by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport & Editor in Chief

“Sensational trash that one reads in Penny Dreadfuls... “ 

When our Managing Editor, Ryan Silberstein requested that I review She-Wolf of London in honor of its seventy fifth anniversary, I was quite astonished with myself that I had not watched it previously. As a horror host and lover of all things Universal Monsters, this flick somehow managed to slip under my radar. I was even more shocked when I learnt that the film was directed by Jean Yarbrough; the filmmaker behind one of my absolute favorite creature features, Devil Bat starring the always divine Bela Lugosi. 

Of corpse, Ryan could not have picked a more spooktacular person to write about this werewolf flick, not just for my fondness of ghouls but also because… I was raised by wolves.

Unlike Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart) I am not aware that my family has a lycanthropy curse of any sort. Nah. They are just absolutely wild hounds that lack decorum and thoughtfulness. There have been times when I wish I wasn’t part of the pack or even related for that matter, but unfortunately all signs point to YES under the pale moonlight that I do indeed have the same blood coursing through my veins. When the luminescence of the full moon hits my flesh, I seem to lose all control.

Phyllis has a similar experience in She-Wolf of London…or does she? This mystery thriller is anything but generic. Initially, it goes the route of the typical werewolf picture with the misty fog, a person (in this case Phyllis) rising in the morning with utter delirium when they find their shoes covered in mud, clothes torn and blood under their fingernails. In terms of wolf stories this is a tale as old as time. Much like you could read in the Jughead YA novel, A Werewolf in Riverdale (Did you know I love Riverdale?). However, this sixty-one minute flick managed to keep me guessing, right up until the end. There may not be a revered transformation scene but what it lacks in gore it makes up for with its twisted yarn of deception. 

Phyllis is cursed, just not in the way that she is being led to believe. There is a monster, of sorts, that roams the halls of the Allenby Estate, but they only make use of two legs and don fashionable cloaks. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the exquisite wardrobe that clearly was made for skulking in the night. Fortunately for Phyllis, she has a dabbling barrister (lawyer) that decides to partake in a bit of investigating, to find out that not everything is as it seems.

This is the type of film that is essentially non-existent today, a picture that relies on the overall mood, lighting and atmospheric setting to convey a haunting story that, quite possibly, could happen to anyone. Unlike many monster films of the present, filled with excessive CGI and cumbersome story, She-Wolf of London keeps it simple and shows there may just be a wolf inside us all. 

Find where to watch She-Wolf of London here.