Werewolves usually receive the short end of the stick, which is a phrase (or at least a feeling) amongst horror fans. They simply do. Werewolves were not quite given the shine or romanticized notion of the other classic filmmaking monsters, which were effectively canonized in the public imagination by the Universal monster pictures of the 1930s and 1940s.
They don’t appear as frequently as ghosts do. They don’t quite capture the zeitgeist of popular culture as zombies do. In comparison to vampires, they are not nearly as sexualized or commercialized. Even a pioneer in the field, like Lon Chaney Jr. in George Waggner’s 1941 classic The Wolf Man, never got a standalone direct sequel.
Instead, in later movies like Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein and Frankenstein Encounters the Wolf Man, the Wolf Man was grouped in with other monsters.
For some reason, the werewolves are rarely regarded as being essential enough to sustain a franchise on their own. The werewolf movies are always up to the mark.
Then, there is the costuming issue; it is much more expensive to construct a full-body werewolf costume than to inflict a few wounds on an extra, refer to him as a zombie, and call the scene a success. Werewolf movies typically receive harsher criticism for their effects since they are more costume-dependent.
Table of Contents
Toggle1. Werewolves On Wheels
- Director:Â Michel Levesque
- Writer:Â Michel Levesque and David M Kaufman.
- Cast: Anna Lynn Brown, Billy Gray, Gene Shane, Owen Orr.
- IMDB:Â 4.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â Not Available
- Platform:Â Apple TV and Prime Video.
By the early 1970s, the “outlaw biker picture” subgenre had become well-established, having emerged from Roger Corman’s head, along with so many other brilliant concepts, in the wake of the director’s surprising 1966 exploitation success, The Wild Angels.
Next was a series of filthy, dusty motorcycle flicks about gangs that took their cues from the Hell’s Angels, and someone must have looked at that werewolf flick and wondered, “Couldn’t we put a few werewolves in? There, too?”
It is exactly what it says on the tin: A biker gang discovers a pagan temple, where the leader is cursed to transform into a wolf who chases the other gang members.
2. Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man

- Director:Â Roy William Neil
- Writer:Â Curt Siodmak
- Cast:Â Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Ilona Massey, Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Maria Ouspenskaya
- IMDB:Â 6.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 25%
- Platform:Â Prime Video, Apple TV, VUDU
Even though it appears in the latter part, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man marked a significant turning point for Universal’s original series of monster pictures as the genre’s first true “monster mash” film, which inspired numerous others in the years that followed.
It’s a somewhat messy continuation of the increasingly muddled Frankenstein series on the one hand, but it concentrates more on its function as a follow-up to The Wolf Man.
It’s just that simple! Lon Chaney is back as Larry Talbot, who is brought back to life when moonlight touches his corpse and attempts to die once more in a little more lasting way.
He finally learns that Dr. Frankenstein, a mad scientist, may grant the secret of “permadeath,” which starts the series of events. This leads to the Wolf Man’s famous showdown with Frankenstein’s Monster, played by none other than Bela Lugosi, aka Dracula.
3. Wolf

- Director:Â Nathalie Biancheri
- Writer:Â Nathalie Biancheri
- Cast:Â George Mackay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Eileen Walsh.
- IMDB: 6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 63%
- Platform:Â ZEE5 and Prime Video.
The Wolf film by Mike Nichols is a contentious and challenging entry into the canon of major studio werewolf films. The recounting of a more sophisticated, darkly romantic wolf myth that touches on issues of entropy, ambition, and the beast in all of us frequently seems to be striving for profundity.
The movie’s two parts are (sometimes comically) at odds with one another because it simultaneously tried to give spectators some of the “horror movie action” that studio executives probably felt fans were anticipating from a werewolf movie.
Jack Nicholson’s casting was heavily satirized at the time, but he’s doing his campiest best, and it might have been much worse.
4. When Animals Dream

- Director:Â Jonas Alexander Amby
- Writer:Â Rasmus Birch
- Cast:Â Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Jakob Offebro, Sonja Ritcher, Mads Riisom.
- IMDB:Â 5.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 73%
- Platform:Â Netflix and Hotstar.
We watch vampire movies because we want to see fang-wielding monsters devouring the human life force; we watch zombie movies because we want to see some flesh and possibly some brains get gobbled up, and we watch ghost movies because there’s nothing quite like a haunted house to make you feel uneasy going to sleep at Night.
We like werewolf films to enjoy their wild, unrestrained fury; therefore, When Wild Animal Dream might not be your cup of tea.
When Animals Dream, which takes a cue from Ginger Snaps, swaps out masculine studies for a young woman’s coming of age, which is heralded by the presence of beastly ancestry in sixteen-year-old Marie (Sonia Suhl), who is dealing with her changing body and social isolation in her home fishing village.
5. I Was A Teenage Werewolf

