Who Needs It?

 

 (themoviedatabase.org)

THE HOWLING: REBORN-2011-This boring shit has something to do with a nerdy kid and a bunch of assholes who are werewolves. There's a lot of talk, overacting and eventually some werewolves show up at the end. Obviously made to cash in on the success of the TWILIGHT franchise, this was filmed in Canada and co-written and directed by Joe Mimziki who was once an executive with Sony Pictures.

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Mistress Misty

 

 (imdb)

AT THE MOVIES WITH MISTRESS MISTY-2004-After an intro by Mistress Misty (Debra Rochon) who drinks a glass of blood and has a mutant baby, there are three stories all involving werewolves.

The first is "Dark Rose: The 700 Year Itch". A vampire hunter finds a vampire and turns into a werewolf. The two fight and the werewolf wins. 

In “Sheep's Clothing”, a PI shadows a wife Gina to see if she's cheating. She doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong except shopping and talking to her minister. When the husband pretends to be away, it seems Gina is actually a werewolf, and the minister was trying to help cure her. 

In “Crying Wolf”, a bickering couple are attacked by a werewolf. The woman dies but the man is saved by some passersby. A month later a hick sheriff accuses the man of killing the woman. The guy believes he's a werewolf and wants the sheriff to lock him up. It turns out the sheriff is the original werewolf and the two battle it out for supremacy as the worst wolf man in celluloid history.

 Amateurish nonsense but Rochon seems to be having a good time. Also known as THE LUNAR PACK. It was written and directed by James Liquori.

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The First Wolf

 

 (imdb)

WEREWOLF OF LONDON-1935-An English botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is bitten by a werewolf while searching for a rare plant in Tibet. Back in London his unhappy wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson; the same year as BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) is courted by an American (Lester Matthews; in THE RAVEN the same year). Glendon is visited by Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland; well into the Charlie Chan series), who tells him of two cases of “werewolfery” in London. It seems Yogami is the werewolf that bit the Glendon in Tibet. When his hand turns hairy Glendon uses the plant, Moonlight Bloom to stop the transformation but he's warned by Yogami that the plant is not a cure but a temporary antidote. When Yogami steals another plant, the doc turns into a scary wolf man and goes hunting for the thing he loves the most. He almost kills his wife's aunt (Spring Byington) but kills a prostitute instead. Later he goes after the missus and is shot by the police inspector. 

WEREWOLF OF LONDON is a classic 1930's horror film from Universal pictures. The wolf man himself (Jack P. Pierce's make-up though he's uncredited) is quite scary even when he's wearing a hat and coat and there's a lot of spooky nighttime scenes. Director Stuart Walker only made 12 movies. Others include GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1934) (also with Henry Hull) and THE MYSTERY OF EDWARD DROOD (also 1935). He also did work on Paramount's “Bulldog Drummond” series around this time too.

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Biker Werewolves

 

WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS-1971-Biker gang scum (including “Eve of Descruction” singer Barry McGuire and “Father Knows Best” co-star Billy Gray) run afoul of a group of Satanists led by One (Severn Darden). After the gang is drugged the Satanists perform an elaborate ritual where a woman dances with a snake and a cat is sacrificed. The bikers break up the ritual and drive away. When they are frolicking in the woods that night a werewolf shows up and kills two of them. One of the gang is really a werewolf. The scenes are too dark, there's too much talk, the ending is stupid and there aren't any werewolves on wheels! 

Director Michael Levelesque started out doing production design for Roger Corman and made only one more feature length film SWEET SUGAR the next year. He was also was an art director on many TV shows and several Russ Meyer films. He died in 2010.

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the Asylum Again

 

THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD-2005-The Asylum Strikes again! In this useless waste of time horror flick a monster terrorizes a hick town where the only character that's not a moronic inbred redneck is the local sheriff transferred from Chicago. "The beast" turns out to be a werewolf and most everyone is killed. Director Leigh Scott later made HILLSIDE CANNIBALS.

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Daminsky!

 

THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN-1971-Two college students Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and Genevieve (Barbara Capell) are looking for the grave of a blood drinking countess. They stumble upon the home of writer Vladimir Daminsky (Paul Naschy) who seems very hospitable until they mention the countess. He invites them to stay over and at night a strange woman tries to strangle Elvira. It turns out to be Daminsky's "mentally disturbed" sister Elizabeth (Yelena Samarina). The next day she attacks Genevieve. 

