Howling at the Moon:
The Origin Story in Werewolf Cinema
During the 1930s and 40s, Universal Studios created the classic “big
four” film monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s creature, the Mummy, and the
Wolfinan. Of the group, it is the latter that presents what may be the most
intriguing passage from the printed page to the screen. The literary origins for
Count Dracula and Doctor Frankenstein’s monster are well established via the
novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Likewise, the Mummy’s genesis can
be traced to a variety of fictional short stories and novellas as well as real-life
events, such as the opening of King Tutankhamen’s tomb. On the other hand,
werewolf literature has received neither the attention nor the widespread
distribution accorded Stoker’s and Shelley’s fantastic beings. This checkered
literary history may partially account for the fact that the werewolf is the last of
the “big four” to have made its way into production for the filmgoing audience.
In The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature, Brian J. Frost tells us a
werewolf “is a man or woman who, either voluntarily or involuntarily, is
supematurally transformed into the shape of a wolf and endowed with all the
physical characteristics of that animal—a shaggy covering of fur, glowing eyes,
long canine teeth, and razor-sharp claws” (6). One key in Frost’s definition lies
in recognizing that the transformation may occur either voluntarily or
involuntarily, depending upon the narrative tropes constructed by each
publication’s author.
The mythology that posits that some people may change into animals
appears as old as humankind itself, originating with the proposition that men and
women share common ancestry with the wolf. According to Bill Pronzini in the
introduction to his werewolf anthology, however, “The origin of the werewolf
superstition is lost in antiquity” (xiv). As time passed, existing myths were
augmented by new tales suggesting that werewolves were a hybrid resulting
from the natural evolution that took place as man developed from the animals.
These origin stories presented differing motifs suggesting the evolution may not
have been completed, with isolated werewolf colonies developing in out-of-theway settings. Frost feels that the most credible theory lies with “. . . exaggerated
accounts of nocturnal attacks on Stone Age settlements by bands of fur-clad
warriors masquerading as wolves” (4).
As tales of werewolves became more widespread, many narratives
found their way into fictional accounts via short stories and novels. Of particular
interest is 1839’s “The Werewolf,” a sidebar to the full-length novel, The
Phantom Ship, by Frederick Marryat, in which a female werewolf graces the
printed page for the first time. A love story that finds the lead character falling in
love with, and marrying, a young woman who turns out to be a shapeshifter, this
short story “established a pattern for werewolf stories for the remainder of the