- Director:Â Gene Fowler Jr.
- Writer:Â Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel
- Cast:Â Michael Landon, Yvonne Lime, Whit Bissell, Malcolm Atterbury, Barney Phillips, Robert Griffin, Joseph Mell, Louise Lewis
- IMDB:Â 5.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 40%
- Platform:Â Prime Video, Netflix
Troublesome teenage-werewolf surfing at Rockdale High named Tony Rivers (Michael Landon) has a reputation for losing his cool and responding excessively. Tony and Jimmy (Tony Marshall and Barney Phillips) engage in a brawl on campus, which attracts the notice of Det—Donovan (Barney Phillips) of the local police.
When a brawl breaks out, Donovan tells Tony to speak with Dr. Alfred Brandon (Whit Bissell), a hypnotherapist who works at the nearby aircraft factory.
6. Bad Moon

- Director:Â Eric Red
- Writer:Â Eric Red
- Cast: Michael Paré, Mason Gamble, Mariel Hemingway, Ken Pogue, Hrothgar Mathews, Johanna Lebovitz, Gavin Buhr, Julia Montgomery Brow
- IMDB:Â 5.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
- Platform:Â Prime Video, Apple TV, VUDU
Here is the “most underestimated” werewolf movie ever made and the most underrated movie on our list: Bad Moon.
You may think for a brief minute that this movie will be handling its subject with kid gloves given its premise, which centers around a single mother and her precocious young son living in the woods when his werewolf uncle comes to visit, but man, would you be wrong?
This is evident in the opening stages, which involve a fairly explicit sex scene and a werewolf tearing a capful of people apart before having its head shot off with a shotgun.
Bad Moon, a werewolf film with a lot of bloodletting and one of the best physical werewolf outfits you’ll ever see, is amusing despite (or perhaps precisely because of) its theatrical performances.
Given how amazing the genuine outfit looks, I don’t understand why the producers used any terrible CGI you’ll see in the transition scene. Bad Moon warner bros are the best werewolf film; therefore, don’t overlook it.
7. Curse Of The Werewolf

- Director:Â Terence Fisher
- Writer:Â Anthony Hinds
- Cast:Â Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Anthony Dawson.
- IMDB:Â 6.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 50%
- Platform:Â Amazon.com
The best werewolf movie we can say; how about this for a method of producing werewolves: A filthy beggar is imprisoned by the harsh marquis after trundling into a Spanish village. A baby is eventually born to the girl on Christmas Day, which is allegedly an insult to God and renders the infant cursed to turn into a wolf.
In contrast, the werewolf outfit appears to be an intentional homage to Jack Pierce’s legendary WolfMan makeup. It’s entertaining and fashionable, but if there’s one unavoidable complaint, it’s that there isn’t nearly enough werewolf curse action in this one. However, “Hammer does werewolves” makes it a watch you should not miss.
8. Monster Squad

- Director:Â Fred Dekker
- Writer:Â Fred Dekker, Shane Black.
- Cast:Â Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Ashley Bank, Ryan Lambert.
- IMDB:Â 7.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 56%
- Platform:Â Netflix and Prime Video.
Preteens who love old-school monster movies and the creatures that star in them make up the club known as The Monster Squad. The diary of famed monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim) is entrusted to club head Sean Crenshaw (Andre Gower), whose younger sister Phoebe (Ashley Bank) badly wants to join the club.
Following this, the US Army shows up after receiving a letter from Eugene requesting their assistance in battling the serial killer. Sean approaches the general and hands him his business card, introducing himself and his friends as “The MonsterSquad,” as the bewildered general cannot make sense of the scenario.
9. Red Riding Hood

- Director:Â Catherine Hardwicke
- Writer:Â David Leslie johnson
- Cast:Â Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Gary Oldman.
- IMDB:Â 5.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 58%
- Platform:Â Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Everyone begins to refer to a small-town girl who lives with her mother as “the Little Red riding hood” since she is given a little red riding hood to wear.
The girl’s mother once instructed her to travel across the forest to see her grandma, who lives in the neighboring quiet town.
Some food is provided to Little Red Riding Hood to take with her and deliver to her grandma. As she moves farther into the woods, she encounters a talking dead friend who inquires about her destination.
10. Wolfen

