After being gone from home for eighteen years, Larry (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) returns home after an unfortunate hunting accident claims the life of his brother. While helping his father put together a telescope he sees into the top floor of an antique shop and sees a pretty woman named Gwen. He goes to the antique shop and asks for earrings and then goes on to describe a pair that she had on her dresser that he saw through the telescope. She says they aren't for sale but she shows him canes. He sees one with a silver wolfs head with a pentagram on it. She tells him the legend of werewolves and teases her for believing in them. He buys the cane and asks to see her later that night at 8. As they are getting ready to leave they see gypsies coming into town. Just then Gwen's friend Jenny came around the corner and asked if it was ok if she came with them. They go to see the gypsies to have their fortunes told. On the way in to get her fortune told Jenny picks of boquet of wolfsbane.
Jenny wants to have her fortune read first so she goes into the tent and sets her wolfsbane down on the table. The male gypsy Bela (played by Bela Lugosi) tells her to cut the cards and then he takes the wolfsbane and throws it on the floor. He looks at Jenny strangely and looks down at her hand and sees a pentagram. The gypsy immediately orders her to leave and says to come back the following day. Larry and Gwen decide to go for a walk while Jenny is getting her fortune told. Suddenly they hear screaming and Larry runs over to see Jenny being attacked by a wolf. He fights it off and the wolf bites him before he beats it to death with his silver cane. A woman gypsy and Gwen take Larry home and explain that he had been bitten by a wolf.
The doctor and other men go back to the marsh to discover that Jenny had been murdered, her throat had been ripped out. They also discover the body of Bela across from Jenny, dead from a crushed skull. The doctor comes the following morning to examine Larry. Larry is told that they found his cane next to the body of the gypsy. Larry tells them that he didn't kill the gypsy, he killed a wolf. He insists he was bitten and shows the doctor the wound, but there was nothing there. Jenny's mom and other townswomen go to Gwen's fathers antique shop and accuse Gwen of being responsible for the death of Jenny. Just then, Larry comes in and they all leave because they believe he killed the gypsy. Larry is talking to Gwen when her fiance Frank comes in. Larry leaves quickly and Frank warns her to stay way from Larry because he's harmful.
Frank and Gwen go into town where the gypsies gathered to celebrate the passing of Bela and they run into Larry. Frank invites him to play a game and Larry agrees. They are playing a game and shooting at targets with guns. Larry hits all of his targets until one of them is in the shape of a wolf. He shoots and misses and puts the gun down and runs away. He meets up with the gypsy woman she tells him that Bela was a werewolf and that Larry killed him. Larry is in disbelief and then the gypsy woman tells him that because he was bitten, he too will be a werewolf. She gives Larry a silver charm to wear over his heart to protect himself. The gypsy woman then tells all of the other gypsies that there is a wolf in town and they all pack up and leave.
Larry goes home and finds that he is turning into a werewolf. After the transformation is complete he goes into the graveyard and finds a man digging a grave and attacks and kills him. He wakes up the next day and finds dirty animal prints leading from his window to his bed and then sees a pentagram on his chest. He talks to his father and asks about the legend of werewolves. He then asks if his father believes in the legend and his father says that he believes that it is all in a persons head. Friends of Larry's fathers come over to discuss the wolf and Larry tells him that he believes it is a werewolf. He asks the doctor if he believes in werewolf legends and he says that mostly it's a mental illness that causes people to believe they are something they are not. Afterwards the doctor tells Larry's father that he belives that Larry is mentally and needs to leave immediately and go to a mental institution, but his father insists that Larry is fine and will stay at home.
Later that night, Larry wolfs out and is wandering around the graveyard when he gets caught in a trap that the townsmen set to catch the wolf. The men hear the trap and come to see whats in it. Before they reach him, the gypsy woman finds Larry and says a prayer and turns him back into a human. He escapes from the trap and tries to run away. Two of the men searching for wolf find him and he tells them that he's hunting the wolf also. He goes to see Gwen and tells her that he needs to leave but she insists that she go with him but Larry tells her no. He then sees a pentragram on Gwen's hand, which means that Gwen is his next victim and then runs away.
He tries telling his father that he killed the wolf which was really the gypsy Bela and that he killed the man in the graveyard because he is the werewolf. He father doesn't believe him and ties Larry to a chair so he can't go anywhere to prove that he isn't the werewolf. His father then goes with a group of men to hunt the wolf and he sees the gypsy woman. He begins to accuse her of filling Larry's head with lies when he hears a gunshot and men saying they swear they shot him. Gwen appears in the woods looking for Larry. The gypsy woman tells her that she needs to go with her to save herself from Larry but Gwen runs away. Larry escapes from his house and sees Gwen in the woods. He runs after her and grabs her but then his father.....
Ah ha!! I got you again! I'm trying this new thing where I don't give away the ending..we'll see how it goes. Anyway!!! Maybe you should check out The Wolf Man and see how it ends for yourself. This movie was pretty good for being from 1941, and I think it's actually the second oldest movie I've ever seen. The special effects weren't horrible, but they weren't great either, but it was the 40's so it's all good. Of course there was no nudity or blood or anything like that, but back then they didn't really do that sort of thing. There were 3 or 4 dead bodies, thats not too bad. Overall I'd give it a 2.75 out of 5. It kept my attention throughout and the plot was actually really good. And do not forget to check out Zombie Zanes stuff...he'll let you take a peak. =)
PS!! HERE'S A LIL SOMETHING FOR YOU TO WATCH BEFORE YA VAMOS!!
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