Wolfman

Look, give Earl Owensby some credit... the guy's a tool salesman, had a movie dream and is living it. Sure his pictures suck, but that's part of the charm. This mish mash has Earl (with his Elvis like accent) playing a Colin, a guy who comes back to his hometown in 1910 and becomes sort of a werewolf. There is something compelling about Owensby's movies because it looks like the kind of thing that you or I'd do if we had some rough film stock, a couple of cameras and a weekend to shoot a flick. Considering this, it's not quite as bad as it could have been. The female actresses are quite good, although our pudgy star is very hard to take as the hero. His wooden acting skills, monotone delivery and silly dialogue ruin any chance this film had. On the plus side though, the musical accents are quite effective and some of the shots are set up pretty well. There are far to many continuity mistakes, but Owensby does know a little bit about film making and sets up his shots pretty well. There is, at least, a genesis of what a film should be about here, and Earl clearly enjoys what he's doing. As far as EO Studios in North Carolina, it would appear that it is an adequate film making venture and has been used by some "A" list pictures, including "The Abyss", where the many of the underwater scenes were filmed. The highlights are ruined by bad acting and script problems however. There was just enough atmosphere to keep me watching to see how this train wreck would resolve itself. Owensby's films are unintentionally good in enough areas to keep it going along as a low-budget time filler. Go into this kind of thing with the right attitude and you won't be disappointed. Owensby does know his way around a camera.

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.

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 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.

if you rent this movie, do it solely for a laugh, as it is one of theeee worst flicks i have ever seen. the acting is way below sub par. look for a story set in the civil war era, where you use a kerosine lamp at night but when colin goes into the toolshed, he turns on a lightbulb!!!! also look for the main actors to be dressed in period attire except the village mob who are all dressed in somewhat current fashions. (did they really have nylon windbreakers during the civil war??) smoking monkeys could have done a better job.....and what's with the doctor with his borscht belt accent????