Reviews & Ratings for
She-Wolf of London More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Index

26 reviews in total

---

18 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Don't expect to see a female version of the Wolf Man., 22 May 2004

Author: Chuck Straub from Mansfield, CT USA

When watching the She – Wolf of London, don't expect to see a female version of the Wolf Man, This should not be classed with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy or any of their offshoots. It's an enjoyable movie but it should be considered not so much a horror movie but more of a mystery. If you are looking for a good horror movie, this isn't it. The acting is good, sets are good, plot a bit weak. It's a good chance to see June Lockhart playing a major role early in her career. I found that the movie did keep my interest but the horror factor never really came into play. Although it wasn't what I expected, I still enjoyed it. It certainly isn't a must see movie, but it isn't a waste of your time either.

---

12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
She wolf is pretty fun, 24 May 2005

Author: tamstrat from United States

This is certainly not a great movie but is not bad for the Universal movies back in the 1940s. June Lockhart plays a young heiress who believes a series of murders in London is her fault, seems there is a family history of family members turning into werewolves. There is lots of atmosphere and the black and white photography sets the mood for this movie. Not the best I have ever seen, but certainly far from the worst. The ending came as somewhat of a surprise and the characters drew me in. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of the old Universal horror films to see this. June Lockhart is lovely as the young heroine. She went on to play the mom on the Lassie series and also the mom on Lost in Space.

---

9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Not a horror film, but an average film of mystery, 6 January 2006

Author: José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) from Mexico

As it is always marketed as a horror film, and part of the Universal Classic Horror Films, the disappointment it causes in horror fans is very understandable. "She-Wolf of London" is not, despite its name, a horror movie in the classic sense of the word, it is more a typical "whodunit" mystery and an ancestor to the psychological thrillers of today.

In London, a mysterious series of murders is creating fear in the population and confusion in the police department as people speak of a killer werewolf. The news create shock in young Phyllis Allenby (a beautiful young June Lockhart), who beliefs she is the responsible as an ancient family legend states that the Allenby clan is cursed with Lycanthropy, the werewolf's curse. She isolates herself and denies watching everyone, even breaking her relationship with her boyfriend Barry Lanfield (Don Porter). Her aunt Marta Withrop (Sara Haden) takes advantage of this and tries to force her daughter Carol (Jan Wiley) to marry the wealthy Barry.

All this interesting plot gives room to a lot of development, sadly, the movie doesn't move too far away from the established formula and therefore we don't have a lot of chance to get empathy for the characters. This is its main problem, since what we have are two-dimensional characters and a lot of potential wasted.

The sets are outstanding and the movie is brilliantly photographed, the trademark of the Universal Studios at that time without a doubt; nevertheless, this technical features does not help to improve a movie that feels incomplete or undeveloped. The pacing is slow and the very few things happen making the experience boring and tiresome at times.

The acting is above average, but with so few development there are not many things to do with that material. June Lockhart looks amazing and beautiful, but her character is not fully explored in the script and she has no real chances of showing her talents. A real shame, since she as the main character should be the focal point of the movie.

Don Porter is unconvincing as the hero and his performance feels a bit wooden. Same thing with Jan Wiley. Nevertheless, Sara Haden does an outstanding job and truly gives a lesson of acting in her performance. Along the technical aspects, her acting is probably what makes the movie worthy.

Overall an average movie that also suffers from bad marketing, since it is really not a horror movie, but a classic "whudunit" mystery that while entertaining, it is really nothing impressive. 5/10. Quite average time killer.

---

7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Miss Lockhart alone justifies the effort., 9 June 2007

Author: BrentCarleton

Apart from excellent settings and costumes, not to mention the always reliable pulchritude and charm of June Lockhart, this Val Lewton wannabe is mainly a misfire.

More's the pity too, since it abounds in shadowy night scenes, fog, and much cloak and daggery, including a final act complete with tilted camera angles, and poisoned milk, (a la Hichcock's "Suspicion").

But there is no real grue and no real tension, and what we are left with is a lame, (though slickly produced) thriller whose main interest accrues from its interesting cast and glossy staging.

Still, given the paucity of Victorian melodramas at your local cineplex--you could do much worse.

---

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A Vastly Under-Rated, Very Well Done Suspense Movie, 2 April 2008

Author: sddavis63 (revsdd@gmail.com) from Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I was quite surprised to see the relatively low rating this movie receives here, and the only explanation I can come up with for that is the likelihood of unrealized expectations. The title leads one to believe that this is going to be a horror movie - I watched it myself as part of a collection of classic Universal werewolf movies (its inclusion in that collection leads to that expectation) and thought that the concept of a female werewolf (there really haven't been many that I can think of) would be an interesting twist to the usual werewolf stories. As it turns out, this isn't a werewolf movie. It's a psychological suspense/thriller type of story about a young woman (played by June Lockhart) who believes she's a werewolf and thinks she's responsible for a series of murders in a local park - and, frankly, if you can let go of the werewolf expectation and rate this movie on its own merits, it's really quite well done.

You do wonder throughout if there is a werewolf, and the identity of the killer was never really clear to me until it was brought out into the open near the end. There are a variety of possibilities; the only thing you can be sure of is that not everything is as clear as it seems to be.

There are a couple of plot holes to this. The police seemed to suggest that the killer would have had to had immense strength to have perpetrated the attacks. Frankly, Martha (Sara Haden) didn't seem to be overly strong. At her confession, Martha also seems to indicate that her killing spree began with the young boy, and yet there were killings before the boy was killed. Given the strange attacks that were happening in this park, it also seemed to me to be passing strange that so many people still hung out there at night! Plot holes aside, though, I thought this was very well done and deserves to be thought more highly of. 8/10

---

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Not much to see here ..., 16 August 2005

Author: Noel (Teknofobe70) from Bromsgrove, England

Having seemingly ended the 'Wolf Man' franchise with the previous year's heavily flawed "House of Dracula", Universal Studios set their sights on a different kind of werewolf altogether ...