With Daminsky's help the women find the countess' tomb and open her coffin. Genevieve cuts herself and her blood drips on the corpse. Then Elvira is attacked by a skeletal faced figure dressed like a monk (some say this brief character may have influenced "The Blind Dead" series, the first of which was made several months later). At night Genevieve falls under the spell of the countess (Paty Shepard). Somehow Elvira and Daminsky fall in love. The countess kills Elizabeth and Daminsky explains it will soon be Walpurgis night when the devil rules and vampires take over. At night while Elvira is in the village with the dumb handyman, Daminsky finally turns into a scary werewolf. Elvira has a weird dream and the next day she learns her lover boy's secret. Genevieve bites Elvira but when Vlad kills her, Elivra gets better. The countess seems to disappear into the catacombs. 

Elvira chains up Vlad but the handyman tries to kidnap Elvira. Daminsky escapes and kills him. Elvira's boyfriend Marcello shows up to cause more trouble but he and Elvira are made prisoners by the countess. Vlad saves them just before the devil (director Carlos Aured) arrives and transforms into a wolf and kills the countess. Elvira stabs her wolfman with a cross and "frees him" (until the next movie). 

Leon Klimovsky directed from a screenplay by Naschy (under his real name Jacinto Molina) and the two would later team up for a few more horror outings. This fifth installment was a huge hit in Europe.

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Lucky Werewolf

WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY- 1961/1963-New teacher  Prof. Julian Olcott (Carl Schell) arrives at a girl's reformatory  school with a secret past that seemed to have gotten him in trouble with the law. One girl Mary (Mary McNeeran) seems to have some kind of blackmail/sex for favors thing going on with older man named Sir Alfred (Maurice Marsac) but she becomes the first victim of a werewolf attack. The school is run by Mr. Swift (Curt Lowens) and Leonor (Grace Neame). Another girl Priscilla (Barbara Lass) figures something's going on. A pipe smoking inspector (Herbert Diamonds) investigates. Caretaker Walter takes Priscilla to meet the person who's being blackmailed but instead she meets dirty old man Sir Alfred’s demanding wife (Annie Steinert) who tries to buy the girl's silence. Later she meets Prof. Olcott in the woods and they have a discussion. After they part Priscilla is attacked by a snarling werewolf but a guard dog drives the wolfman away. While Priscilla remains in shock, Swift questions Olcott who admits he’s trying to find and cure the werewolf though he seems a likely subject himself. Then Walter invades the place while the girls are sleeping to get Sir Alfred's incriminating letters but almost has to smother one girl to death to do it. He runs up a tower and falls to his death but Swift discovers the letters. Later on after the identity of the wolfman is revealed he terrorizes Olcott and Priscilla until he's shot and killed. 

This fairly tame black and white Italy/Austria co-production is drawn out and the dubbing isn't that great. In American prints director Paolo Heusch is credited as Richard Benson. 

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The Blood of Milligan

BLOOD-1973-This time in the Andy Milligan dimension, Regina Orlovsky (Hope Stansbury), the daughter of Count Dracula and Lawrence Orlovsky (Allen Berendt), the wolfman’s son are in an unhappy marriage that revolves around blood, murder and raising carnivorous plants.

Regina: “I hate you! Go to hell!” Lawrence: “We're already there!”

They are assisted by a motley crew: Carrie (Patti Gaul), who has a gamy leg, Orlando (Michael Fischetti), who has no legs and walks on his knees and Carlotta (Pichulina Hempi) who has legs but is an abused babbling fool who’s used as a blood supply for the plants. Larry kind of falls for the secretary of Mr. Root, the lawyer who handles the estate and has been siphoning money from the account. Once or twice Larry turns into a wolf and a guy gets an axe in his head but all the sfx are laughable. The dialogue and acting are insane and sometimes it looks like a school stage play. There's some strange parts too. Like Carrie's brother comes to visit secretly. From their conversation and actions they’ve obviously had an incestuous relationship but when they part he’s killed and never talked about again. What was the purpose of this scene? Actually what was the purpose of this whole movie? I’ve read Milligan fans consider this his best film. I hope they mean his best worst film! Despite being set in the 1800’s it just looks like people in the 20th century walking around in 19th century clothes.

