Der Tod hat schwarze Krallen

Even the makers of this picture must have been surprised at the success of this horror camp film. Landon is the troubled teen, Bissel the mad doctor that transforms him into canine terror. Later in his career, Landon admittedly blushed at the mention of the picture, but this one did kick off the start of the "I Was a Teenage Whatever" craze. This one moves along quite well and is still watchable by today's standards.

A group of us guys were discussing the scariest films we'd seen as kids. I was 10 in 1957 when I saw this film while spending a week on Catalina Island. The theater was at the landmark "Casino" which was about a half mile walk from the small port village of Avalon. I was heavily absorbed in war, sci-fi, and western action films, with a special appreciation for stunts and special effects but unfamiliar with the horror genre in general and werewolf lore in particular. I was also the runt tagging along with a trio of cool eleven year old friends. It could've been a scene out of "Stand By Me". Four smart-ass kids walking at night down a dirt road to see "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" for my first and only time.

As an aspiring artist, I remember being fascinated by the opening titles where a make-up artist sketched the monster's face but when the actual transformation took place in the film it freaked me out, to say the least. Maybe it was the collective scream of a hundred other kids, but I covered my eyes until brave enough to slowly glimpse the monster. The scenes shot in Griffith Park looked too much like the dark, tree lined path we had walked to the theater. That half mile walk back to town was the longest, creepiest walk of my childhood.

A few months later I saw "A Man of a Thousand Faces" and became completely fascinated by the art of make-up and dove into everything I could find on Lon Chaney Sr. Later I finally saw Chaney Jr. in "The Wolf Man". By then I was too cool to be scared but still reading anything I could find on werewolf and vampire lore and probably first in line to see "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein".

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 nothwithstanding, 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.

You really had to be a teenager in 1957 to appreciate the effect this movie had on teens back then. Elvis was just starting out and there are similarites to the reactions of adults and teenagers to both icons. (In fact Yvonne Lime was "dating" Elvis (pictures of Elvis and Yvonne together were in movie magazines back then) when this film was made and from what I understand, he even visited the set. Too bad they couldn't have had him sing a song in it!) There is an amazing backstory AMC could make about the senate hearings on juvenile delinquency and this film; the senators mentioned the bad effects this film had on teenagers even though none of them had seen it!

Anyway, Gene Fowler Jr (who had edited Academy Award films like LAURA) was chosen to direct this, his first film and although he at first had second thoughts about doing it, his wife convinced him "no one would see it anyway." Boy, was she wrong! His background as an editor helped him be a better first-time director than most and helped make this picture, made on a shoe-string budget in only 7 days, better than all the other teen horror films back then. The camera angles on the fight at the beginning, Dawn Richard's gymnist seeing the werewolf upside down at first (and therefore the audience too), showed that he had good ideas in setting up shots.

Michael Landon, contrary to what some believe, never downplayed his connection to this film for it gave him his start in show business. He may at first have had doubts about being connected with it with the initial uproar, which is why he turned down the chance to play the werewolf a second time, but after that, he never bad-mouthed the film. In fact, he paid homage to it on a Halloween episode of "Highway to Heaven."

Anyway, the acting is good all around with standout performances by Landon and Whit Bissell. The "science" used to turn Tony into the monster may be silly today, but in the 1950's, there were a lot of talk and film plots about past-life regression following the Bridey Murphy newspaper accounts (also used in THE SHE-CREATURE). Again you had to live in the 1950's to understand all this. Philip Scheer's werewolf makeup is one of the better pre-Howling/American Werewolf ones in movie history and while the transformation scene isn't as good as in THE WOLF MAN or THE WEREWOLF, the director did not have a lot of money or time to work with and did a good job considering.

A film has to be pretty good, even with a low budget, to be as successful as this one was...and to remain a cult favorite 45 years later. It has stood the test of time and deserves to be considered a classic of its kind.

The influential "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" marked the starring debut of 20 year old Michael Landon, still two years away from TV's epic Western BONANZA. The sad fate of the late James Dean would inspire a number of copycat versions of "Rebel Without a Cause," so the intervention of new AIP producer Herman Cohen to combine teenagers and terror would quickly become a staple of drive in fare for many years (the shooting title was the very straightforward "Blood of the Werewolf"). Veteran film editor Gene Fowler Jr. (working steadily from the early 40s into the 80s) made his feature directorial debut, directing another six cult films and a number of TV episodes over the next five years before returning to the editing room for the remainder of his career. He was at the helm for Gloria Talbott's classic "I Married a Monster from Outer Space," plus a pair of early starring roles for Charles Bronson, in "Showdown at Boot Hill" and "Gang War," typically displaying more savvy than more experienced pros. Just as Alfred Hitchcock graduated from the editor's chair, Fowler benefits from a solid script and characterizations, instantly grabbing the audience with an opening fistfight that demonstrates the short temper and mistrusting nature of our protagonist, Tony Rivers (Landon), whose past run ins with the law have mounted to such a degree that he is now required to seek psychiatric help. Unfortunately (or fortunately, since we wouldn't get a monster), the MD turns out to be the less than ethical Alfred Brandon (Whit Bissell), who sees his latest patient as the perfect 'disturbed' subject to undergo hypnotic treatment coupled with a serum that is supposed to prove than mankind's future depends on the savagery of his past (another topical nod to Bridey Murphy). The first attack is masterfully staged, the intended victim walking home alone through the woods, unable to see whatever it is that's creeping up on him yet too terrified to escape (even the music is effectively scary). We first watch him transform into a sweater clad werewolf at the 45 minute mark when the school bell rings in his ear, his gymnast victim played by Dawn Richard, Playboy's May 1957 Playmate of the Month, who sees her attacker approach upside down in a nice touch. The remainder of the film keeps him in hirsute form, until his human self seeks help from the doctor who betrayed him, earning his justified reward. Landon takes full advantage of the part and always cherished his lone horror vehicle, paying tribute as a middle aged werewolf on his last TV series HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN. The transformations are done by lap dissolves, Landon's snarling, drooling creation one of cinema's best, going on to play a multitude of villains prior to the phenomenally successful BONANZA. From the teens to the cops the entire cast performs admirably, only the oddball scientist is cliched to the point of ridicule (we could of course do without the token musical number). Whit Bissell took the top slot in the even more outrageous "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" before returning to supporting roles, while James Best ("The Killer Shrews") surprisingly pops up unbilled as a record spinner who gets slapped for being fresh. Both the Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein would be teamed in "How to Make a Monster," Gary Clarke replacing Landon under the makeup. One of AIP's biggest moneymakers, earning $2 million on a budget of $82,000, theatrically double billed with Robert Gurney's "Invasion of the Saucer Men."