Is The Wolf Man Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Barely, 2.5 out of 10. It is an old werewolf story with a silver-headed cane and nothing that jumps out.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
2.5 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
You may look at the next full moon with mild suspicion, and that is about it.
DOG
Dog: not fine
not fine, if a wolf counts.
Ruling: It is a gentle old werewolf story with a sad hero, so watch it before the moon rises.
The Wolf Man runs seventy minutes. Larry Talbot comes home to Wales to bury his brother, buys a walking stick with a silver wolf's head on it to have a reason to talk to a girl, and then learns what the wolf's head means.
The premise, briefly
Larry Talbot comes home to Wales to bury his brother and make peace with his father, then gets bitten by a werewolf while trying to save a young woman from an attack.
How much do you want to know?
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The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Larry turns into the werewolf, breaks free of his restraints and goes after Gwen. His father, Sir John, does not recognize him and beats the werewolf to death with Larry's own silver cane. Maleva's spell then turns the body back into Larry.
The scene you're dreading
The wolf attack, early in the story: Larry hears Jenny scream, finds a wolf on her, kills it with his new cane and is bitten on the chest. Jenny is later found with her throat torn out.
The dog
The dog situation is not fine: Larry kills a wolf with his cane early on, and it turns out to be a man.
The Wolf Man is a sad, quiet monster story with one scary night early on, and it is easy to watch once you know that night is coming.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A walking stick with an unfortunate decoration
Larry Talbot returns to the family estate in Llanwelly, Wales, to bury his brother and patch things up with his father, Sir John Talbot. He quickly takes a liking to Gwen Conliffe, who runs an antique shop, and buys a walking stick with a silver wolf's head on top as an excuse to keep talking to her. Gwen tells him the wolf's head stands for a werewolf, a man who becomes a wolf at certain times. Before a werewolf strikes, the victim's palm shows him a pentagram. Whenever werewolves come up, the villagers recite the same poem.
Gwen turns down Larry's invitations, but they both show up at the time he suggested, and Gwen's friend Jenny comes along to have their fortunes told. The fortune teller, a Romani man named Bela, takes one look at the pentagram on Jenny's palm and hurries her away. While they wait for their turns, Larry and Gwen go for a walk, and Gwen tells him she is engaged. Then they hear Jenny scream. This is the scene people dread, and it comes early: a wolf is attacking her, Larry beats it to death with his new cane, and it bites him on the chest. Police find Jenny with her throat torn out and Bela dead, and the cane is clearly what killed Bela. Larry's wound heals overnight, so he cannot back up his story, and Gwen's fiancé Frank is the only one who believes them.
Maleva hands out a charm and some very bad news
Bela's mother, Maleva, tells Larry that the wolf that bit him was Bela, and that Larry is now a werewolf too. Only silver can kill one. She gives him a charm that should stop the change, but he isn't sure he believes her and gives it to Gwen instead. The next night Larry turns into a wolf-like creature, kills a villager and wakes up the next morning without any memory of it. The authorities blame a wolf, and they set traps and organize hunting parties. The following night Larry becomes the werewolf again and gets caught in a trap. Maleva casts a spell that turns him human for long enough to get free before the hunters find him.
The ending, explained
Larry is now sure he is a werewolf and decides to leave town. At his farewell to Gwen he spots a pentagram on her palm, and he then confesses everything to his father, but Sir John thinks his son is imagining things and straps him into a chair to prove it. When the moon rises, Larry transforms, breaks his restraints and attacks Gwen. Sir John does not recognize the creature and beats it with the silver-headed cane Larry gave him, which kills it. Maleva arrives and uses the spell again, and Sir John watches the werewolf change back into the dead body of his son. Larry, Bela, Jenny and a villager are dead by the end, and the story ends without saying what happens to Gwen.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether The Wolf Man has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, if a wolf counts.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Wolf Man scary?
Barely. The Wolf Man is a 2.5 out of 10 with low dread: a sad, quiet werewolf story with a werewolf attack early on.
How does The Wolf Man end?
Larry turns into the werewolf and attacks Gwen, and his father, Sir John, beats the creature to death with a silver-headed cane. The body then turns back into Larry.
Does the dog die in The Wolf Man?
Technically yes, so The Wolf Man is not fine. A wolf dies early on when Larry Talbot beats it to death with his cane, and the wolf turns out to be a man who could turn into one.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Wolf Man?
Nobody has confirmed whether The Wolf Man has a scene after the credits.
Who is the werewolf in The Wolf Man?
Bela, the fortune teller, is the werewolf who bites Larry Talbot, and Larry becomes a werewolf himself. Only silver can end one, which is why his father's cane works.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Wolf Man is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
The Wolf Man is seventy minutes of a man with a very decorative walking stick. Install Scaredy Cat and the trailers stay blurred while you read the plot instead.