 It's running time is BLOOD’s saving grace. It comes in just around an hour. I wish Milligan could have gotten himself an editor. Filmed in the director's old stomping grounds of Staten Island NY

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More Milligan

THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE! -1972-Writer/director Andy Milligan presents another period piece horror show featuring another dysfunctional family. This time it's the Mooneys lead by their bedridden father (Douglas Phair), oldest son Mortimer (Noel Collins), oldest sister Phoebe (Joan Ogden) and whiny younger sister Monica (Hope Stansbury; also in BLOOD). They bicker a lot. There’s also a younger brother. The animal like Malcolm (Berwick Kaler; also in THE BODY BENEATH) who’s kept locked up (he escapes once in a while). He seems to like chickens. Youngest sister Diana (Jackie Scarvellis; also in THE BODY BENEATH) who has been away for some years returns with her new husband Gerald (Ian Innes). It's clear from their first meeting that Monica and Diana hate each other. When Diana meets papa he berates her for her marriage and talks about extensive tests that must be made to start a new bloodline. He also says only Diana can carry on his experiments. Monica is a real cantankerous bitch who beats Malcolm and disrupts dinner. Later Gerald says they should go back to Scotland and Diana confides in Mortimer that she’s pregnant. Then suddenly in the middle of all this a more modern dressed Monica visits a ghoul faced shopkeeper named Mr. McCawber (director Milligan) and buys some flesh eating rats. Back in the other movie Monica attacks Gerald with a knife but a cross seems to stop her. Diana seems to have a aversion to it also. Then Monica plays with her rats and seems to be having a good time until one bites her and she kills it. She tries to get her money back from McCawber but he refuses so she kills him. Later after Phoebe and Mortimer talk about giving up Diana's baby and giving pops his shot, Diana buys a gun from an old gunsmith. This scene is so long and talky and seems only included because the director wanted a showoff role (Milligan plays the gunsmith!). This is followed by another useless long and boring scene where Monica and friend Rebecca talk about a garden snake she found. Monica kills her. It turns out of course that the whole family are werewolves and when the moon is full they transform into badly made up some type of wolf monsters. Except Diana who can change at will and after she and Gerald kill off the clan Diana kills hubby and awaits the birth of their kid. 

This was one of four movies Andy Milligan shot in England. Two years after filming ended, Milligan, at the request of executive producer William Mishkin added the rat segments because WILLARD had just become a big hit.

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Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart....

THE WOLFMAN-1941-In England Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns home to Castle Talbot after spending 18 years in America, upon the death of his older brother. His dad Sir John (Claude Rains) wants him to become one of the family again. Cheerful Larry no sooner gets settled when he's fooling around with a telescope and spies Gwen (Evelyn Ankers) in her antique shop. When he visits she tells him about werewolves and the sign of the pentagram.

Larry wants his fortune told so he, Gwen and her friend Jenny (Fay Helm) visit a gypsy camp. There Bela (Bela Lugosi) reads Jenny's fortune and it's not good. He sees a pentagram on her palm. While Larry romances Gwen Bela turns into a werewolf and kills Jenny. Larry kills the werewolf with his silver cane but is bitten in the process. He's helped home by Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) . Later the chief of police (Ralph Bellamy) and Doctor Lloyd (Warren William) find Jenny and Bela (not a wolf anymore). The next day Larry recovers and his wolf bite has disappeared. Larry overhears Maleva talking to the dead Bela and finds out he was her son. Later Gwen introduces Larry to her fiance Frank Andrews (Patrick Knowles), game keeper for the estate. Maleva gives Larry the low down on his curse and the gypsies pack up and leave as Larry turns into the title character. His first victim is a gravedigger. Next time he goes out prowling he gets his foot caught in a trap planted by the constable. He passes out but doesn't get caught because Maleva finds him and somehow gets him to change back to human. Larry goes to Gwen for help but when he sees the sign of the pentagram on her palm he freaks out. He confesses his fears to his dad but Sir John doesn't believe it. He straps his son to chair in a locked room while everyone is out hunting the wolf. He transforms and escapes. Gwen winds up in the foggy woods being pursued by hairy Larry. He attacks her but Sir John confronts him and in an ironic twist beats him to death with Larry's cane. Larry turns human and Maleva declares “Your suffering is over”.

 THE WOLF MAN kind of ushered in the second era of Universal horror films. Director George Waggner also did MAN MADE MONSTER with Chaney the same year. He later made THE CLIMAX with Karloff. This has a great cast and the foggy scenes where the wolf man prowls are excellent despite being all done in the studio. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak went on to write several more in the series. Waggner later went into TV. His last work was on the BATMAN TV in the '60's.

