[Editorial] Top 15 Horror Films with Werewolves

If we’re talking classic movie monsters, werewolves are right at the top along with vampires, zombies, and ghosts, and are definitely my favourite creepy creature. Whether they turn at the full moon, are cursed to be werewolves forever, or have the ability to control their transition, werewolves are terrifying because they see regular, everyday folk transform into an unstoppable killing machine all from a bite or a scratch. 

Let’s explore the world of lycanthropy, sharp teeth, and hair in places you weren’t expecting it with the top 15 werewolf movies!

15 - An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)

Was An American Werewolf in Paris a great sequel? No. Did that stop me from being obsessed with it as a teenager? Also no! After heading to Paris to be a tourist with his pals, Andy finds himself in a nightclub run by a gang of werewolves. In the attack, Andy is bitten and one of his friends is killed. 

As he works with fellow werewolf, Serafine, to try and figure out how he can avoid staying a werewolf forever, Andy runs wild on the streets of Paris. Some of the best scenes involve him chasing a hookup through a cemetery and an epic werewolf showdown on an underground train.

14 - Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

Set shortly after the events of Ginger Snaps (2000), Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed follows what happens to Brigitte as she tries to stave off the final stages of her own werewolf infection. After she’s caught injecting herself with wolfsbane, Brigitte is placed in a facility for troubled young women, where she’s unable to do anything about her werewolf transformation and the male werewolf who has been stalking her.

During her time in the facility, Brigitte’s transformation starts to catch up with her, meaning she has to slice the points off her ears and hide her changing features from those around her. But even when she does manage to escape, it seems wolfsbane’s effectiveness has reached its limit, and she’s destined for the same fate as her sister.

13 - IT (1990)

In the miniseries version of Stephen King’s classic horror novel, Pennywise the Clown is an otherworldly being who can take on the form of anything he fancies to scare you. For Ritchie, the joker of the Losers’ Club, this means bringing I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) to life. 

When Ritchie heads into the school’s basement to find the janitor, he instead encounters Pennywise in a werewolf janitor form. While Ritchie manages to escape from this first encounter, it means that Pennywise now has a hold on him. 

12 - Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

In the town of Warren Valley, things are not always as they seem. One Halloween night, we join Laurie and her friends, as they get ready for a local Halloween party. Laurie is shyer than her friends, feeling uncomfortable in her revealing costume. She decides to stay in town a little longer as the rest of the group pick dates and head to the festivities. After being followed and attacked by a hooded man in the woods, she drags him along to the party to meet her friends. 

It turns out that Laurie and her friends are werewolves, and while she may seem shy, it’s really because it’s her first kill. The women then devour their dates in their full wolf form.

11 - Silver Bullet (1985)

Another Stephen King entry on the list is Silver Bullet, based on Cycle of the Werewolf (1983). Set in the town of Tarker’s Mills, a serial killer apparently moves to town when a number of murders start happening. A young boy, Marty, finally discovers the deaths are because of a werewolf when he encounters it as he sets off some fireworks. Luckily, he manages to wound the creature by firing a firework in its eye. 

While this helps Marty work out who the werewolf is in their human form, it also makes him an easy target. Confident that no adults will believe his story, Marty hopes to convince his family members of what’s truly going on. 

10 - Bad Moon (1996)

When Ted’s girlfriend is brutally murdered by a werewolf in Nepal, a bite from the creature means Ted is going to turn into a monster himself. To try and protect everyone around him, Ted moves into a trailer in the middle of the woods. However, the police start to close in on him and Ted decides to move onto his sister, Janet’s, property to avoid suspicion.

Out of all the characters in the film, it’s Janet’s dog, Thor, who suspects Ted and his true nature. Even though Ted tries to get Thor sent to the pound, he makes it back and in an epic showdown, saves his family from the werewolf.

9 - WolfCop (2014)

Lou Garou is a small-town sheriff who loves a drink and doesn’t particularly like his job. However, after Lou is turned into a werewolf by an occult group so they can use him as part of a ceremony, he must use his best police skills to track down those responsible.

Once transformed, Lou looks like a classic wolfman in a police uniform, though he still retains enough of his humanity to know what’s going on and to refrain from killing everyone he comes across. It’s also worth noting that Lou’s transformation in the bathroom and the gross aftermath is one of the most beautifully grotesque scenes ever.

