Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942)

30% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
55% of users liked it
(5,283 ratings)

The fifth film in Universal's "Frankenstein" series goes for the box-office gold by combining two--count 'em, two!--of the studio's star monsters. We all thought that Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), alias The Wolf Man, had been shot dead in his own starring film in 1941, but the opening scenes of… More The fifth film in Universal's "Frankenstein" series goes for the box-office gold by combining two--count 'em, two!--of the studio's star monsters. We all thought that Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), alias The Wolf Man, had been shot dead in his own starring film in 1941, but the opening scenes of Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man prove us incorrect. Brought back to the land of the living, the anguished Talbot commiserates with gypsy lady Maria Ouspenskaya, who advises him that the only way he'll stay dead is to confer with Dr. Frankenstein. The good doctor has passed on, but his equipment is intact. With the help of scientist Patric Knowles and Frankenstein descendant Ilona Massey, Talbot attempts to have the life forces sucked from his body and transferred to that of Frankenstein's monster. The latter character is played by Bela Lugosi, who'd turned the same role down in 1931 because he felt it was beneath his dignity. By 1943, however, Lugosi was in no position to refuse the part of the lumbering monster. The actor was relieved to learn that the monster would have the power of speech, a leftover from 1942's Ghost of Frankenstein; likewise held over from that previous film was the monster's blindness, which would give Lugosi an opportunity to do some swell sightless emoting. But when the preview audience heard the Monster bemoaning his fate in Lugosi's voice, they laughed till they cried. As a result, Universal ordered that all of Lugosi's dialogue be cut. Worse still, the studio also cut all expository dialogue alluding to the monster's blindness, so the film as it stands finds poor Lugosi flailing about with his eyes closed for no apparent reason. At least Lon Chaney Jr. was permitted to portray his Wolfman character without molestation, and this he does very well. So successful was this "monster rally" that Universal rapidly concocted two follow-ups, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, both of which added Dracula (John Carradine) to the witches' brew. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 13 min.
Directed By: Roy William Neill
Written By: Curt Siodmak
Genres: Horror, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Mar 5, 1943 Wide
On DVD: Mar 29, 2005
Studio: MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Pretty much the end of Universal's horror line as a home for even the vaguest kind of serious filmmaking.
Richard von Busack, MetroActive
"The last great Universal Frankenstein movie, despite the overstuffed title."
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
It starts off really well, stalls a little toward the middle, goes bonkers for one really odd musical number, and then derails completely at the end.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A lot of fun.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Great title, tepid movie.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Doesn't deliver all that much of what the title promises.

Read all 6 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

Pretty good sequels, not the best, but still worth seeing.
Randy T

Enjoyable old Universal Studios sequel with Lon Chaney, Jr. reprising his role as Larry Talbot (aka The Wolf Man). Bela Lugosi is less than spectacular as Frankenstein's monster but that may have more to do with Boris Karloff's absence than Lugosi's presence.
Pierluigi P

Fairly mediocre. still, the atmosphere of universal pictures horror classics and two of its greatest monsters face-to-face is what saves it. good to see Lugosi playing the monster he once refused to incarnate.
Cassandra M

A year after The Wolf Man became a huge success, Lon Chaney Jr played the part of Frankenstein in the latest sequel "Ghost of Frankenstein". He was excellent in the role, and from that you can clearly see where the inspiration came from to combine the two strands and have… More
A year after The Wolf Man became a huge success, Lon Chaney Jr played the part of Frankenstein in the latest sequel "Ghost of Frankenstein". He was excellent in the role, and from that you can clearly see where the inspiration came from to combine the two strands and have these characters meet each other. Incidentally, Chaney also played a vampire later that year in "Son of Dracula", even though he was completely unsuited to the part, but that makes him the only actor to play all three of Universal's main monsters. Oh, and he also played the Mummy in "The Mummy's Tomb". Anyway, I digress ... here we have Curt Siodmak, writer of The Wolf Man, returning again as screenwriter. All of the ingredients are there for a great sequel. It opens in Larry Talbot's tomb, with two graverobbers breaking in and disturbing his resting place. The moonlight comes through the window and falls on Larry's corpse, waking him from his slumber as the wolf man. He then gets taken to a hospital where he is deemed insane due to his insistence that he's a werewolf, but promptly escapes in search of the gypsy woman from the original film. She takes him to Frankenstein's town in search of his scientific expertise, and there he encounters Frankenstein's monster encased in ice ... my memory is a little hazy, but wasn't he consumed in fire at the end of the last movie? Ah, well. It should really have been called "The Wolf Man Meets Frankenstein", because Frankenstein here is only a fairly minor character in the story. Lon Chaney Jr delivers another great performance, at least as good as that in the first film if not better. Of course, he does only have to have one mood to convey here -- desperation. Bela Lugosi, much as I love him, is a terrible Frankenstein. He's the wrong size and shape, and he clearly has no respect for the role. Thank god he doesn't appear for that long. Although having said that, it does kind of make sense that he plays the monster, as the brain of his Igor character was placed in Frankenstein's head at the end of the previous movie. Not that they have much continuity other than that. The script certainly has it's moments, and the atmosphere of the two worlds of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein blend together fairly well, but on the whole this film just doesn't have enough interesting ideas and far too many dull moments. The set pieces are decent enough, but certainly not as striking as those in the earlier Frankenstein movies. Also, there's a fair bit of decidedly wooden acting from certain cast members, but that's to be expected from most of Universal's horror films. This sequel is entertaining enough, but it's not half as good as it could have been. It's worth watching if you liked the original.
Michael G

