Ein Werwolf beißt sich durch

But this morning it was on cable and I was amazed how something this silly got past me. Sure, if you watch it, don't expect any academy award nods... I think the makers of this film were looking to follow in the footsteps of airplane and other goofball flicks. Every paradox for every situation was used in this. And that's not bad... Every once in a while we need these no brainers to make us watch like zombies, just so we can say "Man this movie is so stupid, I can't wait to see what happens next". Remember, the 80's killed at flooding us with bad movies that we've seen 30 times (even if we don't admit it publicly).

"Full Moon High" is a werewolf horror/comedy that got released in the year 1981, meaning almost simultaneously with two of the greatest classics in the same sub genre, namely "The Howling" and "American Werewolf in London". No wonder practically nobody remembers this film. While certainly not as great as those two, "Full Moon High" nevertheless deserves a little more praise from the genre fans and a little more recognition in general. The film definitely hasn't got the same premise as the other werewolf classics and goes straight for laughs. Tony, a popular American high school student and fanatic football player travels to Romania with his sleazy businessman father. While the latter is talking about the promised land to a couple of prostitutes, Toney receives bad news from a local fortune teller and gets attacked by a red-eyed werewolf at night. He transforms for the first time on the plane back to the States, but nobody notices because hijackers blindfolded everyone on board of the flight. What an oddball sequence that was, actually. Once back at his school and surrounded by his obsessive girlfriend and football buddies, Tony can't resist to bite girls in the bums and decides to disappear. Twenty years later, he returns to his hometown and is mistaken for his own son. "Full Moon High" is, as said already, a straightforward comedy and I'm really not used to seeing that from writer/director Larry Cohen. True, his film always contain social mockery and black comedy (like "Q – The Winged Serpent" and "God Told Me To"), but this really feels like a liberating side project for him. There's too few horror for my liking, for example the transformation sequences are worthless, but I appreciated the film as a relaxing and occasionally very hilarious horror comedy.

Yeah....this movie's bad but here's something you have to realize before watching it (and you probably should have while watching it): it's supposed to be. The thing about this movie I guess is that it seems to only be funny to the right people: a) huge werewolf fans and b)people with a really low-brow sense of humor, and I'm proud to say I'm both. Some of the best jokes in this movie were the worst ones, like some of the newspaper headlines ("Werewolf easts Chinese, hungry again 30 minutes later"...please tell me somebody got the double-meaning) or the Romanian woman who reads palms for entertainment (I read 14 last week, I couldn't put one down til I was finished!)

But if you watch it for no other reason, watch for Bob Saget; this is probably the best god damn thing you'll ever see him in.

A surprising misfire from the usually reliable Larry Cohen (God Told Me Too, Q, etc.), Full Moon High tries so hard to be funny and fails miserably, even with decent turns by Ed McMahon(!) and Kenneth Mars. Alan Arkin looks embarrassed throughout his performance and son Adam simply looks numb. This makes Teen Wolf look like a comedy classic.

This horror spoof contains enough corny jokes to last you a lifetime, but is generally harmless and even has a certain schlocky charm. Produced on an obviously low budget and sloppily directed by Larry Cohen, it tries to do for werewolf flicks what "Airplane!" had done for disaster epics the previous year, but it's just too "unpolished" to succeed. (**)