The Wolf Man/WMG

The razor was an attempt to create mutually exclusive versions of what happened.
Ok, they presented the razor as if it were a Chekhov's Gun, but it was never shown or referenced again. Furthermore, the movie was clearly set-up to suggest that some or all of the events might have occurred in Lawerence's mind (a particularly cynical interpretation might say he never left the asylum at all, and spent most of his childhood and his entire adult life there, after his father sent him there). And the scene in which his father comes to the asylum seems particularly suspect, as he just pops up after Lawrence has been tortured and tells Lawrence exactly what he wants to believe (I'm a monster, you're not crazy, and I love you even if only one some sick level). However, the razor allows us to accept the possibility of an escape that did not involve him being a werewolf: he hid it and was able to cut his bonds and escape out the window, possibly slashing some people with the razor. This is interesting, however, in that to accept that the realistic explanation (the razor let him escape) was real one must also accept that John Talbot came to the asylum, and told his son that his delusions were real, possibly trying to drive him to suicide, and if one accepts that the werewolf part was real, it makes the idea of John Talbot never actually confessing quite credible. In short: Whatever part of it is real is the part that Lawrence is unaware of.