Le cri du loup

Scream of the Wolf (1974)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Made-for-TV horror film from Dan Curtis has a game hunter (Peter Graves) coming out of retirement to track down a wolf that has been killing people but he soon fears that it's actually a werewolf. Another game hunter (Clint Walker) in town refuses to help in the case and obviously suspicion falls on him. SCREAM OF THE WOLF isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but with such a short running time, a great atmosphere and some fun performances there's no question that fans of the genre should enjoy it. I'll give Curtis a lot credit because he really does quite a bit with obviously very little money. I thought the director did a really good job at building up a rather dark atmosphere and this is especially true during the attack sequences. Another good aspect of this happens with the beautiful scenes in the darken woods with the fog machines doing their job. Graves offers up the laid back type of performance we'd expect from him and he does a nice job with the role. Walker easily steals the film as the main suspect and I really liked how he played guilty so obviously well. Jo Ann Pflug is good as the love interest and Philip Carey is nice as the sheriff. The one major problem with the film is that the screenplay makes it clear who the killer is and if this doesn't turn out to be the case then there's an obvious twist. I won't ruin which way the film goes but I think more of a mystery would have helped things especially since we never actually see the wolf as the film wants to keep us in the dark as to who or what is doing the killings. Still, SCREAM OF THE WOLF has enough going for it to make it worth viewing.

Only the most die hard werewolf movie fans (or bottom feeders who like to see bad films as a sort of self-inflicted pleasure-pain) will want to endure this. Even they may be disappointed. Silver fox Graves (who drives a hip car and has a hip house while hip music blares) stars as a former hunter turned writer who, after a series of grisly attacks on local residents, decides to hunt down the predator personally. The killings are the standard "hapless victim looks into camera and screams while growls are heard then blackout". This gets tiresome very quickly. One extended attack on Grave's ladyfriend Pflug (in a pedestrian performance) has a certain amount of edge to it. (Hilariously, though, this single woman lives in a house that appears to have more rooms than Monticello!) Pflug suspects Walker, an old buddy of Graves who lives in a mansion up in the woods and does a lot of odd philosophizing about human nature. Walker, still attractive and virile, gives an unusual performance full of dopey expressions and strange vocal inflections. His relationship with Graves has a homoerotic twinge, not unlike the Stephen Boyd/Charlton Heston dynamic in "Ben-Hur". Sheriff Carey rounds out the male trio of tall actors. The film aspires to a level of intellect that it's budget cheapens more than a little. Still, it's not the worst TV horror movie ever made. At least someone tried to write something with a little irony and mystery to it. One scene between Graves, Pflug and Walker takes place in a restaurant that must have a sign on the door, "No one attractive allowed!" Soap opera veteran Storm appears briefly as a victim.

This film would have been much better if it had some balance. There were no strong supporting actors at all, with Graves and Walker providing outstanding roles and the rest just falling flat on their face.

Graves worked well as the slowly weakening ex-hunter, while Walker did an amazing job portraying the evil and creepy (and still strong) wolf hunter. However, the rest of the actors (especially Graves' girlfriend and the police chief) did a horrible job with their characters.

The fact that the kills really arent portrayed in a gory fashion makes the film feel like less a horror movie and more of a suspense/murder mystery, which bothered me a bit. Additionally, the ending, though a double twist (from not surprising to surprising to not surprising again) was a bit hard to swallow, that and it ends much more abruptly than I would have wished. Overall, not a high recommendation, but still a fairly good representation of low budget 70s fare 5/10.

Director Dan Curtis had an impressive track record after developing the memorable character of Carl Kolchack, played wonderfully by Darren McGavin, in both "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler", and also the one-off "The Norliss Tapes" with Roy Thinnes.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have the same success here, though it does start off strongly with an innocent motorist being killed by a mysterious creature(a werewolf, perhaps?) Several more murders occur, until the twist at the end which is...underwhelming, to say the least. Peter Graves and Clint Walker face off as uneasy friends on opposing sides, since Walker's big game hunter is coldly indifferent to the deaths. He plays it menacingly, but his character(as well as Graves') come off quite flat, and there is little else to distinguish this film and make it memorable. Too bad.

A rural community is shaken by gruesome killings in the woods by what appears to be a werewolf (the tracks near the bodies shows four paw prints that soon become two, and then disappear); former hunter-turned-writer Peter Graves assists the local sheriff in unraveling the mystery. Not-bad TV-made thriller has interesting subjective camera-work along with the proverbial fog in the woods and snarling sound effects. Graves is solid, as usual, and has a few intense scenes with maniacal 'old friend' Clint Walker, but it's too bad writer Richard Matheson felt the need to cover all his bases plot-wise. The more explanations we get in the finale, the more ridiculous it all begins to seem. Director Dan Curtis also produced, in what appears to be a case for The Night Stalker. Robert Cobert is responsible for the erratic music score.