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Enter: Blue Demon

THE BLUE DEMON-1965-In his very first adventure the Mexican luchador Blue Demon (playing himself) battles a mad scientist who turns men into werewolves. He and Dr. Gruber (Mario Orea,who looks kind of like a mini Orson Welles) prowl around a smoky forest while a little guy in his undershirt shadows them. The duo are attacked by a wolf man but BD vanquishes him and he turns back into a human. The undershirt guy isn't happy and leaves. The pair then  investigate a eerie castle but don't seem to find anything. 

Later the doctor has meeting with some people including his daughter Marina (Rosa Maria Vasquez) and her boyfriend Prof. Carral (Jaime Fernandez). After some wrestling we learn that Carral is a mad scientist and the undershirt guy is his henchman. He has formula that turns men into werewolves. He demonstrates this at a wrestling match where he and Marina watch calmly as BD wins his match but has to fight again when his opponent turns into a werewolf! Later on after undershirt guy has kidnapped and imprisoned Dr. Gruber, Carral turns himself into a werewolf and fights BD (twice), kidnaps Marina and dies after being shot. Despite causing so much trouble Marina breaks down and cries over his corpse. BD seems to have had enough and wanders into the woods. 

The SFX are pretty laughable and there's long stretches of talk but it still manages to be entertaining. The funniest part is when a small search party lead by Marina finds the werewolf. He pummels one guy and grabs Marina and the others in the party simply run away!

Lead villain Fernandez was the half brother of the famous Mexican director “El Indio” Fernandez. Director Chano Urueta made the next installment BLUE DEMON VS. THE SATANIC SOCIETY which featured some of the same supporting cast. Original title: El Demonito Azul

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O Canada, This Werewolf Movie Sucks

WOLVES-2014-A guy Cayden (Lucas Till) finds out he's a werewolf, kills some people and runs away. Later he's taken under the wing of a farmer named John (Stephen McHattie). Then Cayden winds up in a community of werewolves run by Connor (Jason Momoa), the last of the pure breed wolves. It turns out Connor is Cayden's father but later in the crazy out of control finale it's revealed John is responsible for all the mayhem. This Canadian production seems more like a pilot for a TV series (ripped off from WEREWOLF and THE HOWLING). It was written and director by actor/screenwriter David Hayter (X-MEN, X-MEN 2, THE SCORPION KING). 

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Hammer Werewolf

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF-1961-In Spain in the 1700's a beggar (Richard Wordsworth) is mocked and imprisoned by the local marquis (Anthony Dawson). He languishes for years in a dungeon with his only human contact being the jailer's mute daughter (Yvonne Romaine) who grows up before his eyes. When she rejects the now decrepit zombie look marquis he has her thrown in the same dungeon as the old beggar. He rapes her and later she kills the marquis (quite viciously). She runs away and is taken in my a kindly aristocrat Alfredo (Clifford Evans) and his maid. The girl gives birth to a baby boy but dies. Unfortunately the baby was born on Christmas and according to the maid an unwanted child born on the 25^th is an insult to God. When the boy named Leon is baptized thunder sounds and the holy water swirls. A few years later Leon has nightmares and fangs and seems to kill sheep at night although a wild dog is blamed. He grows into a man (Oliver Reed) and leaves home. He gets a job bottling wine and meets Christina (Catherine Feller). They fall in love but while out partying with a co-worker Leon turns into a scary werewolf (slightly reminiscent of THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON) and kills the co-worker and a hooker. He's arrested and put in jail where his cellmate becomes a future victim. As a wolf he breaks out, kills some more and the townsfolk go after him. He takes refuge in a church where “dad” shoots a silver bullet through his heart. 

 This Technicolor Hammer production released in the US though Universal International was directed by the great Terence Fisher and written by Anthony Hinds who teamed several times for Hammer. It's based on a novel by Guy Endore  

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Were-Dogs?