- Director:Â Michael Wadleigh
- Writer:Â Eric Roth, David Eyre, and Michael Wadleigh.
- Cast:Â Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Tom Noonan, Edward James Olmos.
- IMDB:Â 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 75%
- Platform:Â Prime Video and Apple TV.
The odd-duck movie Wolfen gives the impression that it couldn’t possibly have been what the company wanted or anticipated, especially when you consider the promotion.
Although Wolfen was intended to have the appearance of an opportunistic, slasher-style horror movie, it is dark, depressing, and surreal. Although the werewolf movie from the same year.
The Howling is still much more well-remembered; you’ll often run into one of those odd Wolfen purists who will try to make a case for this one.
11. Teen Wolf

- Director: Rod Daniel
- Writer: Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman.
- Cast: Michael J Fox, Susan Ursitti, Lorie Griffin, Jerry Lavine.
- IMDB: 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
- Platform: Prime Video and Netflix.
Teen Wolf made a ton of money at the box office and was a significant enough cultural touchstone to serve as the inspiration for a hugely popular contemporary TV series, so it’s safe to say that there is still some affection for Teen Wolf out there.
However, this ranking, dominated by “serious” werewolf films, makes it difficult to know exactly where to place a movie like Teen Wolf. Strangely, it debuted behind Back to the Future, a film with Michael J.
Fox is in the lead role at the box office. The First Teen Wolf is a lighthearted comedy that takes place in a setting where it’s delightfully normal for a high school student to transform into a werewolf tropes during a basketball game. The transformation scene is amazing in one of the best werewolf movies.
It’s as if they took I Was a Teenage Werewolf and moved it to a place where lycanthropes were accepted as normal, even though his character is less likable and substantially more intelligent than Marty McFly.
12. Wolf Guy

- Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
- Writer: Kazumasa Hirai, and Fumio Konami.
- Cast: Sonny Chiba, Yuriko Azuma, and Ryuji Hayami.
- IMDB: 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
- Platform: Apple TV
It goes without saying that this classic movie is most likely the oddest on the list. The lone wolf clan survivor uses his savage and full moon-triggered superpowers to solve enigmatic murders. The movie is more of an acid trip of action and horror, emphasizing the former.
Strangely, Chiba never actually changes into a wolf or wolfman; instead, he acquires “feral” superpowers that are dependent on the Full moon cycle and enable him to accomplish everything from catching a bullet to surviving having his insides pulled out.
13. Dog Soldiers

- Director:Â Neil Marshall
- Writer:Â Neil Marshall
- Cast:Â Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby.
- IMDB:Â 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 80%
- Platform:Â Prime Video and Netflix.
The choice of Dog Soldiers will be simple if I ever have to provide my view on the finest practical consequences of werewolf outfits used in a feature-length horror movie.
Instead of being a character-driven story like American Werewolf in London, this wolf yarn places a troop of soldiers against a family of lycanthropes on the rampage in the Scottish Highlands.
It takes from Night of the Living Dead’s fundamental plot to achieve this, placing our group of protagonists within a flimsy farmhouse held by a sizable pack of werewolves. The only issue is who, if someone, will survive as squad members are gradually eliminated in increasingly gruesome ways.
Dog Soldiers is a stylish—though occasionally a little gloomy and difficult to see—entry in the genre, with some fantastic action scenes and, as was already said, some very influential werewolf movies in cinema history.
14. Wolf ChildrenÂ

- Director:Â George Waggner
- Writer:Â Curt Siodmak
- Cast:Â Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Geraldine Chaplin, Art Malik, Antony Sher
- IMDB:Â 6.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 90%
- Platform:Â Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Vudu Movie & TV Store, Redbox. or VUDU
College student Hana meets a mysterious young boy in Tokyo and falls in “fairy tale” love. They subsequently have two wolf/human children: a daughter Yuki and a son Ame.
When she comes to, Ame has completely changed into an adult wolf and is running into the mountains. Finding his path and realizing it. Yuki moves into a middle school dormitory one year after leaving home.
The howling of Ame’s wolf can be heard all over the woodland. Hana, living alone, considers how rearing her wolf children was like something out of a fairytale and feels proud that she did a good job.
15. Ginger Snaps

- Director:Â John Fawcett
- Writer:Â Karen Walton and John Fawcett.
- Cast:Â Katharine Isabelle, Emily Perkins, Kris Lemche, Mimi Rogers.
- IMDB:Â 6.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 89%
- Platform:Â Netflix and Hulu.
Although Ginger Snaps is a tale of a high school werewolf, let me make the following official statement before you start drawing analogies to Twilight: Twilight is sentimental, but Ginger Snaps is ruthless.
When Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), a pair of death-obsessed outsider sisters, is attacked by a werewolf, she must deal with development and sexual awakening difficulties.
The second, meeker sister (Emily Perkins), looks for a means to undo the harm before Ginger carves a path of ruin through their town as she grows brazen and animalistic in her demands.
Ginger Snaps is a surprisingly potent horror film that pays homage to John Landis’ American Werewolf in London and the body horror of David Cronenberg.
As Fright Night did with vampires, this drama/black comedy hybrid introduced the werewolf mystique to the suburbs. Isabelle was also made into a genre star and has since made appearances in numerous sequels and superior horror films in werewolf cinema-like America.
Mary. Ginger Snaps is the only movie to have taken that rich source material and given it the same kind of punk energy as Heathers, even if the condition of lycanthropy is comparable to the struggles of adolescence and puberty. A film drops that repurposes the werewolf myth.
16. An American Werewolf In London

