You are now listening to Postmortem with Mick Garrus, where the most influential voices

in horror cinema will spill their guts to the renowned horror director, writer, and producer.

Now here's your host, Mick Garrus.

From Nice Guy Productions World Headquarters overlooking the glamorous San Fernando Valley,

I'm Mick Garrus, and this is Postmortem.

What's your favorite monster?

Dracula, Frankenstein, zombies, Norman Bates, Freddy Krueger, ghosts, serial killers?

One of the most venerable creatures of cinematic horror remains the werewolf.

Though most of the rules that Lycan Thrope's follow were invented by the great screenwriter,

Kurt Siodmak, in the screenplay for Universal's 1941 classic, The Wolf Man.

Furry Lupine-shaped shifters have been around in legend for centuries.

It's long been a part of European folklore, running alongside the beliefs in witches and witchcraft.

In the second century BC, the Greek Geographer Pauseneus

related the story of King Lyoson of Arcadia,

who was transformed into a wolf because he had sacrificed a child in the altar of Zeus Lyceus.

There were actually werewolf trials similar to the witch trials as early as the 15th century,

though the legends reached their peak in the 18th century,

before becoming a staple of early chapbooks and later popular fiction,

before becoming a staple of the modern horror film.

And the legend of the werewolf still has plenty of life.

Recently werewolves within made its mark as a festival and fan favorite.

But 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of a true high watermark year in werewolf movies.

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