BATTLEDOGS-2013-There's a CGI werewolf outbreak in NYC. People infected are quarantined in a place that looks like Grand Central Station overseen by a jerk-ass army general (Dennis Haysbert). Army doctor Hoffman (Greg Sheffer from NIGHTBREED) is brought in and gets too close to the truth (government conspiracy) so the army sends a werewolf to kill him. Later Patient O escapes the camp and heads to a place that's suppose to be Central Park. It seems O is carrying a bone in his arm that contains an antidote. When all the wolves escape and invade Manhattan the bad black mean looking president (Bill Duke) orders air strikes on all the city's bridges. A car chase was actually filmed in Flushing Meadow Park, not too far from where I live! 

Wes Studi is a mean colonel and Ernie Hudson as a security expert gives a better performance than this THE HULK/THE HOWLING inspired nonsense from The Asylum warrants. Director Alexander Yellen was a cinematographer on stuff like MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS so you've been warned.

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The Return of Bela

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE-1944-While World War 2 still raged Columbia had wanted to release their own vampire tale featuring Dracula and starring Bela Lugosi. Unfortunately Universal blocked the attempt to use the character's name. That didn't stop them from making this unusual horror tale, sometimes referred to as "the unofficial sequel to DRACULA".

During World War One a strange case of anemia causes Dr. Ainsley (Frieda Inescourt) to call in Professor Saunders to investigate the patient. He figures out that it's the work of a depraved Romanian scientist/now vampire named Armand Tesla (Lugosi) and his werewolf servant Andreas (Matt Willis). After Tesla kills the patient and sets his (its ?) sights on a little girl, the medical duo discover his coffin and drive a stake through his heart killing him and thereby releasing Andreas from his hairy servitude.

This part of the narrative is actually told in flashback 20 years later by Dr. Ainsley to Sir Frederick (Miles Mander) of Scotland Yard just after Prof. Saunders has been killed in a plane crash. Frederick concludes that the doctor's tale is basically nonsense and he plans to open up Tesla's grave and charge the doctor with murder! Andreas is now cured and working with Dr. Ainsley. However before Sir Frederick can act, a German air raid blows open Tesla's coffin and two unwitting gravediggers pull the stake out of him! Tesla rises from the grave, makes Andreas his hirsute servant once more and plots revenge against Dr. Ainsley. He assumes the identity of Dr. Hugo Bruckner and crashes the engagement party of Ainsley's son (Roland Varno) to Nikki (Nina Foch), granddaughter of Prof. Saunders. Tesla sets his fangs on Nikki. Eventually with the help of Andreas and another timely air raid Tesla is put to rest again. Final scene has Sir Frederick asking the audience a question.

RETURN is another nice underrated little film. Lugosi is extremely sinister in the title role and the addition of the werewolf slave is a welcome surprise. This was made by journey man Lew Landers who in 1931 had directed Lugosi (and Karloff) in THE RAVEN. Some critics consider THE RAVEN (his first film) his best film as his career was prolific but undistinguished but they usually forget RETURN. He later made MASK OF DIJON with Erich Von Strohiem, some Jungle Jim entries, then went into TV.

This is quite a highlight in Lugosi's career considering that the same year he starred in two Monogram cheapies VOODOO MAN and ONE BODY TOO MANY. It's also the last time Lugosi had top billing a major studio production.

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Not Frankenstein

THE UNDYING MONSTER-1942-An ancient curse (The Hammond Monster) plagues a family in Wales. The last of the Hammonds are a brother and sister, Oliver (John Howard) and Helga (Heather Angel). After Oliver is attacked the local inspector (Audrey Mather) calls in the Sherlock Holmes like Robert Curtis (James Ellison; I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE) from Scotland Yard who uses science to solve crimes and doesn't believe in the supernatural. He has a female assistant named Christy (Heather Thatcher) who talks a lot ("This place is colder than a tax collector's heart!") and is kind of psychic. Bramwell Fletcher (THE MUMMY) is the suspicious family friend Dr. Colbert. The family butler Walton (Halliwell Hobbs) hangs around mysteriously. A werewolf seems to be responsible.

THE UNDYING MONSTER is in a way an underrated masterpiece. It's certainly one of the best "you never really get to see the monster until the end"  horror tales. Star James Ellison is very good in the lead and his character could have easily starred in a sequel (along with his assistant Christy). The resolution may be a little too pat but hey it's only 63 minutes!

Germany born director John (nee Hans) Brahm does an excellent job creating a eerie atmosphere using shadowy effects and interesting close-ups. After this Brahm made 2 more famous film noirs THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE (both starring the ill-fated Laird Cregar) and THE MAD MAGICIAN with Vincent Price. He ventured into TV in the 1950's and was a busy director in the '60's (ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THRILLER, THE MAN FROM UNCLE).

