Wolfman

Colin Glasgow, a businessman, arrives back in his old hometown when his father passes away, only to find that the man's will prohibits him from leaving for at least a month. Checking the will, Colin finds that it has been forged. But that is not the least of it – his cousins & an evil devil-worshipping priest have maintained a curse over the family's male members, turning them into werewolves. As Colin tries to uncover the mystery over the curse, he slowly becomes a werewolf.

Worth Keeter has made a name for himself, directing many episodes of the inexplicably popular 1990s television craze Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. He also made a number of slick but really poorly written genre films such as Last Lives & the rather offensive Memorial Day. Wolfman was Keeter's first film & true to form features many of the same qualities that made his later works such laugh riots.

Wolfman is basically a werewolf film done in the old school time-lapse & yak hair face masks that were pioneered back when the werewolf film was a new thing. But the time that the film was made was ready to usher in a whole new breed of transformation effects that were introduced in films such as THE HOWLING & An American Werewolf in London – effects that would make the type of stuff shown here obsolete.

Wolfman also suffers from a lack of narrative drive – indeed for a horror film, the film doesn't go very far with its premise (or more to the point, doesn't get much mileage from its central idea). The film is stuck in the mystery angle that would ironically mar many later Howling sequels. There are also the little things that suggest a mediocre production – the microphone on star Earl Owensby's coat making a tearing sound when he reaches over to kiss his co-star & several slight anachronisms to be seen in the background. Despite being the last film to feature the old type of transformation effects, Wolfman does a fair job in this area & the climax is reasonable for this type of film. If nothing else, Wolfman does a slightly better job of making a werewolf mystery than some of the crass Howling sequels.

Well, it looks like there's another contender here for the "so bad it's good" category. This is a werewolf movie that was made towards the end of a very long dry spell, after the glory days of Universal's "Wolf Man" series, and before the year 1981 brought us several great werewolf movies ("American Werewolf", "The Howling" and "Wolfen").

A man returns to his home town when his uncle dies (or, or more accurately, is murdered -- as we know from the first scene). He soon finds out that there is some kind of a curse on his family, which his grandmother is aware of and which involves some kind of an evil priest. The plot after this point is fairly predictable and straightforward. It's film-making for the sake of film-making, and there aren't very many original ideas. However, the look of the film is quite cool, and clearly it's inspired by the "Hammer Studios" productions, in which everything looks kind of like a set but has a very creepy feel to it.

The cast are generally pretty laughable. Seriously, there's no excuse for acting this bad -- hell, I've seen much better actors in local theatrical productions. The leading man has zero charisma, and even less acting ability, as clearly he was cast simply for his 'Wolf Man' appearance. This leads to some pretty hilarious scenes, for example when he delivers sentences along the lines of "Doctor, my grandmother told me that my father was a werewolf and a priest stabbed him in the heart with a silver dagger", in a complete monotone with a straight face and absolutely no emotion, you just can't help but laugh. He doesn't get a whole lot of help from the supporting male cast, but most of the female members actually seem quite competent actresses. Not that it helps much.

On the other hand, there is a sub-culture of people out there who will really enjoy this movie. If you're one of those people that collects Edward D Wood Jr's movies, or if your idea of a good time is to stay in and laugh your way through "Manos: Hands of Fate", odds are you'll really appreciate much of the badness in this movie.

It's bad. It's very, very bad. But if you're a fan of those terrible B-pictures, you'll probably find something to enjoy here.

A long-absent relative of a cursed family returns home, only to find that he has been chosen by the others to carry the burden of their ancient curse...lycanthropy.

There is a certain naive charm to Earl Owesby's movies...they are schlock, no question, but the obvious earnestness put into them is...uh...cute? That said, WOLFMAN is an altogether watchable piece of poo, and manages to come out at least *looking* like something better than it is...a fairly well shot little horror film with very little attention payed to the details of the Victorian setting in which it takes place. The primary characters are attired in late 19th century costume, but peripheral characters have a laughable "come as you are, but try to look kinda Victorian" style.

Not scary, and not really good-bad, but mildy amusing despite itself. 4/10

Earl is a low-key and likable actor, the storyline is basic and takes some care in introducing the characters before going into the Wolfman scenes. Some over-the-top maniacal laughter on the bad guys part early on is a riot, and shows you where they stand! It must be me but every time I watch it I think it's set in Olde England, until the Sheriff shows up and I realize it's set in the US. The name Colin Glascow doesn't help! It's not going to terrify anyone but few horror films do any more which is why plot and character is important. This gives me the feel of a retro monster mash type flick. Simplicity, the kind of film I'd make if I had a little money. Better to make an effort like this than nothing at all! It's not laughable in an Ed Wood type way, at least not to me. Maybe it's just the anti-Twilight male models, anti-CGI aspect that makes this a nostalgic nice little flick.

Earl Owensby is a guy who made a fortune with films aimed at the drive in circuits in the south. He parlayed that into some big budget films before it all going wrong when he built a studio that was the site of the under water filming of The Abyss. Before his semi leap to the big time Owensby produced and starred in a number of action and horror films that pretty much only played south of the Mason Dixon Line. Until Wolfman I had never seen one of his films. Watching it I really don't understand why he made as much money as he did. The plot of the film has a miscast Owensby returning home when he is told that his father has died. Actually his father didn't die until his scheming relatives were certain that he was on his way home, at which time they killed him so that the werewolf curse would pass on to Owensby. Filmed with models and (somewhat) obvious sets the film looks cheap but serviceable. The performances are all over the place with actors and non-actors mixing freely. Owensby isn't a bad actor as such but he is so low key as to be almost invisible. He conveys none of the intensity needed for the role. It doesn't help that the pacing is so slack as to be near catatonic with there being a good chance you'll nod off before the wolfman (of the Lon Chaney variety) shows up. Something for the insomniacs or those wanting to see what a footnote filmmaker made his fortune on. 3 out of 10.