The first trailer for Robert Eggers’ upcoming werewolf gothic horror Werwulf was recently released, revealing a grim tale of body horror, muted rage and pain. Given the success of Eggers’ Nosferatu and how it adapted the classic vampire story, this particular tale is backed by high expectations.
After some wild missteps – notably, Leigh Whannell’s high-profile 2025 failure in Wolf Man – we could finally see a worthy werewolf story that really gets what makes the horror subgenre great.
As horrific parables of man’s duality and the consequences of losing emotional control, the werewolf often serves as a warning against rage and the abandonment of humanity. Werewolves have been represented as the manifestation of the human id, the freedom of breaking out from expectation, and the fight between good and evil, embodied in a single person.
Distilled in the term Caledonian Antisyzygy, the werewolf is a duelling entity – a singular person where a battle between good and evil rages within them. The best werewolf films recognise this duality as being the most fascinating aspects of the creatures. They explore notions of bodily autonomy and responsibility, asking whether intention matters when the consequences remain the same.
What joins many of these films together is a fascinating exploration of a loss of control, and what it really means for those impacted by the curse.
With Eggers’ Werwulf set to release in December, now is an excellent time to return to some of the many fascinating, fantastic werewolf movies that chart these themes in intricate fashion, offering fresh takes on the nature of werewolves and their complex inner battles. Here are a few of ScreenHub‘s favourites.
Werewolf movies – quick links
The Beast Within (2024)
Director: Alexander J Farrell
Starring: Kit Harington, Ashley Cummings, James Cosmo, Caoilinn Springall
Streaming: Not currently available
The Beast Within is a thrifty film that takes a measured approach to the werewolf genre, understanding its core themes and intentions clearer than most of its nearest rivals. It doesn’t have flashy practical effects or sharp CGI like other tales on this list, with most of its werewolf action taking place off-screen – but in its approach to the curse (placed on Kit Harington’s Noah), it does well to infuse a sense of fantastical dread.
Large parts of the film are seen through the eyes of Willow, an imaginative 10-year-old girl, and this perspective grants The Beast Within a lovely innocence, so when the final curtain falls, the fear and uncertainty feels pure and horrific.
As an exploration of man’s foibles, The Beast Within is a layered werewolf parable.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Director: John Landis
Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne
Streaming: Not currently available
You’ll never get away with a list of best werewolf movies without discussing An American Werewolf in London, perhaps the best werewolf movie of all time. That’s down to a sharp and funny script that’s aged well in the modern era, a pitch-perfect and horrifying performance from David Naughton, a great soundtrack, and most importantly, Rick Baker-created makeup and practical effects that have stood the test of time.
When backpacker David Kessler turns into the werewolf, you really feel it. The film focuses so deeply on the pain of transformation, and that idea of bodily betrayal, that it’s visceral in approach – not to mention bloody and horrific.
An exploration of control and consequences provides the film’s throughline, and they’re themes that land heavily as Kessler reckons with his new normal and what it means for the people around him. If you watch any film on this list, make it this one.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Director: John Fawcett
Starring: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle
Streaming: Prime Video
Ginger Snaps is a rare werewolf story that flips the mythology by focusing on female rage and transformation. Here, the curse is inflicted on Ginger Fitzgerald, a young woman who’s bitten right after beginning her first period. As anyone who’s gone through this stage in life will tell you, it’s a time of great pain and rage, full of gross bodily functions and changing emotions.
Why not add one more step, as Ginger slowly and painfully transforms into a werewolf?
Beyond its novelty, Ginger Snaps is also a lush exploration of young girlhood, and the challenges of trusting yourself. As Ginger becomes more erratic, it’s up to her friend Brigitte to push her back from the brink, becoming the voice of reason that Ginger lacks.
As this film ramps up, their clashes blow out into full-blown werewolf fights, with a spectacular collapse caused by a loss of that all-important hormonal control.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby, Liam Cunningham
Streaming: Plex
Dog Soldiers is a spiritual successor to An American Werewolf in London, striking a similar, grounded tone in its exploration of werewolves and what they represent. It begins as a standard military flick, with soldiers exploring the Scottish Highlands while on a routine training exercise. Shock discovery, the region is actually the hunting ground of werewolves, with cryptic clues of their presence leading to tension in the group.
Taking refuge in a nearby home, the soldiers eventually fall under attack. What results is high carnage, but with its light comedy styling and action tilt, it’s so much fun. Here, werewolves maintain their status as a symbol of rage and fear of the inner persona, but they are a more physical, realised threat too, as the soldiers attempt to defend their humanity while the werewolves breach their literal and figurative inner sanctum.
Teen Wolf (1985)
Director: Rod Daniel
Starring: Michael J Fox, Jerry Levine
Streaming: Prime Video
The original Teen Wolf, not to be confused with the equally-good 2011 TV adaptation, is a very fun werewolf parable. Like Ginger Snaps, it ties its transformation into the horrors of growing up. Michael J Fox is Scott Howard, a teenage basketball player dealing with all the ordinary pressures of high school: impressing girls, and trying to be a better player for his team.
Amid this fear and uncertainty, a genetic werewolf curse is triggered, transforming Howard into a furry, more powerful version of himself.
Teen Wolf is a great, classic werewolf flick for how it uses its main werewolf. Howard isn’t a typical monster. He retains his sense of self when he transforms – he’s just hairy and strong. Instead of being about the horror of his new persona, it’s about how others perceive him, and his sudden surge in popularity when his werewolf persona is exposed.
Loss of control is more about not giving into peer pressure, with the film weaving a tale about staying true to yourself, even when the promise of power and popularity calls.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Director: George Waggner
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi
Streaming: Not currently available
The Wolf Man was not Universal Pictures’ first attempt at a major werewolf film. That honour goes to Werewolf of London (1935), which has since been largely forgotten. But it is the most impactful of Universal’s early horror forays, for its straightforward and template-building exploration of bodily horror and transformation.
Here, Lon Chaney Jr plays the iconic Larry Talbot, the blueprint of all werewolves to come: a man who’s down on his luck, pining after a woman, and in for a whole world of pain. The story presented here is a classic, told artfully and with clever use of facial prosthetics and animalistic acting to bring to life Talbot’s struggles.
As with other werewolf protagonists, the film is concerned with the transformation itself, and how the curse of one man can affect those around him, inflicted with his anger, fear and horror.
Werewolf by Night (2022)
Director: Michael Giacchino
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris
Streaming: Disney+
Technically, this is a television special rather than a film, but Werewolf by Night is an artful work that ascends from this humble status. It’s a rare Marvel adaptation that is a standalone story, guided by a distinct director vision – so of course, that means it’s one of the lesser loved and lesser known adventures.
But thanks to its considered approach, Werewolf by Night is absolutely worth your time, delivering a classic black-and-white light-horror tale, in the vein of the original Universal Monsters.
Here, Gael García Bernal is Jack Russell, a reluctant werewolf who infiltrates the hunting party of magical folk with a mysterious goal in mind. Bernal disguises himself as a fellow practitioner, hiding from his true nature as one of the hunted. In Russell’s slow crawl to his inevitable transformation, Werewolf by Night does an excellent job building tension.
Eventually, the action coalesces into familiar and carnage-filled battles, complete with some clever use of practical effects, in an homage to classics of the werewolf genre.
