There honestly aren’t nearly as many great werewolf movies as there are movies about vampires or kaiju, if you're talking about monster movie sub-genres. At least there might be a few more good ones than there are movies about fish-men (sorry, Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Shape of Water). Also, if music videos or short films were includable, there is Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and that really does have some great werewolf stuff in it, alongside the zombies too, of course. But to stick to feature films, there are a handful that are great, and maybe one that is right on the border of being perfect. Werewolves are apparently hard to get right, to such an extent, but it’s doable, and three movies prove that quite effectively.
Before getting to them, there are honorable mentions, controversial as it might be to suggest they're “only” honorable mentions. It’s also worth stressing that werewolves, as in people who can shapeshift into either a wolf or a half-person/half-wolf creature, usually when there’s a full moon, predate cinema considerably, as beings in folk tales from centuries ago. The Wolf Man (1941) might've been the first big movie to get werewolves right (after the more flawed 1935 film Werewolf of London), yet The Wolf Man was not quite masterful in the way some other Universal Monster movies from roughly the same time were (see Dracula and the first two Frankenstein movies, all three from the 1930s). The 1980s was a strong decade for werewolves, maybe partly thanks to Thriller, and there was also The Company of Wolves, though that one was a bit too messy/inconsistent to be truly great. Dog Soldiers is a more recent film that’s pretty good, (well, if 2002 is recent), and then there are plenty of horror movies where a werewolf shows up briefly, even if the movie as a whole isn't a true werewolf film (like The Cabin in the Woods). For a movie to appear here, it has to be pretty great overall, and the main source of horror has to be either a werewolf, or werewolves. These three films are the best in the werewolf sub-genre, and they all thankfully work in slightly different ways, too.
In 1981, two of the best werewolf movies of all time were released, and one of them was The Howling. Also, both were directed by filmmakers who are, arguably, best known overall for their comedic films, with the other 1981 werewolf movie (it will be gotten to, don’t worry) balancing comedy and horror. The Howling, though, directed by Joe Dante, feels more like “just” a horror movie, but thankfully a very good one. It’s a good deal darker than most of his other horror films, especially if you compare it to either of the Gremlins movies (which are probably only scary if you're very young, and even then, the sequel probably won’t rattle too many youngsters) or something like The ‘Burbs. With The Howling, there is maybe some very dark comedy in how unapologetically over-the-top, gross, and sleazy it gets in its second half, but emphasis there on the “dark” over the “comedy” part of “dark comedy.”
While still being approachable to most horror fans, The Howling feels about as extreme as werewolf movies could possibly get without crossing over into genuine exploitation film territory, and even then, it’s right on the border. To keep things PG, with the descriptions, it really dives into that whole animalistic side of being a werewolf, and it proves sexually charged in a way that usually gets reserved for the (typically) more suave and presentable vampires… at least Dracula (outside the Francis Ford Coppola film) or something like Interview with the Vampire. The Howling feels very B-grade in its style and tone, but the filmmaking here is top-quality, for a B-movie, and the special effects are all very well done, as they pretty much have to be, when you're dealing with werewolves. The Howling was kind of overshadowed by that much-teased other 1981 werewolf movie, but it’s still very much worth checking out (move that other film aside a little, so the shadow’s not falling over The Howling) if you like films with werewolves in them.
If you're specifically a fan of the heavier seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ginger Snaps is a cult classic horror movie that’s probably easy to recommend. It focuses on female characters, which is a bit novel for a piece of werewolf media. Sure, The Howling had werewolves of both genders, but you’ve often got, like, The Wolf Man, and then Michael Jackson was the werewolf in Thriller, and the #1 movie in this ranking is about a man who’s a werewolf. So, Ginger Snaps is all about a young woman slowly transforming into a werewolf and, more importantly, how it impacts – and tests – the bond she has with her sister.
Ginger Snaps honestly might be most compelling as a coming-of-age drama that has such drama heightened by a supernatural element.
They're both in the same year in high school, and they're both outcasts who do usually count on each other, until an attack and subsequent transformation (which is, with very little subtlety, a complete stand-in for puberty) puts that to the test. The horror elements here are largely well done, and the effects, when needed, are executed fairly well for something with a modest budget, but Ginger Snaps honestly might be most compelling as a coming-of-age drama that has such drama heightened by a supernatural element. There’s a lot here to feel sad about, and relate to, with the whole movie proving surprisingly good, and definitely underrated overall. It’s become something of a cult classic for good reason, and might well be the best werewolf-centered movie of the last three or so decades, too.
There’s the most to be said about An American Werewolf in London, compared to pretty much any other werewolf movie, and that’s a strong sign it’s the best of the best. It is the gold standard. It’s the kind of thing where, if you choose to make a werewolf movie, regardless of what tone you go for, you will have people inevitably comparing it to An American Werewolf in London. Is that fair? Maybe not. Is it too bold a claim to make? Definitely not. The thing is, An American Werewolf in London is scarier than most horror movies, and then it’s also a good deal funnier than most full-on comedies out there. When it wants to be frightening and even kind of heavy, it is. And when it wants to be silly and borderline farcical, it succeeds on that front, too. It really does feel like the director of Animal House and The Blues Brothers made a werewolf movie, because he did. John Landis might well have peaked with this film (with things taking a turn for the worse the following year), unless you still want to go back and count Thriller, as he directed that, based on the strength of An American Werewolf in London.
With this movie, it’s got a very simple premise, since it’s about two friends (from America) traveling through England. It’s not far into the movie before they're attacked by a werewolf, with one of them dying (no, seriously, it happens very early, so it’s not a spoiler), and then the survivor ends up in London. He’s destined to become, you know, that American werewolf in London, therefore. The movie does a great job of building suspense to the inevitable, and then it also finds room to work as a romance film of sorts, since he immediately falls for a nurse who’s looking after him post-werewolf attack. That love story side of An American Werewolf in London is actually believable, and does add considerable stakes to what eventually happens. So, add “surprisingly moving” to the already existing qualities of An American Werewolf in London. There’s also some interesting stuff it does as a fantasy/supernatural film, in terms of what happens to the victims of a werewolf attack who aren’t themselves turned into werewolves, and that aspect of the film (the details of which do actually count as a spoiler) makes it surprisingly scary. Also scary: the special effects in this film. They're incredible. Both stars here, David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, get to transform in different ways here, and the make-up used to do that, for both actors/characters, really is incredible. There is just so much packed into a movie of only 97 minutes, ensuring An American Werewolf in London might well be the only werewolf film that can count itself as a genuine all-time classic, and not just of the horror genre, but any genre. Is pretty much is that great.
