A troubled teenager seeks help through hypnotherapy, but his evil doctor uses him for regression experiments that transform him into a rampaging werewolf.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Drive-In bagatelle actually generates mood. Comment: Despite its apt but risible title, "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," surprises in both the sincerity of its playing, as well as by its accomplished technical credentials. Campy confessional title notwithstanding, there is nothing about the screenplay that is deliberately parodic.
Effectively photographed by distinguished cinematographer Joseph La Shelle, and bolstered by an excellent musical score, the film thus provides a solid showcase for both its scenario and the performances of its young principals.
More importantly, (and this is what gives the picture a leg up on others of its ilk) the film is moodily under-lit, giving much of it a film noir ambiance. This is most evident in the hypnosis sequences, (the best in the film) which are staged and photographed in a way very reminiscent of Lewton's "Cat People."
Anyone doubting the value of the change purse aesthetics at work here need only consult the negligible results attained in such schlock as "Blood of Dracula" or the pre-Poe Corman films, which make "Teenage Werewolf" look like David Lean by comparison. Here the sincere effort of the technical crew shows: an unsettled, fatalistic brooding mood is generated, taking equal measure from the sense of doom hanging over the protagonist and expressed in shadows everywhere, even in mid-day living rooms and psychiatrist's offices.
Mr. Landon brings a sensitive intensity to the role that is wholly convincing, and he is ably abetted by all in support. Mr. Sokoloff is fine in his masculine reprise of the Maria Ouspenkaya role from Lon Chaney's "The Wolfman," and a pre Zorro Guy Williams shows up effectively as a policeman.
While admittedly done on a modest budget, this limitation is actually an asset, inasmuch as it prevents the art direction from going over the top in its very effective depiction of proletariat domestic interiors, (Miss Lime's character even has Archie and Edith Bunker type parents.) Thus, the homes, teen club, principal's office etc. are "right on the money."
Even so, sharp eyed viewers will note that a leather sofa does double duty in both the police detective's and Miss Fergusan's office. Similarly, Dr. Brandon's and Miss Fergusan's respective office's are the same set, re-arranged, and re-dressed.
For his part, Mr. Landon, flush with his TV western success, and (equipped with accompanying footage), lampooned his role in the film in a 1969 guest appearance on the Jerry Lewis TV show.
Customer Rating: Summary: Teenage Werewolf Comment: Purchased for a work colleague. Not available in UK. Long time must have for now owner. This guy was over the moon to finally get this film.
In his words "GGGGGGRRRRRREEEEEEAAAAAATTTTTT got it at last"
This guy lives and breathes for Horror movies so must be great.
Customer Rating: Summary: Great 50s movie title Comment: Michael Landon, who went on to bigger and better things, stars as Tony, a mixed up teenager who gets into fights and flies into angry rages for no reason. He gets sent to a doctor, played with arrogant assurance by Whit Bissel, for treatment. Bissel treats him with hypnotherapy and by injecting him with something the doctor whipped up in his spare time. The doctor believes he can revert someone back to their evolutionary beginnings. Why you would want to do this is beyond me, but it works. Tony becomes a werewolf and begins attacking his fellow high school students. Eventually, as the police are hunting him, Tony returns to the doctor for help. Instead of helping, he injects Tony yet again. Predictably, Tony becomes the werewolf, kills the doctor's assistant and the doctor and is then shot by the police.
The acting in this film is better than some other 1950s horror movies, but the writing is pretty dull. The whole plot is thin and has to be stretched to make a full length film. There is no real point to the doctor's experiments. There is no suspense or frights when Tony attacks. You know well beforehand who is going to get it. As with a lot of other low budget 50s movies, it's enjoyable for the laughs. Customer Rating: Summary: Great Movie From A Different Era Comment: This is a great movie which is based on a very interesting concept.
The main character is a very angry and aggressive person.
So they tell him to start working with this mad scientist who uses regression hypnosis combined with some type of drug.
The doctor regresses him back to the time when he was a wild animal in the distant past on earth like thousands or even millions of years ago.
Does this sound like something that isn't possible ?
Perhaps it is true.
And once a person has been hypnotically regressed to that other time, that other experience, could the power of the mind cause such a physical transformation to occur ?
Yes I think it can.
Mythology is full of stories of people who were part human combined with part animal, part plant, part bird, part fish, etc..
That "mystery of mysteries", the sphinx in Egypt, is such a creature. What does this mean ?
Besides that there's a lot of great acting in this movies with the teenagers.
There's a great scene at their Halloween party where the one guy starts singing and then dances with this other gal.
Somehow this reminds me of a simpler time in America.
They tie this in with the guy turning into the werewolf while he's still wearing his high school jacket, etc..
Jeff Marzano
The Manster
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Customer Rating: Summary: A Very Scary Werewolf Story. Comment: Believe it or not, this film has perhaps the most terrifying werewolf "kill" ever recorded on film.
The first victim, walking alone at night through the woods, is stalked and stalked and well, you can guess the rest. Sounds like a million other werewolf movie scenes- well, its' not. There is no blood, nor any gore,- just incredibly intense, realistic, and frightening movie-making. The palpable fear that most viewers experience viewing this particular scene is due to the fact that it ingeniously connects to the universal experience most of us have had, of walking home alone in the dark, and "hearing something" in front or behind us. The first victim is a guy, unusual for 1950s fare, - but like "Jaws", shot almost 20 years later, this first "killing" would create a feeling of dread the viewer would feel throughout the rest of the film.
There are so many great moments contained within this film for any horror movie fan to enjoy, that despite a rather annoying "musical number", (something all teenage films at the time seemed to contain), missing it would be a shame.
The ending is a doozy. Its' all very well done- great acting, great transformation scenes, all told, its' a cleverly crafted piece of film-making indeed.
From Michael Landon's moving performance as a troubled teenage boy, doomed, thanks to the madness of a trusted doctor, to the horrifying original werewolf make-up, you will not sleep through this film, believe me. It will both touch and frighten even the most tested of horror fim fans. If you have not seen it, I'm surprised. Its' a classic and one of the best werewolf films ever made.
It also set into motion the "teenage monster film cycle" of the 1950s. Incredibly, in less than a year from it's release, "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" grossed more than ten times it's cost!
You'll see why. I dare you to watch it alone some moon-lit night. I DARE YOU!
