Scream of the Wolf

Scream of the Wolf (1974)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Made-for-TV horror film from Dan Curtis has a game hunter (Peter Graves) coming out of retirement to track down a wolf that has been killing people but he soon fears that it's actually a werewolf. Another game hunter (Clint Walker) in town refuses to help in the case and obviously suspicion falls on him. SCREAM OF THE WOLF isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but with such a short running time, a great atmosphere and some fun performances there's no question that fans of the genre should enjoy it. I'll give Curtis a lot credit because he really does quite a bit with obviously very little money. I thought the director did a really good job at building up a rather dark atmosphere and this is especially true during the attack sequences. Another good aspect of this happens with the beautiful scenes in the darken woods with the fog machines doing their job. Graves offers up the laid back type of performance we'd expect from him and he does a nice job with the role. Walker easily steals the film as the main suspect and I really liked how he played guilty so obviously well. Jo Ann Pflug is good as the love interest and Philip Carey is nice as the sheriff. The one major problem with the film is that the screenplay makes it clear who the killer is and if this doesn't turn out to be the case then there's an obvious twist. I won't ruin which way the film goes but I think more of a mystery would have helped things especially since we never actually see the wolf as the film wants to keep us in the dark as to who or what is doing the killings. Still, SCREAM OF THE WOLF has enough going for it to make it worth viewing.

Director Dan Curtis had an impressive track record after developing the memorable character of Carl Kolchack, played wonderfully by Darren McGavin, in both "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler", and also the one-off "The Norliss Tapes" with Roy Thinnes.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have the same success here, though it does start off strongly with an innocent motorist being killed by a mysterious creature(a werewolf, perhaps?) Several more murders occur, until the twist at the end which is...underwhelming, to say the least. Peter Graves and Clint Walker face off as uneasy friends on opposing sides, since Walker's big game hunter is coldly indifferent to the deaths. He plays it menacingly, but his character(as well as Graves') come off quite flat, and there is little else to distinguish this film and make it memorable. Too bad.

This made for TV movie is from Dan Curtis...and that should come as no surprise as Curtis made a living making low-budget horror films and TV shows--such as the original "Dark Shadows" as well as excellent made for TV films about Dracula, Kolchak (the reporter that investigates monster sightings), possessed African dolls, Frankenstein and others. Most of his work was very good though I wouldn't place "Scream of the Wolf" among his best films.

Some creature has been tearing folks to pieces and John (Peter Graves) is a hunter who's been given the task of killing whatever it is. However, he soon notices that the footprints go from a wolf-like creature to human...but he won't allow himself to believe it's a werewolf. When he tries to get help from a clearly nutty associate, Byron (Clint Walker) has a strange reaction--he's totally disinterested in killing the creature and even seems to be completely ambivalent about all the deaths!! Clearly the viewer is being led to believe that Byron is most likely the wolf-man. And, clearly, Walker's character is about as subtle as a 2x4 upside your head! He's a super freaky weirdo and Walker looks as if he had fun playing this guy. And, although Graves is the leading man in the film, your attention is drawn to Walker whenever he's on the screen. So is Byron the werewolf or is there some other explanation? And, how does this movie end up being very much like the classic film "The Most Deadly Game"?

Considering the budget for this film was pretty low and the ABC movies were made quickly, how they handled the whole werewolf aspect of the story was an interesting idea that worked very well. Not the best movie of the week I've seen but very memorable and fun...in a kooky sort of way. Well worth seeing...and a lot better than the surprisingly low overall score of 5.1 (as of this review).

If any comments are recent, I usually keep my mouth shut. But, because the reviews of Scream of the Wolf are so few, I'll offer my opinion. I'd say that this is "not bad...not good" (purposefully put in that order): right down the middle. The "not bad" part, I thought, describes the acting. But there are parts of the writing and costuming that I found to be "not good," i. e., too illogical. The plot is suspenseful (and uncomplicated) enough: Catching the culprit(s?) responsible for what becomes six killings in a California town, which includes as its residents (1) a corvette-driving, used-to-be-quite-a-nimrod, bachelor/author (Graves); and his buddy, who he's spending decreasing time with - (2) a turtleneck-wearing, weird-philosophizing, big-game hunter (Walker). (He dresses that way even when splitting wood!) Pflug is Graves' love interest. I wonder if that's the relationship between Walker and his butler (McGowan)? Less veiled is Walker's crush on Graves, in whom the arm-wrestling Walker wants to restore the macho-ism and take to South America. A fifth main cast member is the sheriff (Carey), who would LIKE to benefit from the tracking expertise of BOTH Walker's AND Graves' characters. But only Graves assists. Is there anything supernatural to all this? You'll have to watch the movie to find out. It's an adequate use of your time. Just don't blow too much money.

This film would have been much better if it had some balance. There were no strong supporting actors at all, with Graves and Walker providing outstanding roles and the rest just falling flat on their face.

Graves worked well as the slowly weakening ex-hunter, while Walker did an amazing job portraying the evil and creepy (and still strong) wolf hunter. However, the rest of the actors (especially Graves' girlfriend and the police chief) did a horrible job with their characters.

The fact that the kills really arent portrayed in a gory fashion makes the film feel like less a horror movie and more of a suspense/murder mystery, which bothered me a bit. Additionally, the ending, though a double twist (from not surprising to surprising to not surprising again) was a bit hard to swallow, that and it ends much more abruptly than I would have wished. Overall, not a high recommendation, but still a fairly good representation of low budget 70s fare 5/10.