Originally published in 1972 by Popular Library
American author born and died in New York. 1910-1994.
Here is the video version. Below is the written review.
The Night of the Wolf is a werewolf story told in the first-person narrative from the perspective of John, an archaeologist, house guest and colleague of Professor Margrave. He is also soon to be his son-in-law as he is dating Margrave’s daughter Doris.
One morning upon visiting Margrave in his home office he discovers his head bashed in. In glorious gory detail. My god, listen to these Cannibal Corpse-esque descriptions Frank is throwing down:
“The entire left side of his head- the side not visible from the door- had been crushed in such hideous a way that the bulge of his forehead had become welded to his cheekbones in a continuous ridge of shattered bone that extended to the tip of his jaw. The flesh of his cheek was shredded as if a buzzsaw had passed down over it, leaving thin flaps of skin dangling from a dozen separate splinters of bone that turned what was left of his features into a horrible red-white disfigurement.”
This is on the second page! I’m very intrigued now as I was mistakenly under the impression that the Frankenstein/Dracula horror series were aimed at young adults.
John finds daughter Dorris, gives her the bad news and puts her to bed while he calls for the doctor. He then goes out to the pool to tell the other house guests, married couple Dan and Helen, the bad news. But before he can get it out Helen has just dived in the pool and isn’t coming up. Dan dives in to save her. Something was tangled around her legs. Straps of material attached to a broken staff with a wolf’s head attached. Obviously, the murder weapon, John thinks.
The doctor shows up pale and frightened. He passed a body with its throat ripped out on the road here. Inside the house we find a splatter fest in the kitchen of what was once the house help. Three more dead bodies. What is causing this carnage and why?
After the police leave it turns out Dorris might have some answers. One day not too long ago a strange man came to visit dad. He was “Oriental” she says. Frustrated with the vague detail John asks, “Chinese??” No. Some kind of Easterner. Ok. The man’s name was Ruschna. He met Margrave in Bulgaria. While eavesdropping Dorris also picked up that the man was accusing Margrave of stealing some artifact and that if he didn’t give it back he was as good as dead. Margrave’s house would burn and him and his daughter would die. Margrave states he doesn’t have the item, it was lost in the shipment. Ruschna leaves in anger.
Exciting stuff. We got what looks to be some werewolf action, some mystery, and some absolute bloodshed. Unfortunately, the pacing grinds down to a dreamlike slow punch here even though the plot doesn’t. I have never read anything like this before where I was so intrigued with what was going on but so bored at the same time.
Even though this was written in 1972 the style is early 20th century. The dialogue is frustrating and awkward. Everything is a casual conversation no matter what is happening. At one point a character has been kidnapped. John and Dan are running out the door to the car in pursuit and stop to discuss the need for urgency. They STOP and discuss the need for urgency. John says to Dan, even if you fall down and scrape your knee don’t lie there, get up and keep moving.
There is a part where John is remembering this vague backstory of an archeological dig in Bulgaria where he sees a wolfman shadow in a cave. He sits down to draw it and it takes him five fucking pages to circle around the point. There is all this philosophy and thoughts on what Rembrandt thinks before he sets down to create art and the whole time you are screaming at the pages, JUST DRAW THE FUCKING WEREWOLF ALREADY.
Speaking of backstory, there isn’t any. Or they don’t go into any more detail than that. John and Margrave digging in a cave in Bulgaria and apparently Ruschna was there even though John doesn’t remember him. And that’s it. No mention of what they found. The wolf staff?? Why Margrave doesn’t mention it to John. What the staff means to Ruschna. Why the werewolf continues to attack even though the staff has been found, broken and thrown in a pool and Margrave is dead. Who threw it in the pool? There are a couple scenes where the werewolf is a black cloud of smoke that appears in the house and can psychokinetically start fires. What? Spoiler alert:
After the werewolf is killed with a silver bullet he turns into a dwarf. Ruschna the normal size man at the beginning is now a dwarf.
I usually don’t complain about stuff adding up if the story is enjoyable but this is a muddled mushy mess. It’s raining all day but when they go out to the woods to track the werewolf they notice footprints in the dust and the dry leaves. An hour ago it was raining and now the ground is dry it’s dusty? You take this kind of stuff and add to it the inability to go from point A to B in a straight line and the strange inactive dialogue and it’s a slog.
Some positives though because this Weird Tales royalty we are talking about. I can’t completely slag him.
The gore is poetry. The plot, though filled with many holes, is fun and pulpy. When the action happens it’s on point, just ignore the meandering discourse.
The man lived to be 93 years old. This was written when he was 71 so I wouldn’t let this deter me from reading any of his earlier output. Unfortunately, around this time his career was trailing off, and he ended up living in pure poverty throughout his remaining years. I can imagine as the 70s came in and there was a new style of horror that was prevalent. Belknap’s style probably seemed very antiquated at the time and not yet old enough to have the classic appeal that it has these days.
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