Silly an generally bad, but the atmosphere is great.
Byron B

The opening has much better atmosphere than anything in Lon Chaney Jr.'s first appearance as The Wolf Man. His transformations are improved and you get to see him in action more. He creeps about, pounces, and attacks in better view for the audience this time. So even though… More
The opening has much better atmosphere than anything in Lon Chaney Jr.'s first appearance as The Wolf Man. His transformations are improved and you get to see him in action more. He creeps about, pounces, and attacks in better view for the audience this time. So even though things seemed pretty final for Lawrence Talbot last time, Curt Siodmak again doesn't let that stop him from changing the play book as he goes. Talbot evidently cannot die. In this movie he is more sympathetic, since he realizes the murdering monster he becomes, and just wants his life to end. I liked his tormented outburst questioning if eternal life is really something to be desired. I respect him more in this story. And of course the title battle between the two creatures is pretty awesome in a B-movie way. Ouspenskaya is back as Maleva, the gypsy woman, but the plot gets a bit silly when she and Talbot go seeking Dr. Frankenstein. The angry mob in the generic European mountain town is the worst part of the movie. They are a waste of screen time. By the way, the townspeople mention they set fire to Frankenstein's castle to rid themselves of the doctor and his monster, yet when Talbot falls into some lower chamber of the castle it is covered in snow and the Frankenstein's monster has been preserved in ice! Ridiculous. There is no legitimate explanation for this though I understand this device of having the monsters encased in ice is used again in this movie's sequel. Lugosi takes a stab at filling the makeup and costume of Frankenstein's monster. I have yet to see Karloff's definitive performances, so I can't compare, but it doesn't seem like Lugosi does much with the character. Here's a bit of a spoiler- Talbot and Frankenstein's monster are friends through most of the movie. Talbot as a man and the childlike man-made creation are gentle misunderstood beings. Somehow in this fantasy horror world even that is a little hard to believe fully. Anyways, Dr. Frankenstein's daughter and a visiting doctor interested in Dr. Frankenstein's work attempt to help out. After the burning and the freezing or whatever happened to Frankenstein's castle, the laboratory equipment is in amazing working order. All that is left is to drain the energy out of both creatures to stop any more mischief. But no. No. NO! Of course it is too tempting to charge them both up to the max. The fight is brief like the movie on the whole and the run time of the first Wolf Man. And the ending is left more open for the monsters to return in numerous sequels.
Matthew Y

The pairing of two legendary movie Monsters is essentially a retelling of the film Frankenstein with a little Wolf Man twist. I saw this film only because it appeared on the tail-end of a couple best monster movie lists. It's fine and a decent enough watch but there is really… More
The pairing of two legendary movie Monsters is essentially a retelling of the film Frankenstein with a little Wolf Man twist. I saw this film only because it appeared on the tail-end of a couple best monster movie lists. It's fine and a decent enough watch but there is really nothing original going on here. If you've seen Frankenstein and The Wolf Man then there's no reason to see this film.
Jim W

Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man is back from the dead years later and is looking for a cure. Talbot discovers that Victor Frankenstein can cure him and seeks him out, only to find Frankenstein's creation. The film isn't as good as Frankenstein or the Wolfman, but it has… More
Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man is back from the dead years later and is looking for a cure. Talbot discovers that Victor Frankenstein can cure him and seeks him out, only to find Frankenstein's creation. The film isn't as good as Frankenstein or the Wolfman, but it has it's moments. I actually found that it was a better film before the Monster/Frankenstein (Bela Lugosi) was introduced to the plot though. Lugosi was a great Dracula, but his Frankenstein is no Boris Koloff. The film just gets a little silly once he's introduced and his Frankenstin doesn't have the great presence that's Koloff's had.
Leo L

Fantastic!