| abstract
| - Actor Lawrence Talbot learns that his estranged father, Sir John Talbot, has suffered a minor stroke, so Lawrence decides to return to his home town of Blackmoor to take care of him. After an uneasy reunion with his father, Lawrence spots a pretty young woman who takes his interest. Upon learning that she works in a local antique shop, Lawrence decides to buy something as a pretext to talk to her. He selects a wolf-headed cane, and she introdues herself as Gwen Conliffe, and the two hit it off. Gwen is then visited by Inspector Francis Aberline, who informs her that the police have located the mutilated corpse of her friend Jenny, who went missing the previous night. Jenny is only the latest victim in a recent slew of killings, which is being blamed on a gypsy camp on the outskirts of the town. Gwen finds comfort in Lawrence's arms, and he becomes interested in the case. Late one night, Lawrence goes for a walk and encounters Aberline, and they stroll over the moors. Aberline tells Lawrence about a time when he was hunting in India, and he was bitten by a feral boy inflicted with lycantrophy. A cloud bank then moves out of the way of the full moon, and Aberline transforms into a werewolf. He chases the terrified Lawrence through the swamp and savagely attacks him. Lawrence eventually manages to bludgeon Aberline to death with the cane, but not before he is bitten on the chest. Horrified by what he has done, Lawrence dumps Aberline's body, having reverted back to his human form, into a pond and stumbles away in a cold sweat. He is found by some of the gypsies and brought back to their camp, where an old woman named Maleva cleans his wounds. The gypsies are thankful that Lawrence killed the beast, so the gypsy leader sends his daughter Bela to sleep with Lawrence. Before Lawrence leaves the following morning, Bela gives him some wolfbane, telling him to keep it with him at all times. Lawrence thanks her and departs. Upon returning to town, he learns that Aberline's body has been found. Gwen is distraught over the killing and is once again comforted by Lawrence. They wind up going back to Talbot Hall and making love. Gwen leaves as night falls, so Lawrence decides to go and visit his mother's grave. However, while getting dressed, he forgets to bring the wolfbane with him. Lawrence goes to the tomb and as the full moon rises, undergoes a painful transformation into a werewolf. He blacks out, and is found by the police the following morning; covered in blood. The frantic Lawrence is arrested and learns that as a werewolf, he killed two hunters the previous night. He is incarcerated the local insane asylum, his case being taken by the unethical Dr Hoenneger. Hoenneger subjects Lawrence to brutal ice-water and electroshock treatments, thinking the man is merely insane. However, over the first two nights of Lawrence's stay, more werewolf attacks occur across town. First, the local gravedigger is slain, and the following night, Bela is killed when she ventures out of the gypsy camp to look for Lawrence. On the third night, Hoenneger straps Lawrence to a chair and presents him to his colleagues as an idea for a case study. When the full moon comes up, Lawrence transforms into a werewolf in front of them. He breaks free of his shackles and kills several of them, including Hoenneger, who he throws out of a window. Hoenneger is impaled on a fence post, while Lawrence leaps out of the window and escapes. Meanwhile, Gwen visits Talbot Hall and meets Sir John. She also meets his butler, Singh, who shows her a revolver and a cartridge of silver bullets, explaining that is the best way to kill a werewolf. He tells Gwen that they must kill Lawrence in order to set him free, but she is convinced there must be another way. Singh sadly tells her that there isn't. Lawrence then arrives at Talbot Hall and begs his father to hide him. Sir John agrees, and he, Gwen and Singh help Lawrence to stay hidden during a county-wide manhunt. Lawrence rembers the wolfbane and goes to get it, hoping it may save him, but finds it to be missing. That night, the full moon rises and Lawrence changes. Singh tries to shoot him, but Gwen intervenes. Lawrence kills him, but is unable to harm Gwen and flees into the woods. Gwen and Sir John follow as a cloud bank covers the moon. Lawrence briefly regresses back into a human and is found by Gwen and Sir John. Lawrence deduces that Sir John got rid of the wolfbane. His father confesses that he did and explains that on the first night Lawrence changed, Sir John was looking for him, and Lawrence bit him. He was the werewolf who killed those people while Lawrence was locked up. However, Sir John is intoxicated by the power of the werewolf, horrifying Lawrence, who vows to stop him. The cloud bank disappears, and both men transform into werewolves. The two fight, ending with Sir John seemingly drowning Lawrence. Sir John then corners Gwen, but Lawrence reappears and tackles his father away, finally snapping his neck. Lawrence then begs Gwen to shoot him, as an angry mob approaches in the distance. Gwen refuses, so Lawrence lunges at her, forcing her to shoot him in the heart with the revolver. With his final breath, Lawrence thanks Gwen, before finally dying. As the mob arrives, they find Gwen weeping over Lawrence's corpse, and he slowly turns back into a human, ending the film.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)