Future tough guy Charles McGraw makes his film debut as a poacher.

It's based on the novel "The Undying Monster: A Tale of the Fifth Dimension" written in 1922 by Jesse Douglas Kerruish.

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Hammer Rival

THE BEAST MUST DIE-1974-In this Amicus production (at the the time Amicus was the chief rival to Hammer) an eccentric millionaire Tom Newcliffe (top billed Calvin Lockhart) gathers eight people to his estate (which is wired with cameras and overseen by Anton Diffring). He claims that one of them is a werewolf and plans to hunt it when one of the guests transforms during an anticipated full moon. His lover Caroline is played by Marlene Clark (who co-starred in GANJA AND HESS the year before). Peter Cushing is featured as one of the eight, a werewolf expert with a German accent. Charles Gray, Michael Gambon and Ciaran Madden are also featured. 

There's a lot of debating over who is the werewolf while Newcliffe waits for the chance to hunt down his prey. The werewolf this time however is an animal not the usual man in make-up wolf. Near the end a clock appears on the screen to give viewers the chance to decide who is the wolf. It's based on a novel by James Blish. 

Director Paul Arnett did mostly BBC TV before and after this.   

Cushing was in no less than 7 films in 1974 including MADHOUSE (with Vincent Price) and LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES. 

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Where's The Wolf?

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF-1944-In this Universal quickie Dr. Morris (Fritz Leiber), curator of a famous museum has discovered the secret of their top attraction the mysterious Marie Latour . Her daughter (Nina Foch who was in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE with Lugosi the same year) lives with a band of gypsies and can turn into a werewolf whenever she seeks to silence anyone who knows the truth. Morris' son (Stephen Crane, a fairly catatonic actor. It doesn't surprise me he only made 3 movies!) and his girlfriend Elsa (Osa Massen) investigate while a police lieutenant (Barton McLane) refuses to believe the supernatural goings-on. Blanche Yurka is a mysterious gypsy leader and John Abbott has a small role as a tour guide who loses his mind ("Much to be seen, more to be heard and plenty to imagine"). It's mostly talk and the wolf is rarely seen but it's only 63 minutes long and McLane's wisecracking cop is a highlight. Milton Parsons has one scene as a talkative funeral director and Ray Teal is an (un-credited) cop.

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF was Henry Levin's directorial debut. He made other low budget quickies but later "graduated" to bigger things like JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM as well as two Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin.

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Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart (even in a remake!)

THE WOLFMAN-2010-This big budget gory over acted horror story is actually a kind of homage to the 1941 Universal original. (It gives credit to being "based" on the motion picture screenplay by Curt Siodmak!)

Lawrence Talbott (Benicio Del Toro with a Moe Howard haircut) returns to his native England (after living in America for many years) to investigate the disappearance of his brother at the request of said brother's fiancée (Emily Blunt). He's haunted by the memory of seeing mother's bloody corpse right after she committed suicide. His father Sir Henry (Anthony Hopkins) seems like a nice bloke but may harbor s secret. Meanwhile a werewolf terrorizes the countryside and during an attack on a gypsy camp Lawrence is bitten and "cursed". He wastes no time changing into a wolf and graphically kills lots of people. Hugh Weaving is a Scotland Yard police officer tracking him down. Rick Baker did the special make-up effects and is a victim. Also with Art Malik, Anthony Sher and Geraldine Chaplin. Del Toro was also one of the producers and the score is by Danny Elfman.

Director Joe Johnston previously made HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS, THE ROCKETEER, JUMANJI and JURASSIC PARK 3.

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The Curse of Craven

CURSED-2005-Film auteur/hack Wes Craven returns (who told him to come back?) with this too much talk, clichéd, done it all before nonsense. A nerd (Jesse Eisenberg) believes he and his sister Ellie (Christina Ricci) have become werewolves. Joshua Jackson is Ellie’s boyfriend who may also be a wolf person. The wolf SFX aren’t that great and the mix of humor and violence doesn’t work. I wish Craven would learn how to make a good horror film or at least retire! 

Screenwriter Kevin Williamson wrote all 3 SCREAM movies (a fourth one is in production at the time of this writing). Also with Portia Del Rossi and the band Bowling For Soup in one scene. Craven made this between SCREAM 3 and REDEYE.

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