The creature feature for this week is The Wolf Man from 1941, starring Lon Chaney Jr. This Lon is the son of the famous “Man With A Thousand Faces” who played the Phantom of the Opera. In the reviews on the Netflix page I saw that same odd comment you tend to hear about these old horror movies: that they are far scarier than modern fright films. I honestly don't see how anyone could say this. If “The Wolf Man” scares you, “The Descent” would probably kill you on the spot. Honestly, if “The Wolf Man” scares you, then an unexpected Hostess Twinkies package would probably scare you just as much. By modern standards, there is nothing remotely scary about this movie!

Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s was fully capable of making sophisticated, brilliantly-written movies that hold up easily compared to the best films of today. They did not generally apply that level of thought or talent to horror movies, because horror movies were not seen as a serious genre. There are a number of odd little details in this movie that indicate that very little thought was given to the script.

For instance, Larry Talbot, the main character, attends the funeral/carnival for the Gypsy man he is suspected of beating to death with his cane, and no one else in the movie seems to think there's anything inappropriate about this at all, even though he's carrying the presumptive murder weapon the whole time. Just pause and think about that for a second.

In another scene, a character confidently asserts that “any wild animal” could have left scars in the shape of a perfectly-formed five-pointed star on Larry's chest. If any wild animal can do that, why bother going to a tattoo artist? Just go to the zoo, provoke a hyena, and get an impressive artistic design carved into your skin.

“The Wolf Man” is a silly movie. Is it still a fun way to spend an hour or so? Yes it is. But to suggest that it's somehow scarier than modern horror movies is even sillier than the movie itself.