A series of horrible murders have been occurring in London, and many suspect a 'wolf woman' is to blame. Phyllis Allenby, having heard about an ancient family curse of hers, suspects that she might be responsible for the attacks after she wakes up one morning with blood on her hands. Slowly she begins to go insane as she attempts to hide her secret from those around her, confiding only in her cold, distant step-mother.

There's really not much to say about this movie. It's dull, predictable, poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed, and it's nothing like the other Universal horror movies. But to be honest, this is really more of a drama than a horror movie, and shouldn't really be connected at all with the "Wolf Man" series. It stars a young June Lockhart, who went on to fame playing Mrs Robinson in the sci-fi TV series "Lost in Space". For many people this alone may be a reason to watch and enjoy it, but along with the rest of the cast Lockhart unfortunately doesn't show a whole lot of spark in this particular outing.

On the other hand, the movie is mercifully short. But when you're fifty minutes into the movie, just ten minutes to go, and you realise that hardly anything has actually happened, then you'd be right to be a bit concerned. There is a twist at the end, that you'll probably see coming, but it's nothing that you couldn't see done much, much better in a Hitchcock movie. Some amusement can come from the dialogue ("She's done me in!"), but aside from that it's dull, dull, dull. However, it's interesting that Universal chose to produce a 'serious' movie about werewolves once it's 'Wolf Man' franchise had almost come to an end (only "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" followed). It probably could have worked, but it didn't. And if you don't see this one, you won't miss much.

---

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Not much to howl about, 8 March 1999

Author: Dik Meyer (doc_muzik@geocities.com) from St. Clair, Pennsylvania

There's not a whole lot to recommend about this film. It is a Universal Horror...though at the end of all the major horror series at the studio. It does have June Lockhart in an early role...along with Martin Kosleck in a ambivalent rather than evil role, and Dennis Hoey playing a surprisingly adept Scotland Yard inspector (he must have finally won a bet with a studio executive and got away from the bumbling Lestrade of the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holme's movies). The movie has great sets, though I assume they are redressed from some other Universal horror film...they do look somewhat familiar.

On the other hand, this movie is dull...and the plot is easy to figure out after about fifteen minutes. If you've seen Curse of the Cat People, you've got a start on the plot of this movie.

---

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
She-Wolf of where, exactly?, 4 February 2008

Author: rob_colling from United Kingdom

Much has been said elsewhere in these comments about the silliness of this film, the campy dialogue and the distinct lack of werewolves. And for that matter of plot. All this is true - She-Wolf of London is so ridiculous it's quite entertaining, the cast and atmosphere are very good, but there isn't much else to recommend it.

The one aspect that hasn't been commented on yet is the movie's utter lack of authenticity. Presumably this just wasn't a priority for the filmmakers (or maybe for the audiences) of the time, but boy, does it look outrageous today! It's very clear, for a start, that nobody involved in this film had ever been near London. The sets and locations, while reasonably impressive, look patently American and not at all like a British city. It's about as convincing as filming in Jamaica and calling it New York. Then the dialogue contains words that just don't exist in British English, and phrases that no English person would ever have used at that time. Virtually none of the dialogue sounds even close to convincing. With the exception of Hoey's, all the accents are Dick Van Dyke awful, in those few places they are even attempted. The props and sets are clearly made of 1940s materials rather than 19th-century ones - things like teapots and door knockers are very obviously the wrong weight, being made of cheap mazak or whatever. And best of all there are bizarre anachronisms - the police routinely travelling in what seems to be a very wealthy person's carriage, the heroine constantly leaving her window wide open despite the foggy, cold night (hello? ever been to the UK? Er, it's cold here, folks!), the police constantly wearing soaking wet raincoats although everyone else is wearing a perfectly dry lounge suit with no coat... I could go on and on. Suffice to say the movie never runs for more than 20 seconds at a time without letting out some clattering great inauthenticity that makes it impossible to take seriously. Whether that makes it fun or terrible, I'll leave for you to decide.

---

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Were-Wolf? Where?, 24 December 2004
Author: sbibb1 (sbibb1@aol.com) from New York, NY

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I was expecting this film to be a Werewolf film in the same vein as the other Universal Studios horror films. This movie is not a werewolf film, but a mystery film. I will admit though, that despite being disappointed in the film and what I thought it was going to be, the plot turn at the end had me surprised.

Sara Haden plays very well the nasty step-mother, and I have to admit that I was waiting for her to be among the first killed by the Were-Wolf, but to no avail.

June Lockhart plays the main character, and she does a good job with one of her early and starring roles. The sets in this film are great, especially the estate where the main characters live.

---

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Strange happenings in foggy London, 2 March 2005

Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

Despite its title, She-Wolf of London contains no werewolves, but I still enjoyed this movie. It is more of a mystery than a horror.

A series of murders take place, all at night, around London. The nature of these murders suggest they have been committed by a werewolf. A young woman thinks she is responsible as her family has connections with werewolves and thinks she is one herself. But she certainly isn't the murderer as she nearly becomes a victim herself...

The movie is nicely shot in black and white and some of the foggy night scenes are very atmospheric.

The cast includes a young June Lockhart (who went on to play Maureen Robinson in Lost In Space), Don Porter and Sara Haden.

Watching She-Wolf of London is an ideal way to spend an hour one dark evening.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

---

---

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	External reviews
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user reviews
Your vote history