Deathmoon

Deathmoon (1978) - I've gotta say, Jason Palmer (Robert Foxworth) is one really nice guy.

But boy, does he make dumb decisions.

I mean, the poor guy is completely stressed out at work, and he's having vague, sweaty nightmares about crazy voodoo ceremonies on an island.

His doctor tells him it's time to chill out. Urges him to take a nice vacation.

And what does Jason do?

He sees a poster for Hawaii, and one of the images on it is a voodoo mask.

Sure, why not? Sold.

Now to be fair, Jason also goes to Hawaii because his grandfather was a missionary worker there back in the day. It was a bit of a nostalgia trip for him. He isn't aware, though, that the old man ran afoul of a voodoo priestess, who put a curse on the family.

I'm not sure that if Jason had just stayed in California - or gone to chill in, like, Vegas, he'd have started sprouting extraneous hair and fangs. But when he goes to grandpa's old stomping grounds, it sure brings out the beast in him.

This kind of throws a monkey wrench into a budding romance Jason has with a woman he meets at the resort named Diane (Barbara Trentham). Needless to say, he becomes a pain in the neck as well for the other vacationing guests on the island.

Lieutenant Russ Cort (Dolph Sweet) and out-of-sight ladies man and hotel detective/handyman Rick Bladen (Joe Penny), meanwhile, have their hands full trying to sort things out.

We're talking Made-for-TV here, so the gore is at a minimum, and the naughty bits are very, very, very tame. I wasn't on the edge of my seat very often, either. But there were some cool werewolf attack scenes in between the filler romantic overtures between Jason and Diane.

I've read a few complaints about wolfie's "look," but quite honestly, I didn't have a problem with it. There was one full transformation scene, and again, I liked it better than most. I guess I'm easy to please.

One bonus for me was that Debralee Scott made an appearance as a vacationing stewardess named Sherry Weston. Such an appealing, wonderful performer. Left acting too early and died too soon.

Oh my God, this movie stars Joe Penny!! I thought he never did anything apart from that horrendous cop show "Jake and the Fatman" and maybe some other cheesy TV-crap! Even in the late 70's already, he was a lousy and stupid-looking actor who exclusively portrayed womanizing macho men with limited brain capacity. And "Deathmoon" is everything you expect from a cheap and anonymous 70's TV-production! It's really boring with an incoherent plot and a complete lack of excitement! The basic given is perhaps original – werewolves in Hawaï – but the elaboration is truly poor and amateurish. Robert Foxworth (another antipathetic TV-actor) plays a overstressed businessman on vacation in Hawaï, but there he transforms into a hungry werewolf and kills fellow hotel guests. Apparently the reasons for all this is that his ancestor the missionary upset some of the aboriginals back in 1870 and they placed a werewolf curse upon his bloodline. Joe 'Jake' Penny plays the hunky hotel security guard who seduces stewardesses and wears idiotic shirts. The wolf make-up effects are miserable and there's absolutely no action on screen. Everyone always talks about horribly torn apart corpses, yet we don't get to see a single drop of blood. That's just unforgivably weak, even for a TV-movie. There's too much tedious exotic dancing going on and the dialogs are dreadful! Pure crap, avoid it like the plague.

This flick was made for television and is only available in the US on ex-rental VHS. It was made just before the new rise of the horrors. But this really is a turkey. You really must see the special effects used. It's about a man being cursed by some inmates when he is on holiday. Soon he realizes that he's a werewolf. He hunts his preys on the resort he is staying but I must say, where is the blood. I haven't ween one drip of the red stuff in this flick. There are even shootings and people get hurt but no sign of blood. The best part are the last few seconds when we have a close-up of the face of the werewolf. The werewolf itself looks ridicuulous. The effects used are just done with some cheap editing. It reminded me of The Wolfman of 1941 were they used the same effect. But overall it's more about a love story between a woman and the so called werewolf. The cover of the VHS looks amazing, if that was included in this flick, well, it surely would be a classic. No sign of those hands or even of the naked girl. It also reminded me of Paul Naschy's performances as a werewolf. But the reason why some people track it down is for Joe Perry, here in one of his first full features just before becoming famous in Jake And The Fatman. Rare feature that must be seen to believe.

Death Moon (1978) is an awful movie that is boring and a tedious watch. I had the unfortunate opportunity was actually renting this garbage a while back. The videotape cover tricked me. It promised me a straight forward horror flick. All I got was a snooze fest of a television movie that was the same tired old tripe. I thought I saw some bad productions in the past but this has to rank with the worst of the bunch.

A dude is vacationing in Hawaii (I guess that's where they spent the budget) and is troubled by the natives. He infuriates them with his presence. One night he wakes up and discovers he's been cursed. By whom or what we don't know. If you want to find out why or what he's cursed with (one is appearing in this stupid movie) you'll have to go to your local independent video store and find out for yourself. Be warned this movie stinks on ice.

Not recommended. It'll neither please werewolf fans or bad movie lovers.

In the 1970s, Robert Foxworth made a mini-career out of starring in such horror films as Prophecy, Incident at Lakewood Manor, The Omen II, and Invisible Strangler. Death Moon was his foray into classic monster film territory, and the film represents most of the elements that make made-for-TV 70's horror flicks so darn much fun.

Foxworth plays an overworked man who begins to have unsettling dreams. Taking a vacation to a Hawaiian resort, he discovers that the sins of his ancestors have been passed down to him as a blood curse. Under the full moon, he turns into a werewolf who chews his way through the resort's guests before a final confrontation in a lonely jungle hideaway.

Death Moon might not be great cinema, but it certainly is enjoyable for fans of 70's monster flicks. The werewolf effects are quite laughable, but that's part of the fun. This film will certainly disappoint fans of splatter and gore, as well as folks with high expectations of state-of-the-art special effects. But with its emphasis on character development and some winning supporting performances, this is a perfect film for a late-night, a bowl of popcorn, and a group of friends who grew up in the era of disco and leisure suits.