The Horror Double Bill
Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair classic and modern horror films to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Inspired by the legendary BBC2 horror double bills of the 1970s and 1980s, each week we discuss two films that share twisted themes, unsettling atmospheres, or strange connections
From the shadowy corridors of black and white classics to the paranoia-fueled chaos of the 21st-century, we take a deep dive into what makes these films memorable and the social context in which they were made. Expect discussions on film history, censorship, director profiles, folklore, and cultural anxieties.
Subscribe for unexpected pairings, and a celebration of horror as a feeling not just a genre.
New episodes every Sunday.
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The Horror Double Bill
Episode 13: Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) & An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Welcome to episode 13 of The Horror Double Bill. This week we are exploring the horrors of lycanthropy and the legend of the werewolf, a creature that has been used for centuries as a metaphor for themes including sexual repression, puberty, male violence, insanity and the beats within.
An we are starting off this week with the first horror movie that I ever saw, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman from 1943 starring Lon Chaney Jnr, Bela Lugosi, illona Massey and Lionel Atwill. Then we are jumping forward to 1981 with An American Werewolf in London from starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne.
As well as showcasing their titular monsters, both films were, in their own ways, incredibly groundbreaking. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf man is arguably the very first movie to suggest a concept that is all too familiar today – if not a little overused which is the idea of a cinematic universe. Meanwhile An American Werewolf In London showcases incredible practical effects work that, along with The Howling released in the same year, set the benchmark for horror transformations for years to come. Both movies also have a very personal significance for me that we will discuss as the episode continues
Along the way we will be discussing the possible origins of the werewolf myth, historical examples of lycathropy, the somewhat renegade approach to children’s publishing in the 1970s, the life of actor Lon Chaney Junior and much more.
References used:
The Beaver Book of Horror by Daniel Farson
Memoirs of a Wolfman by Paul Naschy
Universal Horrors, The Studios Classic Films 1931 to 1946 by Tom Weaver, Michral Bruans and John Brunas,
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman The original Shooting Script from the Universal Film Scripts Series edited by Philip J Reilly
American Gothic, 6 decades of classic horror cinema by Jonathan Rigby
lonchaney.com
silent-ology.wordpress.com
classicmonsters.com
Beware the Moon - available on the arrow video special edition Blu-ray release of An American Werewolf in London
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/30/john-landis-american-werewold-london#:~:text=far%20as%20filming%20went%20,to%20shoot%20in%20Piccadilly%20Circus
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/12/how-we-made-an-american-werewolf-in-london-john-landis#:~:text=I%20wanted%20a%20weird%2C%20eerie,%E2%80%9CWhat%20the%20hell%20was%20that%3F%E2%80%9D
https://morbidlybeautiful.com/horror-history-american-werewolf-in-london/#:~:text=Many%20consider%20John%20Landis%E2%80%99s%20film,its%20niche%20in%20horror%20history
https://filmschoolrejects.com/26-things-we-learned-from-the-an-american-werewolf-in-london-commentary-451071358fcb/#:~:text=apparently%20left%20people%20clueless%20as,to%20how%20they%C2%A0operate
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