8 - Howl (2015)

Set on the last train home out of London, Howl shows what would happen if a family of werewolves caused the train to break down so they could have a midnight snack delivered directly to them. Poor train conductor Joe shouldn’t even be there, as he was made to work a double shift, but he does his best to get the train working again so the passengers can make it home safely.

The werewolf design in Howl is beautifully creepy, as the long-limbed creatures creep around in the dark woodland beside the train track. There’s also some wonderful werewolf transformation makeup as the train passengers are picked off one by one.

7 - Cursed (2005)

Cursed definitely isn’t the werewolf movie that Wes Craven wanted, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still great fun. I mean, who doesn’t love a werewolf giving the camera the middle finger?!

When brother and sister pair, Jimmy and Ellie, survive a car crash and a run-in with what they assume is a wolf, they find themselves experiencing changes. They soon discover they were bitten by a werewolf, and if they don’t kill the creature who turned them, they’ll be stuck this way forever. Cursed is a great whodunnit, as you try to work out who the werewolf is alongside Jimmy and Ellie. Questionable CGI aside, there are some excellent chase scenes and great kills.

6 - Late Phases (2014)

When blind Vietnam War veteran, Ambrose, is forced to move into a retirement village by his son, the residents soon start getting murdered. When Ambrose investigates, he’s attacked by a werewolf, even though the police claim the whole encounter was merely an animal attack.

Ambrose decides to use his soldier skills to defend the retirement village and finally get rid of the werewolf problem once and for all. As time counts down to the next full moon, Ambrose makes sure he’s ready for an epic showdown.

---

CRAVING EXCLUSIVE EXTRA CONTENT? CHECK THESE OUT!

---

5 - Van Helsing (2004)

Van Helsing is a love letter to classic monster movies featuring Dracula, Mr Hyde, and Frankenstein’s Monster. It also features Velkan, a member of a vampire-hunting family, who is turned into a werewolf and forced to become Dracula’s henchman.

The werewolves are very computer animated in Van Helsing, however, the transformation scenes that involve human skin being ripped off to reveal the monster lurking beneath are perfect.

4 - The Howling (1981)

After being attacked by a serial killer as part of a police undercover operation, Karen White is sent to a remote resort in the countryside to live with the Colony. While things seem relaxing at first, it quickly transpires that the Colony is full of werewolves who don’t need a full moon to be able to turn into monsters.

Now we’re moving high up on the list, the werewolf transformation scenes are getting into perfection territory. When Terri is confronted by killer Eddie Quist, he slowly transforms in front of her, forcing her to watch every excruciating detail before he kills her.

3 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The sequel may not have been anywhere near perfect, but An American Werewolf in London is one of the most wonderful werewolf movie experiences there is. When David and Jack are backpacking across the Yorkshire moors they are attacked by a beast. Jack dies but David is transported to a hospital in London (for some reason), where he finds out he is turning into a werewolf.

Werewolf transformations can be some of the best examples of body horror, and An American Werewolf in London’s practical attack on David’s body is a wonder to look at. As well as dealing with the physical torment involved when you become a werewolf, this film also deals with the moral complications of knowing you’re a monster that kills innocent people every night.

2 - Dog Soldiers (2002)

Probably the best horror movie to ever be set in Scotland, Dog Soldiers follows a group of soldiers on a training mission in the Scottish wilderness who soon find themselves attacked by a pack of werewolves. Local resident Megan rescues the gang and takes them to a nearby farmhouse where they can batten down the hatches and try to survive the night.

The werewolf design in Dog Soldiers is breathtaking, and I never stop being creeped out by those long-legged monsters as they run through the trees in the moonlight. The practical effects are beautiful, there’s plenty of blood and gore, and the script is hilarious.

1 - Ginger Snaps (2000)

When it comes to werewolf movies, there’s never any competition for me. Ginger Snaps will always be my favourite. I wish I’d had Letterbox as a teenager so I know how many times I’ve seen it, and the bird skull tattoo on my arm is a permanent reminder of how wonderful this movie is.

Ginger and Brigitte find their whole lives turned upside down when Ginger is attacked by a werewolf on the night she gets her first period. While Brigitte tries to work out how to save her sister, Ginger has to deal with the changes in her body of both the natural and the supernatural variety.

Not only is Ginger Snaps a fantastic werewolf movie, but it’s also a fascinating study of puberty, periods, and teenage sexuality.

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---