- Director:Â John Landis
- Writer:Â John Landis
- Cast:Â John Landis, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter.
- IMDB: 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 89%
- Platform:Â Netflix and Hulu.
Few filmmakers have demonstrated a natural talent for fusing horror comedies and dark humor. Landis chose to make the best werewolf movie of all time when he was at the height of his talents in the early 1980s, one year after The Blues Brothers.
This feature film is much grittier and more frightful. When a werewolf transformation attacks two hikers hiking on the English moors, one dies, and the other, David (David Naughton), contracts the wolf’s curse.
David must choose how to deal with the monster he has become while also starting a relationship with a stunning nurse. The werewolf mythos is an iconic image of horror. David is haunted by the at-once terrifying and amusing visions of his deceased companion.
17. Silver Bullet
- Director:Â Dan Attias
- Writer:Â Stephen King
- Cast:Â Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Megan Follows, Terry O’Quinn, Lawrence Tierney, Bill Smitrovich, Kent Broadhurst, David Hart, and James Gammon
- IMDB:Â 5.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
- Platform:Â Pluto TV – It’s Free TV, Prime Video, VUDU, Vudu Movie & TV Store, Apple TV
The tangible, comforting emotion of nostalgia is the unifying element that unites the best Stephen King adaptations. You probably didn’t expect us to start waxing lyrical about the cozy feelings we get from werewolf flicks, but Silver Bullet will do just that.
It’s a fascinating combination of components that simultaneously recalls the impression of a young person coming of age that you get from Stand By Me and some good old wolf blood and guts.
Because he is paraplegic but not nearly as immobile as you might assume, Corey Haim makes an unusual protagonist for this kind of movie. His extremely awesome motorized wheelchair/motorcycle hybrid, the “Silver Bullet,” is the movie’s name.
18. The Wolf Of Snow Hollow

- Director:Â Jim Cummings
- Writer:Â Jim Cummings
- Cast:Â Jim Cummings, Riki Lindhome, Chloe East, Jimmy Tatro.
- IMDB:Â 6.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 89%
- Platform:Â Prime Video and Apple TV.
The horror-comedy “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” is marketed as such. That’s not incorrect, but we should be more precise about the distinctive flavor that comes from the interesting film blending of genres to manage expectations.
Because of a generic label, we don’t want anyone to open the wrong can. “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” applies those two genres on top of a family-focused drama story, making it much more than just a simple horror-comedy.
19 Werewolf Of London

- Director:Â Stuart Walker
- Writer:Â John Colton
- Cast:Â Henry Hull, Valerie Hobson, Warner Oland, Lester Matthews.
- IMDB:Â 6.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 77%
- Platform:Â Prime Video and Apple TV.
Werewolf of London is currently the oldest surviving werewolf movie that you can still curl up on the sofa and watch on DVD. Werewolf of London, released by Universal pictures six years before The Wolf-like Creature and also contains werewolf makeup by the renowned Jack Pierce, is interestingly unknown to most people, including horror film nerds.
It’s just not as memorable, even though the image of an affluent professorial werewolf wearing a smoking jacket will stay in your head for a long time.
Although it contributed to the development of numerous werewolf movie clichés, watching it now leaves one with the impression that it could have been better developed. Still, it’s a must-watch for a werewolf completist.
20 The Wolf Man

- Director:Â George Waggner
- Writer:Â Curt Siodmak
- Cast:Â Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Curt Siodmak, Claude Rains.
- IMDB: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes:Â 90%
- Platform:Â Amazon.com and Netflix.
Mr. Wolf Although some horror genre fans would describe Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) as “whiny,” he and Frankenstein’s Monster stand for the more empathetic side of the classic Universal Monsters movie canon.
Regardless, poor Larry never asked to become a wolf. He spent a large part of the remakes trying to find a way to be healed and ended his prolonged suffering. 1941 original depicts a man who has no control over the raging beast inside.
It is still the best and most sincere movie in the series. It’s the movie that established Lon Chaney Jr. as a household name and launched him into a career in genre pictures like his father did in the silent film era. Benicio del toro aka sad lawrence.