The opening has much better atmosphere than anything in Lon Chaney Jr.‘s first appearance as The Wolf Man. His transformations are improved and you get to see him in action more. He creeps about, pounces, and attacks in better view for the audience this time. So even though things seemed pretty final for Lawrence Talbot last time, Curt Siodmak again doesn’t let that stop him from changing the play book as he goes. Talbot evidently cannot die. In this movie he is more sympathetic, since he realizes the murdering monster he becomes, and just wants his life to end. I liked his tormented outburst questioning if eternal life is really something to be desired. I respect him more in this story. And of course the title battle between the two creatures is pretty awesome in a B-movie way.

Ouspenskaya is back as Maleva, the gypsy woman, but the plot gets a bit silly when she and Talbot go seeking Dr. Frankenstein. The angry mob in the generic European mountain town is the worst part of the movie. They are a waste of screen time. By the way, the townspeople mention they set fire to Frankenstein’s castle to rid themselves of the doctor and his monster, yet when Talbot falls into some lower chamber of the castle it is covered in snow and the Frankenstein’s monster has been preserved in ice! Ridiculous. There is no legitimate explanation for this though I understand this device of having the monsters encased in ice is used again in this movie’s sequel. Lugosi takes a stab at filling the makeup and costume of Frankenstein’s monster. I have yet to see Karloff’s definitive performances, so I can’t compare, but it doesn’t seem like Lugosi does much with the character. Here’s a bit of a spoiler- Talbot and Frankenstein’s monster are friends through most of the movie. Talbot as a man and the childlike man-made creation are gentle misunderstood beings. Somehow in this fantasy horror world even that is a little hard to believe fully. Anyways, Dr. Frankenstein’s daughter and a visiting doctor interested in Dr. Frankenstein’s work attempt to help out. After the burning and the freezing or whatever happened to Frankenstein’s castle, the laboratory equipment is in amazing working order. All that is left is to drain the energy out of both creatures to stop any more mischief. But no. No. NO! Of course it is too tempting to charge them both up to the max. The fight is brief like the movie on the whole and the run time of the first Wolf Man. And the ending is left more open for the monsters to return in numerous sequels.