heart is pure and say your prayers by night because we’re talking George Waggner‘s 1941 classic The Wolf Man!

Join us as we discuss all things Larry Talbot, from his creep factor (by 2025 standards) to his tragic end. Plus: Jack Pierce’s outstanding make-up effects, marshes vs. moors, and lots and lots of fog.

Cross out The Wolf Man!