Phases of the Moon : a cultural history of the werewolf film

Horror monsters such as the vampire, the zombie and Frankenstein's tragic creature have long been the subjects of in-depth cultural studies, but the werewolf has often been considered little more than the 'beast within': a psychoanalytic analogue for the bestial side of man. This book, the first comprehensive history of the werewolf in cinema, redresses the balance by exploring over 100 years of werewolf films, from The Werewolf (1913) to Wildling (2018) via The Wolf Man (1941), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Werewolves on Wheels (1971), The Howling (1981) and WolfCop (2014). Revealing the significance of she-wolves and wolf-men as evolving metaphors for the pervading fears and anxieties of their times, Phases of the Moon places its case studies in their immediate historical context to make clear that the hirsute horrors at the centre of the werewolf film have engaged with issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, crime, war and any number of other social and political concerns. It thus serves as a companion and a counterpoint to existing scholarship on the werewolf in popular culture, and illustrates how we can begin to understand one of our oldest mythical monsters as a rich, diverse and constantly shifting cultural metaphor. While in-depth cultural histories have been devoted to such classic horror monsters as the vampire, the zombie and Frankenstein's tragic creature, the cinematic werewolf has long been considered little more than the 'beast within': a psychoanalytic analogue for the bestial side of man. This book, the first scholarly study of the werewolf in cinema, redresses the balance by exploring over one hundred years of werewolf films - from The Werewolf (1913) to WolfCop (2014) via The Wolf Man (1941) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) - to reveal the cultural significance of she-wolves and wolf-men as evolving metaphors for the cultural fears and anxieties of their times. In doing so, it illustrates how we can begin to understand one of our oldest mythical monsters as a rich and diverse cultural metaphor. Examining the cultural significance of the werewolf film, this book provides the first academic monograph dedicated to developing a cultural understanding of the genre. It reconsiders the psychoanalytic paradigms that have dominated scholarly discussion of werewolves in pop culture and includes over 40 individual case studies to illustrate how werewolf films can be understood as products of their cultural moment