Che fatica essere lupi

In continuing to review werewolf movies in chronological order, we're still at 1981 with probably the most obscure one yet, one that I didn't even know of its existence till a few weeks ago when I saw it listed on Wikipedia before then finding it on YouTube. It seems to mainly be inspired by the Michal Landon-starred I Was a Teenage Werewolf as Adam Arkin plays a teen named Tony (like Landon) and it takes place during the late '50s (like IWATW) but then moves on through the years (as exemplified by the changing of the presidential portraits though the one after Carter was meant to be a joke) before Tony comes back to his high school of the title to once again play football having not aged during that time. I'll stop there and just say while I was pretty amused much of the time, there were also many places where I wondered if maybe it could have been funnier. I did like the scenes involving Ed McMahon as Tony's father and Adam Arkin's real dad-Alan-as an insulting shrink. Oh, and also the scene involving his new girlfriend and her tying up Tony in bed was also fun in an adult humor kind of way. So on that note, I say give Full Moon High a look.

Man, was I disappointed.

1) Adam Arkin is more whiny than Ross Geller from 'Friends'

2) A great cast is wasted (Kenneth Mars, Alan Arkin, Ed McMahon, Pat Morita, Louis Nye) with this amateurish script.

3) The movie suffers from horrible pacing. It jumps around through in a jumbled, confusing manner.

4) The story doesn't even make sense. Why does he want to break the football streak? What about the stupid violin music? None of it is explained.

5) It's not even funny. It's like a bunch of accountants trying to do improv, saying "Lookit me! Lookit me I'm being funny!" This was a bad attempt at making another "Love At First Bite".

I like Larry Cohen movies, but man he failed here. I couldn't wait for the credits to roll. Horribly disappointed.

Larry Cohen's movie "Full Moon High" is one of the more obscure entries on the prolific filmmaker's resume, seldom shown on cable and taking forever to be released on videotape (and to this date has not gotten a DVD release.) It does not take long upon watching it to figure out why it doesn't have a cult following. Now, unlike some of the other IMDb users who have commented on this movie, I *did* find some of the gags in the movie to be amusing, and I thought that Adam Arkin was pretty good in the lead role - you can really see his father Alan in him from his looks to his comic timing. (Alan himself does also appear in the movie, and he's amusing as well.) However, the movie as a whole does not work. While there are some funny moments, most of the gags die upon arrival. The real problem with the movie is that it is really sloppily made. A number of scenes feel unfinished, missing punchlines or simple conclusions. A bigger problem with the script is that there isn't much plot here, with scene after scene with little to nothing advancing things. It does not take long for the movie to become tiring, even though Cohen jam- packs the movie with energy. I think a documentary on what went wrong with this movie would be a lot more entertaining than the movie itself.

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.

Aiming at a blend of Airplane! style wackiness and Mel Brooks-a-like angsty spoof, this is almost good - the occasional inspired moment (Werewolf Annoys Community) keeps you watching through the massive swathes of so-so gags, occasional clunkers and habitual dragging out of jokes way beyond their peak. Part so-bad-it's-good, part nearly quite good, and with a typically intense, shouty performance from ace Alan Arkin, this just about scrapes into the Watchable category. Probably a gem to obscure B-horror fans.