SCREAM OF THE WOLF-1974-There were a lot of TV movies in the '70's. ABC even had it's own "MOVIE OF THE WEEK". and produced a lot of movies in all different genres. Several of them were of the horror variety. SCREAM OF THE WOLF is one of them. It was written by sci-fi/horror veteran scribe Richard Matheson (who's story DUEL was directed by the then unknown Steven Speilberg three years earlier and would become one of the most famous made for TV movies of all time....) and produced and directed by Dan Curtis, who's most famous creation, TV's first horror soap opera DARK SHADOWS had expired in 1971 after a 5 year run. Curtis and Matheson had worked together before on TV horror, most notably on THE NIGHT STALKER and it's sequel THE NIGHT STRANGLER and a version of DRACULA with Jack Palance in the lead.
Sounds like SCREAM should be a winner, right?
Well...actually...ummm...NO!
SCREAM is a typically disapointing TV movie that presents itself as a horror film then blows it by trying to offer a "normal explanation" for all the violent goings on....
Peter Graves (who's long running gig on MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE had ended one year earlier) plays an ex-hunter (now a writer) investigating the murders of some local residents by something that seems to be a werewolf. Clint Walker (who had his own long running TV show CHEYENNE in the '50's) plays Graves' ex-partner who seems determined not to hunt down the mysterious "monster". He also seems like a nut but the local sheriff (Phillip Carey) doesn't suspect him.
It's all kind of boring and the climax kind of rips off THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME! Jo Ann Pflug (who was also in Curtis' THE NIGHT STRANGLER) plays Graves' love interest. Walker's limping manservant (lover?) is played by Don Megowan, the husky western actor who starred in the 1956 horror film THE WEREWOLF!
Thanks for reading!
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